Saint Stephen's Day
9 January 2026 — Blessings and good health! May the candle of your home shine bright.
Saint Stephen's Day honours Saint Stephen the Protomartyr, regarded as the first Christian martyr. The Serbian Orthodox Church follows the Julian calendar, so the feast falls on 27 December Old Style, which is 9 January in the Gregorian calendar. It comes on the third day of Christmas and belongs to the festive season. Many Serbian families keep it as their Slava (the custom of honouring a family's patron saint, passed down from father to son). The household prepares carefully: a priest or the head of the family blesses the slavski kolač (a ceremonial bread marked with a cross and a seal), boiled wheat and wine, a candle is lit, and guests and neighbours are welcomed to the table. The candle stands for light and for the unbroken bond between generations. The feast comes shortly after the winter solstice, when the days slowly begin to lengthen and the night sky is often clear and cold. In the Gregorian calendar its date is fixed: in the current century it falls on 9 January every year.
Flying across the sky: An ethereal, bluish-silver figure made of pale dots and lines, like a constellation: a round festive loaf with a cross-shaped pattern, slowly drifting across the night sky
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