Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, which is celebrated on December 24th, has been celebrated in Kaštela, just like in other parts of Croatia, since ancient times by keeping a vigil and going to midnight mass, lighting a Christmas candle that stood in a glass filled with wheat or corn on the holiday table, and lighting a Christmas tree stump that would be preserved until the Three Kings holiday.
And while the "Badnjak" (Christmas Eve) crackled on the hearth, which the host of the house would light, sprinkle with blessed water and burn with incense, while the "sparkles" flickered on the decorated pine tree, and while all sorts of smells of fasting dishes and prosciutto spread from the holiday table, the entire family would gather in a joint prayer asking that the house be "healthy and prosperous and that peace reign in it", and then they would all eat "a great meal called fasting" together.
Congratulations on the “Nativity of the Lord”
After the father of the family would extinguish the Christmas candle with bread dipped in wine at the end of the festive dinner, the entire family would go to a festive Holy Mass or Midnight Mass, after which they would congratulate each other on the "Birth of the Lord" upon returning home.
And in front of the church, young men would stay by the fire and talk all night, while Christmas carols, children's cries, and the shooting of "garburon, maškuli, and tondini" could be heard in the streets, so that those who wanted to fall asleep with all this joy could not.
Otherwise, Christmas was celebrated in all the alleys and streets of Kaštela with particular solemnity and joy, so much so that, according to Don Frane Bega, "it was raining in all directions at all times, as they say, day and night from the tondino. A little chlorine and iron wedges, and there it was, dum-boom."
The sky opens on Christmas Eve
According to Jela Kovač from Kaštel Sućurac, who lived to be 102 and died two years ago, in the old days, “children were told that on Christmas Eve, at midnight, the sky would open, and anyone who looked up at the sky at midnight would be able to see heaven, God and all the saints in heaven.” And so all the children would try to look up at the sky at midnight, but they couldn’t because they were at midnight with their parents, and those who weren’t at midnight didn’t look up at the sky “because they were scared.”
On Christmas Day, few people would miss the service of God, and as Don Frane Bego and Don Frane Ivasović write, on Christmas Day, "Morning Prayer" would be held, followed by three Holy Masses, at which Christmas carols were sung:
Every year, every year.
Peace is rising in the world.
birth of Ditić
Holy Virgin Mary.
And the children murmured after each verse: On God's birth, give us peace and joy!
“Everyone would get together for Christmas”
As Don Frane Ivasović writes, from Christmas to Epiphany, "skajete" (hosts) were hung from various objects in the church, i.e. hosts that were larger than those used at Holy Mass, were made in different colors, and had cubes resembling honeycombs on them.
On Christmas, the greeting was "Peace be with you, good people", and accordingly everyone reconciled, including neighbors, relatives, children, and anyone who had been in a fight for a long time. Children bragged among themselves about who "had enough to drink and had enough for dinner and for a visit", and for Christmas "everything had to be on the table, so we knew how to pawn any gold, just so that there would be everything for Christmas. And we children knew each other for Christmas and the feast, so our hearts were happy, because we were used to so much food", says Jela Kovač.
Sveti Stipan and Počelo
In Kaštel Stari, on the feast of Saint Stephen, oil and olives would be collected for the church in the afternoon, and on that occasion "muskets would be fired, and whoever brought one basket of olives would receive one reward, and whoever brought two baskets of olives twice. In addition, wine would be brought for everyone to drink, and on New Year's Eve, in thanksgiving to God, they would drink "We praise You, God" in front of the exposed Holy Mysteries.
Počelo, Mlado lito, Mali Božić or New Year in Kaštela was also celebrated as one of the major holidays, and on that occasion the parish priest would give blessings to everyone at Holy Mass, saying "Happy New Year to you!", to which everyone would shout "I Van!", and as Don Frane Bego says, it would be said so loudly and in unison that it seemed like everyone was shouting the name Ivan.
