Saint Ignatius Day
2 January 2026 — Happy Saint Ignatius Day! May the fire burn bright and the house be full of plenty.
Saint Ignatius Day is a church and folk feast in memory of Saint Ignatius the God-Bearer. The Serbian Orthodox Church uses the Julian (old) calendar, which runs 13 days behind the Gregorian one, so 20 December in the old style falls on 2 January. The day belongs to the winter festive cycle around Christmas Eve, Christmas and the New Year. In some regions it is also linked with the custom of the polaznik (polažajnik), the first guest to cross the threshold at the start of the festive cycle; elsewhere the polaznik comes on Christmas morning. Folk belief says the visitor brings luck to the household. Traditionally he is a welcome guest who stirs the embers in the hearth and speaks wishes for health, fertility and prosperity. The day comes about two weeks after the winter solstice, when daylight is already growing again. The hearth fire and the wishes for a good year are thus also tied to the sky turning back towards the light.
Flying across the sky: An ethereal, bluish-silver star figure made of luminous dots and thin lines, like a constellation walking across the night sky
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