Christmas can be celebrated not for one day, but for 3 days, as is customary in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia. On January 5, a national religious holiday is celebrated here Tucindan. From this day, local residents begin a three-day celebration of one of the most important religious holidays – the Bright Christmas of Christ.

Despite the fact that this is an Orthodox holiday, it has retained some elements of paganism, which find their expression in the rites during the celebration. The founder of the first Serbian Church in 1219 was Archbishop Savva, and the creation of Tucindan is attributed to his reign. This saint tried to preserve folk customs, but combined them with Orthodox traditions in order to attract as many followers as possible to the faith.

Traditions of the folk religious holiday of Tutsindan

On this holiday, according to tradition, a pig or a lamb was slaughtered, which will be served on the Christmas table 2 days later, namely on January 7. Also, a legend was passed down from generation to generation that children cannot be punished in Tutsindan, because then they will misbehave throughout the coming year.