Serbian citizens are the only Christians who have the tradition to annually celebrate the family’s patron saint day. As Families celebrate “Slava” (the local word for this day), a feast is made every year and friends of the family are invited to share these happy moments together.
Every family has its patron saint who is inherited from father to son across generations and the patron that is most often the patron saint of the family is Saint Nicholas.
This patron saint day is celebrated among orthodox believers at the 19th December this year and it is believed that he is a miracle maker, protector of seamen and the poor, and we will add, nonetheless, one of the PR faces for Coke.
A host at the family feast would maybe be offended but the real story is, in fact, quite interesting and not far from the truth.
Once New Amsterdam, nowadays New York, has in 1804 chosen for its patron saint – St. Nicholas. It was at those times that St. Nicholas “converted” visually to Santa, as an artist named Alexander Anderson was asked to paint the saint for the first celebration of the patron in 1810. Since then, a long white beard and a halo are the first things that come to ones mind when imaging St. Nicholas. Once dressed in yellow, Santa has changed his colors to red and since 1868 has been “motorized” with a chariot and reindeer.
In 1931 The Coca-cola company jumped in with the first ad picturing Santa as we know him today – as a good old champ!
The original Coca-Cola ad from 1931. source: The Coca Cola company
Since then, Saint Nicholas is better known for its shortened name – Santa Claus.
As for the patron saint day in Serbia that is going to be celebrated by many these days, maybe this fun facts will motivate you to refrain yourself from liquor, but if not, there’s surely no reason to endanger others by driving drunk, as you have an affordable personal shuttle service that is ready to get you there and back like a good old champ.
“Srećna Slava domaćine!”