Easter and Lent in Konavle
- nikolaradonich
- Apr 5
- 6 min read
Easter is the most important Christian holiday. The date varies each year and depends on the movement of the moon in the period after March 21. Lent is a forty-day preparation for Easter and begins on Ash Wednesday, which can fall anywhere between February 4 and March 10. During this period, the Church oversees renunciations, various services, spiritual renewal, and expressions of fasting and almsgiving. The custom of Lent as a time of penance and renunciation was established in the 4th century, modeled after Jesus’ forty days in the desert, and the forty years that the Israeli people wandered in the desert. Traditionally, people included these events in their annual rhythms and developed customs, some of which are still observed in Konavle today.
During Lent, believers are expected to make sacrifices and perform various rituals and sacraments to free them from sin. In Konavle, as in other areas where the church was the only public space and the only social corrective, numerous customs were developed and became part of the annual ritual.
Lenten customs are focused on cleansing the spirit, body, and living space. Lent begins with fasting on Ash Wednesday. The name Ash Wednesday comes from the role of ashes used in the Mass on that day, which is to remind us that we are dust and that to dust we will return. The use of ashes is common in many cultures, and in the traditional world, in addition to the spiritual, it foreshadows the aforementioned cleansing process. Ash was the main means of cleansing and disinfecting in past times.
On Ash Wednesday morning, Konavle housewives would wash their dishes thoroughly in ashes so that they would be completely clean for the preparation of simple, lean food for the next forty days. It was more a symbolic than a real event, and was witnessed by all the household members. The dried, salted meat left over from Christmas would be gathered in a basket and taken to the attic to dry until Lent was over. During Lent, various grains and legumes, wild green vegetables, sometimes fish, cabbage and potatoes left over from the previous year were eaten. Priganice / prikle were the only sweet food prepared. These were made exclusively from flour and water and were deep fried in olive oil. This is evidenced by the proverb: “Lent eats all the grains, and drinks all our oils”. This light diet was even more scarce on fasting days, when only one meal was eaten and one was full without overeating. Fasting day was always Friday, and often Wednesday. Thus, in honor of Jesus’ suffering on the cross, people fasted on Fridays and abstained from all meat and dairy products. In addition, the Stations of the Cross were held in the church on Fridays. Believers went through the experience of Jesus’ suffering in the stations, praying and showing their piety.
Lent passed in silence, without dancing, singing or joy. There were no weddings or other festivities. The only day when the Lenten silence was allowed to be broken a little was the fourth Sunday of Lent, or so-called Mid-Lent Sunday. In Cavtat, a dance was held to accompany the game Pucanje lopižica, and in Čilipi, a dance was organized after Sunday mass. That was the only Lenten joy. Families gathered for evening prayers more intensely than usual.
During Lent, no jewelry was worn, and women wore embroidery and costumes that were normally worn during mourning. In other words, the appropriate embroidery for this time was a mourning embroidery and darker belts and aprons. On Good Friday, such clothing was mandatory. Likewise, church altars were sparsely decorated. On the fifth Sunday of Lent, which is called Zakrivača, all altars would be stripped bare, and images would be covered with dark fabrics.
The sixth Sunday in Lent is Palm Sunday when the Holy Week begins and all events intensify. For Palm Sunday, olive and palm branches (pomice) are prepared and carried to be blessed by the priest. Even today, the custom of weaving palm branches is popular in Konavle, and everyone makes sure to get beautifully woven palm branches. The blessed branches are kept in homes all year round, where they serve to protect the household. In addition, in the morning on Palm Sunday, older women would pick flowers which would be placed in water. The girls of Konavle would bathe their faces in this water.
After Palm Sunday comes the Holy Week, which is full of church services. On Holy Thursday, all church bells would be tied up, and for the needs of the service, rattles were used instead of bells, with which the people would make noise, symbolically chasing Barabbas away. On Holy Thursday, the tomb of Jesus is decorated, and sown wheat and flowers are placed on the altars. In all the churches of Konavle, beautiful representations of Jesus’ tomb would be made, before which the faithful would bow. On this day, the people go to confession, for which they are not allowed to eat food from midnight the previous day.
Good Friday is a day of the greatest fasting and silence. No one does anything. No one works in the fields because it was believed that digging the ground on this day was like hurting Jesus’ wounds. It was believed that the more red wine one drank on this day, the more blood would be renewed. In all villages, the Passion was sung, and after the Stations of the Cross, people gathered in a procession that passed through the village. In Gruda and Cavtat, the procession passed through the entire town. Along this path, candles were lit in all the windows of the houses.
Holy Saturday brings special joy. The end of Lent is heralded when the bells are untied and are rung Gloria from the main church. After that, bells in all the chapels ring. The girls wash their faces in flower water again while the bells are ringing. The household members take meat down from the attic and prepare a great feast for tomorrow’s Easter. On that day, sweet breads (teharice) are made to adorn the table throughout Easter week. During the day, Easter eggs are dyed red with onion peel dye or madder dye, and during the 20th century, the custom of decorating eggs using a wax process, popularly called penganje, became popular. Eggs dyed in dark colors were called Kaluđeri, and were in houses where there was mourning.
In the evening, churches are festive because they organize the blessing of food, fire, and seeds. Women bring salt, matches, bread, cheese, eggs, and other food in their baskets or purses that the household members will eat on Easter day. Those who did not bless the silkworm eggs on the day of the Annunciation, March 25, will now have the opportunity to bless them. The blessing of fire is performed by lighting a fire in front of the entrance to the darkened church. From it, the priests transfer the fire to candles. This light is shared among the people in the church and soon the entire church is illuminated. In the past, householders would bring a vine branch to the church and light it on the church fire. They would then take it to their hearths to burn completely. In this way, the fire in the hearth was symbolically renewed.
During Lent, nature in Konavle undergoes a rebirth. On Ash Wednesday, the weather is still cold, and nature is still in its winter attire. The arrival of Easter marks the arrival of abundance in nature, so the table on that day is colorful with young vegetables, meat, eggs, cheese, and other foods. The altars in the church are decorated, flowers are everywhere, and everyone is dressed festively. After a rich lunch, the day passes in joy and congratulations, children play with the eggs they receive, they sing and rejoice. Joy is felt until the following Sunday, which the people call Little Easter, after which everyone returns to their agricultural duties in full swing.
The people of Konavle truly experienced Lent as a rebirth in every sense. The purification of the body, spirit, and living space was seen as their own rebirth, and at the same time, nature underwent a complete renewal. Today, some of these customs are still alive in Konavle houses. Modern living needs in Konavle are no longer so dependent on natural cycles, so customs are respected more for the sake of ancestors and tradition.
