The Feast of All Saints in Croatian Tradition

The Feast of All Saints is also a public holiday in the Republic of Croatia, on which citizens traditionally visit cemeteries in memory of their deceased loved ones. The following day, November 2, the Church commemorates All the Faithful Departed or All Souls' Day.

The Feast of All Saints began to be celebrated in the 4th century, and the first traces of a general celebration of All Saints were first recorded in Antioch on the Sunday after Pentecost. Pope Gregory III (731 - 741) moved it to November 1 to coincide with the ancient Celtic holiday of Samhain, which marked the New Year.

On this day in our regions, it is customary to visit cemeteries and tend to graves in memory of the dead. However, in the Church, the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, or All Souls' Day, is observed the day after, on November 2.

In ancient times in the countryside, today was the last pastoral holiday when shepherds were given gifts by the masters they worked for, after which they would go to the fields and feast. Ethnologists believe that it is precisely because of this unusual abundance that today was popularly named 'Little Christmas' (Mali Božić).

For 'sesvečak' or November and its first day, folk weather prognosticators predicted: if All Saints is soaked in rain, a thick snow awaits us; sunny All Saints, an abundance of acorns and grain in the summer. A longer-term interdependent forecast manifests in this saying: 'All Saints a frozen day, Christmas in ice encased.'

All Saints is also suitable for testing a different kind of divining skill. For example, it is said that on All Saints, one should cut a branch of an oak or beech tree. If the branch is dry, the winter will be like that too. If it is wet, a 'wet' winter rich in precipitation will follow.

On today's holiday, care has been taken since ancient times to make the dinner as festive as possible, so on All Saints and on Christmas, even poor families always somehow gathered ingredients for a richer meat lunch.

Ana Tepfer from Krapina, in her book 'Krapina Purger Kitchen' (Krapinska purgerska kuhinja), writes about the Feast of All Saints: "Indispensably on that day, alongside other meat, turkey with mlinci and makarija pears had to be found on the table. The first young, fattened turkeys were roasted precisely for this holiday, and alongside this roast, well-known to the whole town, more prominent Purger-class women prepared some of their specialties by which they differed from the rest. Thus, at the Kompare family home, they served mustard alongside boiled beef, and at the Barbot family home, the turkey was stuffed with chestnuts or livers. For the first time in the year, walnut roll (orehnjača) and poppy seed roll (makovnjača) were baked, as well as several types of small cookies."

“The customs of All Saints are, as we all know, connected to the cult of the deceased, but in Hrvatsko Zagorje, All Saints is also connected to expressing mutual affection between young men and girls who are ready for marriage. They would come to the front of the cemetery in the afternoon hours, and there the young men would wait for the girls with chalk in their hands. When they noticed a girl coming whom they liked, they would approach her and draw a sign of the cross on her back. This would be a sign to the villagers that they liked each other, but also a message to other young men that this girl is taken,” shared ethnologist Tibor Martan.

Ethnologist Milovan Gavazzi in the book 'A Year of Croatian Folk Customs' states that the folklore for All Saints and All Souls' Day is not abundant. It has been recorded that some food was carried to the deceased and placed on the grave, or a table spread with food would be left in the house overnight—both food and drink, or just drink. In some villages, remnants of this custom can still be found.

Lindar Mass

Noel Šuran, a curator at the Ethnographic Museum of Istria in Pazin, told Hina that in the old days in the countryside, not too much attention was paid to decorating graves, except during the Day of the Dead (Mrtvi dan), when graves were cleaned, arranged, and decorated with flowers.

'In Istria, (for All Saints) they say the day of Svih sveci, and All Souls' Day is Mrtvi dan. Places where cemeteries were closer to the settlement were more orderly than those dislocated, outside the town,' states Šuran.

He also reminds us that flowers for decorating graves used to be grown in gardens, whereas today they are mostly bought. 'Masses are held on the day of Svih sveci, and in the old days, sung evening masses were also held. In some parts of Istria, people went to the cemetery on the day of Svih sveci, and in others on Mrtvi dan. In Lindar near Pazin, a mass was held on that day in the cemetery church of St. Martin, and then the "Lindar mass for the deceased" (lindarska maša za pokojne)—a grand office for the dead—was performed. These chants belonged to the pre-conciliar way of singing and were specific to Lindar,' said Šuran.

