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The Zajednicar Fourth Generation American Keeps Tradition Alive PITTSBURGH, PA - Like many members of our CFU families today, I am a fourth generation American of mixed ethnic background. But in our family it has always been the Croatian customs and traditions which have been practiced and maintained, something which is especially evident at the holidays of Christmas and Easter. This is most likely due to our family's membership in St. Nicholas Croatian Church on the North Side of Pittsburgh, but also my father's insistence on keeping these traditions alive in order to observe these holidays as religious events. Our Croatian ancestors come from a variety of regions throughout Croatia; Hrvatsko Zagorje, Zumberak and along the Korana River near Karlovac. All of these ancestors came to Southwestern Pennsylvania before World War I. Most of our customs are probably typical of what is considered "North Croatia." The first holiday observance of the Christmas season is on Dec. 6, St. Nicholas Day. St. Nocholas is the patron of our parish and a very popular saint among the Zumbercani. Not only is this feast celebrated at our church, but my sisters and I, since we were very young, have always set out our best shoes on the evening before this feast to see if we had been good enough to receive gifts from this saint. Although we always received gifts, one year when we had been particularly mischevious, St. Nicholas left something extra, some long tree branches or "switches," as a warning to behave better. Throughout this day and the evening before, candles burn in front of our statue of this beloved saint. The next custom to be observed falls on Dec. 13, St. Lucy's Day. On this day seeds of winter wheat, psenica, are planted indoors in pots as a symbol of the new life brought to us through Christ's birth. These seeds are always distributed in our church hall on the Sunday closest to this feast. By Christmas, this new wheat has grown several inches and is trimmed and tied with the Croatian tri-color ribbon. Christmas Eve is a day filled with simple beauty. Our family still observes the Christmas Eve fast of eating no meat. While other Slavic peoples such as the Poles and Slovaks celebrate Christmas Eve with elaborate meatless meals, our Croatian custom involves a very simple meal of fish and perhaps bean or other vegetable soup. A custom observed by many of eating garlic and honey on Christmas Eve, symbolic of the pains and joys of life, was observed by my Zumbercan great-grandfather, and though we do not continue this custom, my confirmation Kuma living right up the street (and also a Zumbercanka) still does. As soon as it is dark on Christmas Eve and the candles have been lighted, my Father spreads straw under the kitchen table to remind us of Christ's birth in a manger among the animals. This straw stays under the table until the "third day" of Christmas, Dec. 27, St. John's Day when it is taken outside and spread in the garden, where it is believed to benefit the following year's crop. The hightlight of Christmas Eve is the beautiful Midnight Mass in our Croatian church. The church is lit only by candles as the traditional procession of shepherds and angels proceeds into the church singing "Tiha Noc" and "Radujte Se Narodi." The last person in the procession is the special young girl chosen as the "Christmas Angel," who carries and then places the figure of the Christ Child in the manger. None of us ever minded how late it was to still be awake (the kids doing this now still probably feel the same) or that we heard two gospels and two homilies, one each, first in English, then Croatian. Our choir sang, and still sings a mixture of traditional Croatian, Latin and English hymns and Mass prayers. Nothing is more festive or feels more like Christmas than at the end of Mass when the church bells are ringing and the choir sings the final hymn "Narodil Nam Se." Upon returning home from Mass, our festive celebration of the holiday begins. Ham, kobasice, sarma and a huge variety of baked goods are served. Newcomers to our family and non-Croatian friends who thought our Christmas Eve observance earlier in the evening perhaps too solemn and sedate are amazed at this. A common question of theirs is, "How late do you stay up on Christmas Eve?" What they learn is that you begin the Croatian celebration of Christmas within the first hours of Christmas Day. This celebration continues in the afternoon of Christmas Day with visiting and of course more feasting. The next event of the Christmas season involves the blessing of parishoner's homes by our parish priest, Fr. Grgo Sikiric. Although our parishioners are spread throughout the Pittsburgh area, Father manages to visit them all sometime between St. Stephen's Day (Dec. 26) and the Feast of the Three Kings, traditionally observed on Jan. 6. Our particular neighborhood, while several miles from the church, contains a number of our parishioners, six families alone on our own street. This is due to the surprising fact that not only were some of these families neighbors in the Manchester section of Pittsburgh's North Side, but some were also from the same village in Zumberak, Croatia, and moved together for a second time to this "new" neighborhood in the Southwestern area of Pittsburgh in the 1940s and 1950s. After the traditional prayers and blessing, Father writes above the main door of the house the initials of the Three Kings and the year: 19+G+M+B+97. Everyone feels good knowing that they will begin the new year with this special blessing. Many of our CFU families probably celebrate in a similar way. Although we cannot celebrate totally as they did in Croatia, we do our best to carry on our traditions here in Pittsburgh, not only in remembrance of our ancestors, but most importantly to honor God through the traditions these ancestors have bequeathed to us. Ashley Langenfeld Lodge 1 Article contributed on Dec. 19, 1999 by Barry Marjanovich
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