Title: Serbian Wedding Rituals – Wedding Celebration

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: Southern Slavic nations, like Croatia and Serbia, enjoy preserving their traditions, especially the ones that are entertaining for bigger groups. Thus, these wedding rituals seem to be indispensable, and many Serbs of all ages know about them. In addition, the Serbian Orthodox Church has a large influence over many rituals and traditions. Many weddings are officiated by The Church, and its history is a vehicle for traditions. Politically, Serbia’s poor political and economic situation create a sense of unity.
• Social Context: Katarina is a friend and classmate of mine at Dartmouth. She told me about how Serbian weddings are often a large event, and that she has attended many herself. Many of these weddings, that she attended, took place and ended in a church. Katarina grew up as a member of the Serbian Orthodox Church herself.

Item:

The groom and the groomsmen go to the bride’s house with gifts. The bride, groom, and groomsmen leave in the same car and the family follow (pre liminal, separation) . They will honk their horns so the entire village/town knows and will participate. They drive to the church (if the wedding is religious, Katarina said 95% of weddings are). At the church, a priest officiates the wedding (liminal, journey). They play traditional folk music and everyone dances together. This is the way the community welcomes the couple (reincorporation). Compared to a Western wedding, everyone gets into a circle and dances. Katarina said there was less focus on the individual and more focus on the group.

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

Informant’s Comments:
Katarina has also heard from her parents/grandparents that they used to fire shotguns/AK47 after the wedding.

Collector’s Comments:

There were some similariteis (such as the groom and groomsmen going to the bride’s house with gifts) between Katarina’s initiation ritual and the initiation ritual of our other Serbian informants. Our other informants are significantly older, so this may be an indication that Serbian initiation rituals are changing over time.

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

Tags/Keywords:

• Initiation Ritual
• Slavic
• Serbian
• Wedding