New Year, Badnik and Bozhik

The following are my first impressions of many of the religious traditions. They are presented without doing any additional research, so they may contain errors and omissions, for which I apologize. I just feel honored and privileged to have had the opportunity to be invited to and included as a family member during this time.
New Year
Macedonian’s are predominantly orthodox Christians and my city has one church, St Bogodorica. There are also a couple of other sites, each called a church, though in reality an outdoor shrine, with no structure to hold a congregation. On Sunday Jan 3, I attended a service. The Macedonian prayers had already commenced and the few people in attendance, both men and women were standing to the right, facing the altar. On the left of the church, closer to the entrance was a small pulpit also facing the altar. Between it and the altar was a wooden, scaled model of the church itself. The right side of the church had no such adornments and has the single wood burning stove to warm the interior of the church, which may explain why the people were standing on that side.
In the center of the church, under the painted dome was a glass-topped table with a painting of the Virgin Mary (St. Bogodorica). People had tucked in money in the frame. Between this table and the altar, on either side rested circular (approx 1 ½ ft in diameter) iron candleholders mounted on semi-ornate iron stands. There was a third candleholder, set before reaching the center alongside a beautifully painted, wooden self-contained altar. Beyond the two candleholders was a wooden panel, along the width of the church screening the inner altar from the main church space and seen through a window shaped opening. This panel was filled with pictures of saints. The priest has access to the altar through a swinging wooden half-door. During these prayers, he was standing in the church space facing the altar.
Inside the main hall, off the right corner nearest to the entrance was a glass-fronted case with items available for church service. My friend purchased a few candles, lighted them with the flame of the existing candles and placed them in front two candleholders, then moved among the pictures of some of the saints’ to place an offering, before moving to my side. Soon the prayers ceased and the priest crossed the half-door into the altar space and with an incense holder; called a candelo – a golden cup hanging on three chains, about 18 inches in length, filled with smoking basil, and started a new set of prayers, making a pendulum-like motion with the holder towards the altar. Soon he turned and was lost to sight and re-emerged from a door to our left, led by the senior priest and another person. They walked he length of the little church and turned towards the altar and continued sprinkling the incense towards the cross and image of Christ. After completing a sequence of prayers, he turned and sprinkled the incense/blessing towards the parishioners. We left soon after, before the conclusion of the prayers.
Badnik
Early morning on Christmas Eve, January 6 by the orthodox calendar, prior to the beginning of the service, soon after the churchmen swept and cleaned the church, a box of dried basil and end branches with leaves of the local oak (dabh) was brought to the altar. The priest, dressed in the priestly robes, blessed the offering (sounded amazingly like a Sikh prayer!) after which the boxes were laid in the main body of the church. Each of us took a stalk of basil and the twig of oak leaves for our homes. For Christmas dinner, the centerpiece consists of this dabh, and nestled in the leaves are the walnuts, hazelnuts, apples, mandarin oranges and bananas and some candy. These are left on the table overnight as an offering of thanks to God. Again it reminded me of the traditional Indian religious practice of offering food to God – a thanks and blessing for the bountiful edible items for nourishment. The western “grace” is only a prayer of thanks sans food.
Therefore on reaching home, I took down my ‘Christmas’ decorations and replaced them with the ‘traditional orthodox Christian’ dabh and the fruits and nuts. Christmas eve dinner is a family event, not unlike the tradition in America. Prior to dinner, quite unlike “grace”, the mom took the oak, basil, bread and wine to the front door, inviting the presence of God at the meal. We then started the meal with a very traditional thick soup made of lentils. Lentils, as was explained to me, when eaten on Christmas brings a year of wealth and prosperity! I of course sampled every item served of what was a true vegetarian meal. The faithful maintain a dietary custom and abstain from eating any meat, eggs, milk, butter or cheese on Fridays. This diet is also maintained on certain other religious days of which I am not quite clear about, but was evident for Christmas Eve. Fish is not considered a meat product and was on the menu.
As I was asked to join one families’ dinner table, I thought it wise to visit all my friends and wish them personally for Christmas prior to dinner. As this day happened to coincide with my birthday, I was overwhelmed by their kindness and generosity in presenting me with birthday gifts.
On Bozhik as Christmas day is called, I did not go to the church for early morning service, as I accompanied my family, who had lost their father a couple of years ago, to the cemetery. I understand this is to include the departed in the Christmas meal. They had prepared a meal that could be eaten without a dinner service and included bread, meats, cookies, fruits and nuts, as well as wine and the local brandy called rakhia. The cemetery full of families, at each site, each family had spread a tablecloth on the grave and laid out the meal. The wine and brandy close to the headstone, along a small altar to light and place candles. People were dressed in somber colors and voices were low. There was visitation, lighting of candles and expressions of condolences. Though some food was consumed, it was primarily exchanged with the visitation. After about 2 hours, we packed, cleaned and swept the site and left and had our breakfast at home.