Graveside Feasts and Dances in Yugoslavia

Abstract

DURING the summer of 1959, a charming elderly lady of my acquaintance, related by marriage to the former ruling family of Yugoslavia, died. The following summer I was invited to attend a memorial service performed in her name. The date was the 12 June, corresponding to 30 May in the older Calendar followed by the Serbian Orthodox Church. The celebration took place in the municipal cemetery in Belgrade. It was, in fact, an anniversary celebration of one year since the time of death. My hostess remarked that the death of her aunt was altogether unfortunate, but not entirely ill-timed, in that it had fallen only a few days after the yearly celebration of the Descent of the Holy Spirit, a time known as Duhovi, where requiem masses for the deceased are performed with great solemnity between 4 and 7 June. The morning, a Monday, was extremely warm. I was carrying, in order to aid my hostess, two bottles of wine, a large cake of sweetened, boiled wheat known as Zito, and a jar of honey. My hostess, her husband and the housemaid were all similarly laden, with the further addition of three loaves of bread stamped with the seal of Our Lord in two places, a number of smaller, round buns similarly stamped, glasses, plates, linen and spoons, but no knives and forks, which were taboo for the occasion.