Lumblija and Bobići (fave dei morti)

On the eve of the Feast of All Saints and All Souls' Day in Dalmatia and Dubrovnik, lumblija ('the cake of unforgettable remembrance') and the so-called fave di morti (fave dei morti)—small, round, white and dark almond (mendula) cookies, also known as bobići—are still made today.

“Petar Skok, a Croatian linguist from the turn of the 19th to the 20th century, derives the name lumblija from the word oblata, which is the perfect participle of the Latin verb offerre (Croatian: ponuditi - to offer), which denoted "that which is brought as a sacrifice". The cake is prepared from ingredients specific to Korčula. It contains almonds, lemon and orange juice and zest, raisins, olive oil, varenik (boiled must syrup), and a whole range of spices that were collected throughout the year. Lumblija was baked on the Feast of All Saints as a memory of loved ones who are no longer here,” explained Tanja Kocković Zaborski, a curator at the Zagreb Ethnographic Museum.

Confraternities on Hvar and Korčula, but also on some other islands, have special processions on Saints' Day. One of the larger and more visited processions is on the island of Brač. The Confraternity of All Saints in Korčula, the oldest Croatian confraternity from the year 1301, celebrates its founding day on November 1 and prepares a special procession through Korčula.

Church Bells in Memory of the Deceased

On many Dalmatian islands, on October 31 or November 1, dances or 'kola' are danced in folk costumes, bonfires are lit in the evening, and church bells are rung manually after midnight in memory of the deceased. Large wax candles are lit and burn all night until the morning of All Souls' Day.

“Lighting lanterns (lučice) is a new fashion in Dubrovnik; our grandmothers (none) would be shocked if they saw this today instead of large candles,” says Dubrovnik art historian Ivan Viđen. He also states that death itself has been an important social ritual from the 19th century until today; until a few years ago, black and white funeral carriages were preserved at Boninovo.

“Funerals were social events, but it is characteristic of the Dubrovnik, Pelješac, and Ston areas that there are no excessively large, lavish monuments and tombs by class, as if care was taken that everyone is somehow equal in death. We have only two mausoleums at Boninovo, and one each in Cavtat and Ston,' explained Viđen.

Slavonija: Dancing Kola Around the Fire on Sisvete

“In Slavonija, in the villages, they dance kola around the fire on Sisvete (Svisvete), that is still a living custom, and All Souls' Day is even more important. The kolo turns to the left, and at one point it twists to the right to deceive death and the dead,” explained folklore pedagogue Nikola Kramar for Hina.

After the kolo, the youth go to church to pray for their deceased, and everyone went by location and village to manually ring the bells for their deceased, which today has become unfeasible due to electric bells. Until about ten years ago in Slavonija, a living custom on All Souls' Day was the so-called 'muntanje'—the auctioning of traditional towels and corn to raise money for church needs.

Fasting is still widespread as a custom in all Croatian regions today. Legumes, chickpeas, walnuts, and honey are eaten for the happiness of the living, and garlic or white onion as a food that purifies us and protects us from the return of dead souls. On the continent, grated horseradish is still eaten somewhere instead of garlic. In Slavonija, chickens are roasted over the fire, perhaps with a bit of bacon.

North of Croatia and Zagorje

'In the north of Croatia, a flatbread-postružnjak was prepared from pumpkin—pumpkin cubes that were cooked and mixed with corn flour, after which everything was baked in a bread oven. When it was baked, the postružnjača was spread with sour cream, and each of the household members received a piece of this fasting dish,' stated curator Kocković Zaborski.

In Zagorje, duck or goose, less frequently turkey, is still prepared for lunch on Sisvete, and poppy seed roll and the first walnut roll made from young walnuts are baked.

In all parts of Croatia and even in Zagreb, the custom of lighting candles in houses on All Souls' Day has survived, burning deep into the night, and on that day the house must not be tidied or cleaned, nor should one sing, so as not to disturb the dead. In Zagreb, the custom of lighting new wax candles on the graves of one's closest relatives on All Souls' Day has been preserved.