Slava

'Slava' is a Southeast Europe holiday similar to Thanksgiving day for it to be easier to explain where each family has their family's Patron Saint or few inviting relatives to lunch as gathering in sign of respect towards their Patron Saint.

Most families use separate room for this if they have more than few Patron Saints during the year as of Orthodox Saints Calendar having a day for each than more than 300 Saints with each having their original Church, descendants and followers.

My family has 23 family Patron Saints but as 'Slava' only uses St Nicholas day each May and Holy Trinity Day.

Wine symbolisses the blood of Jesus Christ and bread symbolisses the body of Jesus Christ as he was a child born in relationship between two tribe's where his real father was not being grateful of getting a son with a poor woman not of his status at that time both Roman and Jewish tribe's era.

It's meant as respect to all of the children back then born in these type of relationships as symbolically getting 'drop of blood' of a rich family and with it a possible inheritance even with his mother's family being poor.

We have to understand that time Roman system where poor people did not have a place among Roman Senators, for Jesus Christ starting to preach to his mother's side of the family went awfully wrong on both of his family sides as not being acknowledged until his death as son from a wealthy family and hated among his mother's side of the family as his mother's reputation as woman being ruined even with Joseph's help for getting illegitimate child outside marriage.

It is why it is historically probable there was an order for all male children to be killed along with a story of Three Wise men from his mother's side of the family offering gifts to the newborn of their family as they were probably relatives.

Wine means that in the past some of your ancestors were born in a relationship and have had a wedding between a rich and poor family.

Is the glass half full or is the glass half empty?

The fuller glass means more rich men marrying poor women in the family lineage and opposite, the emptier Glass means less men marrying poor women in the family lineage.

Except these Patron Saints there are in my family the Holy Five ~ Holy Paraskeva, Veil of Virgin Mary, St Nicholas, Cyril & Methodius, St John, St Archangel Michael,... and many other Saints not acknowledged children of rich families most probably in my family's lineage as why we celebrate Slava as gathering of family and thank you lunch to the Groom's side of the family marrying someone from your family of lower status.

Dumpster Orthodox family ~ having a lot of rich family sons in direct paternal line marrying with women of lower social status.

In my family it's a practice, with few otherwise cases, for 21 generations now that meaning for about 6 hundred years of these types of marriages.

As why it is said that today in so many prayers that Jesus died by fault of both of his families sides as a halfbreed not accepted by his rich biological father and his mother's nationality at Eastern Mediterranean then.

It is why his birth is celebrated as for the people to know someone of lower background among people mostly women got accepted in a rich family as that was forbidden by law then and social standards today.

Bread as body of Christ means the same as when these kind of relationships were accepted female tribe moved entirely at the lands owned by the male side of the family meaning to take parts of their land on their own to produce food for themselves a long time ago.

It is why his resurrection is celebrated each spring as this custom is becoming not important as modern times reach different nationalities.

It would be interesting to know which Albanian wedding with a family from Kosovo here at Serbia caused the bride's Albanian side of the family tribes to start moving.

As Greek have what others name 'big fat weddings' Serbs have yearly 'slava' while the reason why certain people celebrate a certain Saint (Saint, Serbian: Svetac - Holy man or woman, person who takes revenge on someone else) sometimes can have a different meaning as celebrating another year without disputes with tribes taking revenge in the name of their Patron Saint upon others.

It's funny among people as everyone knows 'slava' celebration lasts for three days.

Day One

People invited for the day one of slava are the closest relatives of my father's family, meaning inviting my father's male side meaning my grandfather's relatives to lunch. 

As my grandfather had three sisters there are about twenty of us in my generation of relatives with their families to invite.

Day Two

People invited for day two are from both side of my mother's family meaning all about twenty relatives from my mother's father side and about forty of relatives from my mother's mother side to lunch.

Day Three

People invited to day three are my father's mother relatives as sixteen of us in my generation.

This would mean I would invite my closest Milosavljević and Trbojević family members to the Day Two of my husband's family Patron Saint Slava while his family is Day One lunch preparing and my husband's grandmother's (mother of my husband's father) family would be invited to Day Three lunch only not if a new wedd couple decides to live alone and not with parents of the groom.

Even today at Serbia most new wedd or older couples live with the groom parents unlike western Europe couples.