Title: Serbian Wedding Rituals – Serbian Baptism

General Information about Item:

• Slavic initiation ritual (wedding)
• Language: Serbo-Croatian
• Country of Origin: Serbia
• Informant: Katarina Nesic
• Date Collected: 11-12-18

Informant Data:

• Katarina Nesic was born and raised in Serbia. Katarina is currently 20 years old. She left Serbia at 16 for Swiss boarding school. Katarina is currently a student at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH. She was baptized at the young age of one and was integrated into Serbian culture. She has personally been in attendance to many weddings. She was involved with the Serbian Orthodox Church and celebrates many religious holidays.

Contextual Data:

• Cultural Context: While Serbia may be in a politically and economically challenged region, religion is a part of Serbia’s culture that has always stood the test against time. The Serbian Orthodox Church has a large influence over many rituals and traditions. Many Serbians are affiliated with the Serbian Orthodox Church, and are baptized at the age of one (or very young). The Serbian Orthodox Church very similary catholicism with several differences (for example they cross differently). The Serbian Church also has icons, an older Slavic language, and its own unique holidays, signifying their strong sense of uniqueness.
• Social Context: Katarina is a friend and classmate of mine at Dartmouth. Katarina grew up as a member of the Serbian Orthodox Church herself. She told me she was baptized at one, herself. Her family also grew up with strong Christian values and celebrated religious holidays. Katarina grew up in the social environment of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Item:

Everyone gathers at the church in the morning. This shows the central importance of the Serbian Orthodox Church’s community. At the start of the baptism, the priest says prayers quickly in an old Slavic language. Katarina was unable to remember or recall the prayers likely due it being recited in an older Serbian language. The child/baby is sent to the priest (separation/preliminal). The priest sprinkles water on the child in the shape of a cross and uses parts of a tree to conduct the religious baptism (liminal). This serves as initiation into the Serbian Orthodox Church and integration with Christ. Afterwards, the child is given back to his/her parents.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Informant’s Comments:

Collector’s Comments:

It was interesting to have a religious intitiation ritual. This initiation ritual showed how religion played a large role in Serbian society. The initiation shows that the Christian Orthodox Church is an important value of Serbian communities. In a way, many other initiation rituals also are vaguely tied to religious influences (Christian/Serbian weddings).

Collector: Andrew Yang, 19 years old
773 Hinman, Hanover, NH
Dartmouth College
RUSS 013
Fall 2018

Tags/Keywords:

• Initiation Ritual
• Slavic
• Serbian
• Baptism