Slava

Wow, I am terribly sorry to my four dedicated followers. It has literally been forever since I've last posted. This post is dedicated to the Serbian holiday called Slava. Each family has a patron saint, which is passed down from generation to generation on the male's side. So, if you're a male you have the same saint your whole life. If you are a woman you celebrate your father's saint while you're young, and once you get married you take the saint of your husband.

When I had dinner at Sandra's house a while back her mom asked if I would come to their Slava which was Nov. 21 for Archangel Michael (I think...although I could be way off). When I arrived at her house I realized it was much like our Thanksgiving. Her family had cleared out all of the furniture in their living room and instead there were tables. They were obviously expecting a lot of people to come eat and I was nervous I would be overwhelmed by Serbian and customs that were completely new to me. True, there were lots of Oluic family members greeting me in Serbian and asking about me, but they made me feel at home. I sat at the end of the table with Sandra, her sister, and her cousin who was studying to get her PhD and go into medicine. She spoke perfect english so we had our little english corner and that made me feel much more at ease.

One custom of Slava is to bake this "cake" (to me it was more like a loaf of bread) and they cut it into quarters and Sandra's father lit a candle while other family members cut the cake into quarters and spooned red wine onto the bread while they said a prayer. It's fun to see other customs that are so foreign!

After that happened, we ate! (and ate and ate and ate!) The first course was a platter of cold cuts with salami and cheeses, marinated peppers called paprika, and bread. It was good, but I knew more substantial food was coming up so I held out. Next was soup, which is super typical of a Serbian meal. They always have soup of some sort before eating a big meal. Next came a platter of roasted beef. It was good, but it seemed like no one ate that. Next was the sarme, which were DELISH! It was a leaf of sauerkraut filled with meats, spices and rice rolled up and cooked in broth. Kinda like a cabbage roll. Yum! I filled up on those because they were SO good. After that there was a huge platter of lamb and pork. My pants were bulging at the seams so I tried a few bites, but just to taste it. Then last, there was a huge plate of various cakes, cookies, sweetbreads etc. They were all delicious and made with fruits. We ate our fair share of those and then realized we had to go to practice.

Practicing when I was that full was beyond difficult!! I felt like I literally could NOT jump...and of course all we did that practice was hitting reps. Ooof. I think it was punishment for eating like a piggy!

After practice I went back because Sandra explained to me that it was a party that lasted the entire day. And she was right!! When we went back there were even more people there and they broke out the homemade wine and were definitely indulging. This part of the night was a lot of fun. The man that drives our bus to our matches made some wine and he definitely wasn't shy about sharing it with me. I guess I can check having homemade wine off of the list of life's experiences. All of the older Montenegrin men were singing old national Serbian songs (at the top of their lungs) and were having a great time! They sang one about America and then looked at me searching for my approval so I gave them a round of applause and said "Bravo, bravo!", which they liked a lot. It was a great night with authentic culture!