Home for the Holidays
By Frank Hennick
The Three Days of Christmas
Last year, on the evening of January 5th, I heard a distinctive
cracking sound coming from the street in front of my own
house. When I looked out, I saw my neighbors sitting in their
dining room chairs, all circled around a bonfire built right in
the middle of the cobblestone street, complete with a card table
set up between them, piled high with salads, wine, rakija, and
cakes. When I joined the festivities, I was promptly given a
prime seat close to the refreshments, then handed a small teacup of topla rakija, two glasses of homemade wine, a plate of
homemade sausages, and some pickled cauliflower and pepper
salad. More and more neighbors arrived, babies and kids all
bundled up against the winter night’s cold air, and I met pretty
much everyone in the neighborhood. Every so often, someone
would light a firecracker, casually throw it over his shoulder –
occasionally checking to make sure the way was clear – and
then continue a conversation with whoever he was talking to,
the explosion giving everyone pause for a second before the
general murmur of voices continued again.
This year, when I started hearing kids throwing firecrackers in the streets in late December, I knew the holiday season
was nearly upon us. After one year in Bitola, many things had
changed. First of all, I now know that January 5th is called
“Kolede,” so I actually got the reference when my friends were
inviting me over for their various celebrations on that evening. Furthermore, the fact that I had invitations to sit around
many fires was a departure from last year’s wandering from
my neighbors’ to the public fire in the center. And, this year I
knew ahead of time to put on my long underwear before heading out for a long evening of bonfires and rakija.
My friend Dragica invited Patrice and me to join her at her
church for their afternoon celebration. As they built the fire in
the courtyard of the small chapel, the nun who is the caretaker
there began to sing a haunting melody. Suddenly, her friend
and neighbor, a retired teacher, struck up a harmony. I gazed
into the growing flames, as the sun set over the snowy churchyard, and watched the reflection of the firelight in the string of
icicles hanging from the eaves. Later we sampled more topla
12 - pauza
By Heather Tomlins
rakija – most welcome as the temperature continued to drop –
along with zelnik, bread, candies, and fruits. I lit candles in the
church for my faraway family, and then departed for the next
bonfire on my evening’s itinerary. At my friend Denny’s house,
we warmed our hands and backsides around his expertly-built
fire, which was contained in a metal drum in his courtyard,
and kept sipping on homemade wine--and, do I have to say it
again -- rakija. As friends continued to stream inside the yard,
we dined on more sausages and salads. My belly full and no
longer caring how cold I was, it seemed to me that the January
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