Slaughter (Zabíjačka)
On of the annual (or semi-annual) traditions in Slovakia is something called zabíjačka or slaughter. It’s the closest thing we have to the American Thanksgiving. The difference is that instead of killing a turkey, we eat a pig. The whole ritual starts in late March, when people living in a village buy a pig (prasa). The small 30lb piglet is then fattened all summer long, and finally slaughtered once it gets to a respectable 200lbs. Of course, nowadays many folks do not have the yard (nor the patience) to raise a pig. As such, it is quite common to purchase Read the Rest…
St. Lucia Day
In Slovakia, December 13th is known as the Day of St. Lucia (Deň Svätej Lucie). This, along with with the St. Nicholas Day, is one of the witching days, stridžie dni. St. Lucia day is the most important of all of these, since, in the unreformed Julian calendar used prior to the modern Gregorian calendar, December 13th fell on the shortest day of the year. The lack of daylight made this day very favorable for the witches (strigy, striga singular) to come out! Another Slovak words for witch are bosorka and ježibaba. About St. Lucia Saint Lucia (or Lucy) came Read the Rest…
St. Nicholas Day (Deň Sv. Mikuláša)
So what is this St. Nicholas day (Dec. 6th) anyway? And why did I cook the kapustnica soup for a dinner held on this day? About St. Nicholas Saint Nicholas (or Svätý Mikuláš in Slovak) was a pilgrim and later a bishop and a saint born in the year 270AD in the town of Myra, in the present-day Turkey. He became famous for his extended generosity, secret gift-giving and performing miracles for the poor and the unlucky. As such, he became the patron of humanitarian brotherhoods, sailors, unmarried women, tradesmen, students and so on. He is also the patron saint Read the Rest…