Holy Basil

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SERBIA SAIJIKI


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***** Location: Serbia
***** Season: Autumn
***** Category: Humanity

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Explanation


The basil used as a spice for food is a TOPIC for haiku.


Holy Basil - Босиљак - sweet basil

is used to purify sacred water. The holy water and some pots of basil are placed below the altar of the church.


Sava I, saint – archbishop (27 January) St Sava's Day.
Sava II, saint – archbishop (21 January)
Sava II Branković (Brankovich), saint – metropolitan (7 May)
Sava III, saint – archbishop (8 August)

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It was St. Sava who introduced the ritual of the baptismal Slava, or Patron Saint's Day, into practice on a liturgical basis. Since the time of St. Sava, this ritual and its accompanying customs gradually assumed the form it has today.

Consecrating the Water
In some parts of the country, as in Vojvodina, Belgrade and elsewhere, the custom is for the priest to go to the homes of the celebrants before the day of the Slava itself and to bless the water. The housewife places before the household icon, a candle, a censer and incense and lights the thurible. The priest then blesses the water which the housewife will use to knead the flour for the Slave cake.

For that occasion it is necessary to prepare the following: a censer, a flame (or a briquette made of special coal), a candlestick and incense, as well as a posy of sweet basil and a vessel of clear water. All this has to be on a table facing the icon of the relevant Slava which hangs on the eastern wall of the room.The housewife treats the consecrated water as something sacred. She handles it with care and puts it in a specific place.

Then, on the eve of the Slava, when she has completed all the preparations for the following day, she uses this water and takes flour to knead the dough for the Slava cake, adding the requisite amount of salt and yeast. In some regions the Slava begins already on the prior evening with a supper, because liturgically regarded, that is already a new day, that is, the Slava day and vespers and the wake are held for the next day. Nevertheless, it is rare for the Slava cake to be cut at that time as this is done on the very day of the Slava.

Going to Church
On the morning of the slava, the cake, a wheat cereal dish, and red wine are carried to the church. In the church, the joint consecration of the wheat dish and blessing of the bread and wine is performed and then the priest pours wine over each dish of wheat cereal and cuts each cake separately. At this time, the celebrant, before the commencement of the holy liturgy, offers a list of the living and deceased members of the family for the purpose of having their names mentioned and the wafers placed on the oblation table - for the good health of the living and the peace of the soul of the deceased.

Read more:
source : svetisavacanberra.org


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The slava (Serbian Cyrillic: слава),
also called krsna slava (крсна слава) and krsno ime (крсно име, literally "christened name" in Serbian), is the Serbian Orthodox tradition of the ritual celebration, veneration, and observance of a family's own patron saint. The family celebrates the slava annually on the patron saint's feast day.

The slava is a tradition of the Serbs, who are a people now living in the modern states of Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina (mostly in Republika Srpska), and Montenegro, as well as in the former Military Frontier (parts of modern states of Croatia, Hungary, and Romania). The Serbs regard the slava as one of their most significant feast days. The tradition of the slava is also preserved among the Serbian diaspora.
©　More in the WIKIPEDIA !


slava cake


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Worldwide use

India

The holy Indian basil is a miracle plant.

. Holy basil, tulsi, tulasi, thulasi
Basil (Ocimum spp.) 　



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Things found on the way

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Slava and Saint Nicolas

Every Orthodox family in Serbia has one patron saint. Each family celebrates the feast day of their saint with a unique Serbian Orthodox religious tradition, Krsna Slava or Thanksgiving, on the day when their ancestors were baptized (Serbians accepted Christianity by families and whole tribes). This same saint is the family's saint from generation to generation through the centuries.
Sveti Nikola (St. Nicholas) is the patron saint for so many families that there is a Serbian saying for St. Nicholas Day, 6 or 19 December,
"Half of Serbia is celebrating their Slava today,
and the other half is going to a Slava."
It is a very important day for Serbian Orthodox.

source : www.stnicholascenter.org


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HAIKU

Очева мајка
стављала је у недра
стручак босиљка.

Father's mother
used to put a stem of sweet basil
on her bosom

Vrbislava Starovic / Врбислава Старовић


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Related words

***** Basil in India


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