In Croatia, Christmas preparation begins in earnest during Advent with participation in the "zornice"—dawn masses celebrated before sunrise.
These Advent masses take place every day before dawn. You make your way to church while it is still dark and return home as the first light breaks. Often there is snow on the ground, but no one minds. Many people attend anyway.
The church fills with worshippers, and the liturgy comes alive through the beautiful Advent hymns sung exclusively during this season. They remind us that Mary is the true "luminous dawn."
Early December brings the preparation of grain. Wheat kernels are placed in small containers and left to sprout, ready to decorate the home by Christmas. It requires careful attention: the right amount of water, good light so the grain stays green and fresh, growing to a height of ten or twelve inches by Christmas Day.
A ribbon in Croatian colors is added, and a candle placed at the center. This sprouted grain then adorns the nativity scene, the table, the windows—a beautiful decoration for the home and church alike.
Badnjak—Christmas Eve, the final preparations… and every home must have fish on the table.
The midnight mass arrives and the magnificent repertoire of Christmas carols begins. There are countless of them: simple, beautiful melodies rooted in folk tradition. These songs are rich with biblical and theological meaning, and throughout the Christmas season they replace the standard liturgical prayers—the Kyrie Eleison, the Gloria, the Credo.
Christmas is lived as a family feast and celebration gathered around the Holy Family of Bethlehem, made present and visible in the nativity scene. A small log of wood is brought into the home, a symbol of the warmth of the hearth. Straw is tucked beneath the tablecloth that covers the festive table, and straw is scattered across the floor as well. The children are delighted to sleep on this straw, and every home becomes a little Bethlehem.
Christmas has been a source of inspiration for native Croatian painters. A simple, poor Christmas, where popular tradition sustains the faith of humble people who find such tenderness in gazing upon that Child who drew so close to their suffering and their daily toil.
Maria Grazia, Croatia