Apple with muniton and caroling
According to Jela Kovač, "the children were happy about Počelo, because on that day the elders would put a coin in an apple, which their mother would give them, and then the children would go to their relatives with a red apple in their hands to congratulate them."
After wishing their relatives "Good luck, Počelo", relatives, aunts, and uncles would put a metal dinar, two dinars, or any other small coin into the apple, which could be chewy and chewy. And we children would be careful not to touch any of our relatives, because then we would be left without money, although nan didn't like it when they kissed us."
On New Year's or Old Year's Eve, people would go to "carol singing" with their closest relatives, and carol singing would continue from Christmas to Epiphany. According to Don Fran Bega, they would stand in front of closed doors and sing quietly, under their breath:
Golden branch of oriole - Praise Jesus and Mary!
In the house of Van, there was happiness and joy!
These are beyond our desire - our thirst for love here,
Our thirst for love, which flows towards you.
For good Van Mlado lito-Mlado lito noble!
The fruit has come forth, the grain and the vines are in the hill country!
Let's leave these buckets behind and greet the host.
The host is a true man - chosen among the Jews.
The Castile River, surrounded by villages - all the nobles know it.
And if there was a woman in the house, then they sang:
Open the cabinets - take out the bottles.
Open the cabinets - take out the jars.
To whom a fig, to whom a hornet,
Goodbye Van Doša Christmas!
Throw a fig on the table!
On the eve of Epiphany, which is the day before Epiphany, or January 5, as Don Frane Bego writes, the water was ceremonially blessed in the church, and then the parish priest would go and bless the houses together with a remet who would carry a large white "krtol" and several altar boys who would carry an "incense burner" or a censer with which they would incense all the rooms in the house.
The priest, who in ancient times primarily performed the blessing of the houses of nobles and gentry, would be accompanied by a large crowd of children who would sing:
In every season of the year, peace is increasing in the world.
The birth of Ditić - the Holy Virgin Mary. At the time, people would shout "Throw a hundred and one figs!", and when people threw figs, there would be a stampede and general commotion, because everyone wanted to take as many figs as possible.
Baptismal water for the whole year was collected at Vodokršće
By the way, as Jele Kovač told us, "on the day of Epiphany, the people would gather water for the whole year. And in the middle of the church, a large basin would be placed, into which girls with ink would bring and pour water into the basin, which the priest would baptize during the main blessing, and after that everyone would go crazy and spill everything, because people would take water in bronze jars and buckets, and everyone would take as much blessed water as possible and everyone would take it at the same time. The blessed water would then be used to bless the house, field and treasure, and it was also used throughout the year if anyone in the house strayed from the normal path."
Treatment with house blessing
On Epiphany, a morning mass would be said early in the morning, announcing the moveable holidays of that year, and then the priest would continue with the blessing of the houses that he had not blessed the day before, which were, as Don Frane Bego says, "tidy and scrubbed, the burnt luminaries were on the altar and green wheat was on the plates and in the glasses, and on the table under the candle was a treat prepared: some figs and a bottle of brandy, liqueur or prosecco, some galettes, almond cookies, a few apples..."
As Don Frane Ivasović writes, some seventy years ago, after the blessing, the host of the house would give the priest, the altar servers and the children serving around the altar money, and in later times, instead of money, sweet cakes, "goat shoulder", tuka, soap or cod were given as gifts.
Incidentally, the Christmas winter cycle of folk customs ends on the feast of the Three Kings, and in more recent times, since Christmas trees began to be decorated in Kaštela, on the feast of the Three Kings, the decorations are removed from the Christmas tree in Kaštela and preparations are made for the next Christmas, and the tree is taken out of the house.
On Epiphany, the churches of Kaštela would also announce the time for solemn weddings, accompanied by wedding festivities and feasting, because the carnival period began the day after Christmas and lasted until Easter. Namely, Advent and Lent were times when solemn weddings were not performed, and church solemn weddings were most often performed during the carnival period.
R.Dobrić
Photo: Pixabay/ PGK archive/ Pexels
