In Belgrade and the rest of
Serbia last night the Orthodox New Year was celebrated according
to the Julian calendar, a tradition to which much of the
population of the Balkan country is strongly attached, where,
according to the same calendar, the Christmas holiday is
observed on January 7. Despite the frigid temperatures,
thousands of people waited for the 'Old New Year' (Stara Nova
Godina) by attending open-air concerts in town squares large and
small, featuring traditional Serbian and Balkan music and
motifs, and warming up by dancing and drinking mulled wine and
rakija, the brandy popular in all the countries of the region.
Concerts and performances were organized among others in Novi
Sad, Kragujevc, Sabac, and Cacak, in addition to the capital
Belgrade. In the latter city Goran Bregovic and his Wedding and
Funeral Orchestra performed. In Belgrade, where a solemn liturgy
was celebrated in the Orthodox Cathedral of St. Sava, the
traditional gala concert was held at the National Theater with
singers and artists performing well-known melodies from the
Italian and international opera tradition. Restaurants, cafes
and clubs remained full and lively until dawn, while at midnight
throughout the country there were fireworks, the most
spectacular of which were in Belgrade.
Orthodox New Year was also celebrated in Republika Srpska,
the Serb-majority entity of Bosnia-Erzegovimna, and in the Serb
regions and enclaves of Kosovo.
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