TODAY WE CELEBRATE TUCINDAN: Customs say there is one thing housewives must do! (VIDEO)

The Serbian Orthodox Church and believers today mark Tucindan, the holiday preceding Christmas Eve, when food is prepared for Christmas.

According to the Serbian traditional calendar, Christmas is celebrated for three days, on January 7, 8, and 9, but today’s Tucindan and tomorrow’s Christmas Eve are also considered festive days. On Tucindan, meat is prepared for the Christmas roast. According to folk belief, the happiness and prosperity of the household depend on that roast.

In cities, the meat is purchased, while in villages the piglet or lamb for the roast is selected much earlier and fed special food. In addition, in some places turkey, goose, or chicken is prepared.

From Tucindan, the preparation of the house for Christmas also begins. The housewife prepares flour for kneading, a vessel with wheat grains, changes the straw in nests for poultry, obtains dried plums, figs, walnuts, coins, and candies that will be scattered on the straw spread in the house on Christmas Eve, and the children will collect them while chirping.

According to folk belief, children should not be beaten on this day, because they will be mischievous all year and suffer from boils. According to belief, nothing should be given or taken out of the house, because then things will keep leaving that household throughout the year. On the other hand, all debts should be repaid, so that the host would not be in debt until the next Christmas.

This is also the day of Saint Naum of Ohrid the Wonderworker, a disciple and continuer of the work of Cyril and Methodius, who during his lifetime became renowned for his healing powers. He is one of the founders of medicine in our lands and the founder of the Monastery of Saint Naum on Lake Ohrid.