Serbian Slava

The slava is a Serbian Orthodox Christian tradition of the ritual glorification of one's family's patron saint. The family celebrates the Slava annually on the saint's feast day. It is an annual social event in which the family gathers together at the house of the patriarch (head of the household). Friends are also invited to the house for slava, regardless if they have the same Saint.

There are 4 basic elements that have to be present on Slava table, candle, slava cake, red wine and cooked wheat. Slava cake is ritually cut either by a priest in the church on the morning service or by the man of the house and first guest that comes. Slava cake represents Christ’s body, wine is his blood, cooked wheat is a symbol of resurrection while candle proclaims Christ as the light of the world. Usually families prepare large feasts for their guests and entire roasted pigs and lambs can be found on the table followed with many side dishes, salads and desserts.

The family saint is inherited to the patriarch, from father to son, while women do inherit the patron saint of their husbands upon leaving their families. As several patron saints are venerated twice a year, the main day is the Slava, while the secondary one is called preslava.

The most common patron Saints and Slava days are:

St. Nikola, 19th of December

St. Archangel Michael, 21st of November

St. John the Baptist, 20th of January

St. George, 16th of November and 6st of May

St. Dimitrije, 8th of November

St. Luka, 31st of October.

Things that do not exist in Serbia

Adjusting to life in Serbia, there were a few things we were accustomed to which we had for live without. It wasn't because they were expensive or hard to find, they just simple did not exist in Serbia for purchase. Some things include:

Food/Drinks

Plantain (similar to a Banana but different)

Green Banana (usually cooked or fried)

Corned Beer

Ginger beer

Ribena 

Mountain dew

Salt fish

Macaroni and cheese

Vienna sausages

Malt

Porridge

Powdered Milk

Coconut Powder

Browning

Things

Rice Cooker

Popular Places

Burger King

Sub-way

Although life in Serbia takes you away from some of  the things you maybe used to, it offers and exposes you to a new taste and culture that can only be found here. 

Cricket in Serbia

Even though it may look complicated and confusing at the first sight, cricket is very interesting and enjoyable sport. Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of around 11 players each on a field.

The game requires a few pieces of specialized equipment to play with safety. At the bare minimum, six stumps (three on each side), four bails, two cricket bats and a ball are required. Most teams also have uniforms, and safety gear for the wicket-keeper.

Serbian Cricket Federation… 

Cricket was officially established in Serbia in October 2007, when Vladimir Ninković, along with Darko Ivić, Haris Dajč and Nenad Dugić, decided to found the first cricket clubs in Belgrade (Stari Grad and Mirijevo). 

On June 5 2009, the first cricket match in the history of Serbia took place in the village of Karlovčić, some 20 miles from Belgrade. The match was played between a Belgrade Cricket Association XII and Carmel & District CC, from Flintshire, North Wales. The guests won, having scored 175 -107.

Apart from domestic players the teams are comprised of expats such as Indians, Pakistanis, Caribbeans, Brits and New Zealanders.

The Serbian national cricket team has represented Serbia in international cricket competitions. The team made its first away appearance in 2009, losing one and winning one match against the Slovenian team Mezica CC. In August 2011, Serbia reached the semi-finals of the EuroT20 tournament in Budapest.

How the game is played…

There are four main positions for players of which each team has its own, they are; Batter, Bowler, fielder, Wicket-keeper 

Cricket field consists of a large circular grassy ground with a rectangular strip in the center called the pitch. A boundary line should be clearly marked all around the outside edge of the field.

 The game is split into two halves where one team ‘bats’ and the other team ‘fields’. One of the two batsmen faces the bowler whilst the batsman at the other end gets ready to run. The team which is batting initially sends out two batters, one to stand in front of each wicket. The team that is fielding positions its players around the ground to limit the batters’ runs or to get the batter out. One of the fielders is the wicketkeeper and one fielder is the bowler, each fielder can take a turn at bowling. When a batter is out, the next batter gets the opportunity to bat and this continues until there are no more batters left. At this point the team is now said to be ‘all out’. The teams, after a break, now swap and the batters become the fielders and the fielders now become the batters. In order to win the match, the new batters need to get more runs than the opposition.

In professional cricket, the length of a game ranges from 20 overs (T20) per side to Test cricket played over five days. The game is most popular in Australasia, England, the Indian subcontinent, the West Indies and Southern Africa.