We are from Zagreb, capital of Croatia. Zagreb has a population of about 800 000 inhabitants and only 1 University of the Third Age (U3A). Our University is one of the departments of the Public Open University (POUZ) and we have around 900 students.

From those 900 we found 11 of them who could, on short notice, take part in this beautiful, Christmas project.

Their names are: Zdenka Brlek, Ljiljana Huljak, Katarina Prcać, Zvonimir Veber, Ana Jurenić, Branka Vranješević, Goran Vidmar, Višnja Vidmar, Marija Olić, Renata Chalupa Prvan and Ana Šarić. Our students attend different classes such as: Computer, Language, Art, Archeology, Art History etc.

They worked very hard to prepare everything for the box, and one small surprise that you’ll see on the Tastes of Danube web site.

Christmas in Croatia is an important holiday and has many different traditions, as you’ll be able to read in the text written by Mrs. Olić. It’s celebrated on December 25^th and that day we spend with our families. Christmas tree is decorated on the Christmas Eve and after decorating the tree family goes to the midnight mass. On the Christmas morning we open the presents and wait for the grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins to gather for the lunch.

New Year is celebrated on the evening of the 31^st of December and on the 1^st of January we usually listen to the Vienna New Year’s concert.

We hope you’ll like our Christmas box, stories, recipes, cookies and decorations.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Very Happy and Prosperous New Year

 

On some Christmas customs in Croatia (by Ria Olić)

In the Christmas cycle that begins with Advent, the first major feast is on 6 December, dedicated to St. Nicholas, who even today, in the form of parents, his proxies, secretly, at night fills in cleaned children's shoes placed in the window. Shoes are filled with candies and other presents and symbolically, more as a warning, he also adds a golden stick decorated with red ribbons, an elegant replacement for former branch pierced with potatoes intended for the naughty ones. In the past, at least in the Danube region, hardly anyone had the good fortune to see St. Nicholas, called Mikulas in that area, only if, say, they were lying in the high temperature sprinkled with small pox. And then he comes and somehow, for only a second, beneath that long beard of his, he sounds just like the neighbour Anuš. Krampus was never to be seen, he was too scary and his role was only to threaten the children, but nowadays St. Nicholas and Krampus are walking hand in hand in the city streets and shopping centers.

However, the most important is the night before Christmas, called Badnjak (Christmas Eve). The name Badnjak probably comes from the former custom of putting a log, in Croatian called badanj, on the fireplace. This custom in modern times is mostly lost, but the name remained. Across Croatia, in different regions, there are various nuances of these customs for Christmas Eve. But for all, this evening is a family gathering with sit-ins and expectations of the joyful event of the birth of God's son ending by going to the midnight mass, popularly called polnoćka.

There are however several customs which are still common to all, and we emphasized some customs from the Danube region and north-western Croatia, Zagreb region respectfully.

Christmas Eve is » nemrsni« day, meaning no eat, but fish. Nowadays fish completely replaced some old dishes, such as (in the Danube region) meatless potato soup and noodles with poppy seeds or nuts. At the holiday table throughout Croatia including Zagreb and its surroundings the cod with potatoes prevails, the dish originating from Dalmatia, but in the Danube region the traditional specialty is fish soup - fiš made of freshwater fish, mostly carp. In the Danube region they still prepare aspic called sulc, cooked of smoked pork legs, ears, tongue and tail that are eaten on Christmas morning, but earlier this meal was served after returning from the midnight mass.

A Christmas tree, krizbam, in north-western Croatia replaced the fresh greenery, branches decorated with nuts and apples that were attached to the beams in the ceiling called kinč. The Christmas tree is decorated on Christmas Eve. The decorations are mandatory gingerbread cookies colored in red, heart-shaped, horse-shaped, as well as apples and cherries. Original Croatian Christmas carols, some of them centuries old, are sung. Once it was obligatory to bake the ceremonial Christmas rolls, traditional bread and nuts and honey were also served that were later transformed into Christmas cakes, such as walnut or poppy seed loaves, kuglof – the round cake with cream made of nuts, gingerbread cookies and pepper biscuits and medica (brandy sweetened with honey)

Of course even today some of these delicacies can be found almost on every holiday table. The indispensable part, however, remained the Christmas wheat, sprouted young stalks that are sown on December 4, the day of St. Barbara or 13th of December, the day of St. Lucia. The blades of wheat are tied with a red or three-colour ribbon in the middle of the pot or the jar there is a place for a candle or a tiny oil lamp. This mild light that twinkles through the green blades remains a permanent memory of Christmas Eve night from the childhood!

Silver candies

 Christmas holidays of our childhood. Memory of my parents: a beautiful smell of my mother’s cookies and my father standing on the doorsteps of our flat with a Christmas tree while trying to shake off the snow from his shoes. Memory of a Christmas Eve full of expectations and you are supposed to fall asleep very fast but struggle to stay awake. Finally a sleep overcomes you and in the morning once again you are not certain how the baby Jesus has entered the house. Under the Christmas tree nice and modest presents. A ball. A book. An orange.

I can still remember my mother’s Christmas balls, made of glass and sprinkled with golden powder. Sugar candies wrapped in a silver paper. Thin cotton wool fiber on the Christmas tree like a snow flakes. And a “Christmas wheat” that mother planted so that the New Year would be fertile with a ribbon in a colors of a Croatian flag.

On the day of the Epiphany we would take off the decorations. Carefully one ball at the time, our mother would put her treasure in a special box and silver candies would also find their place there.

I don’t remember anymore whose idea was it, but one winter my brother and I, day after day were, in secrecy, eating silver candies. After some time, only paper remained with the Christmas balls. Next year, as with some magic, on the Christmas tree all the decorations reappeared, and we felt ashamed.

Written by Ana Jurenić

 

Bishops bread

140g sugar

4 eggs

Orange zest

50g flaked almonds

100g raisins

50g chocolate

140g flour

Mix together sugar and egg yolks until the mixture begins to rise. Add orange zest, flaked almonds (previously toasted in a pan), raisins, chocolate cut into pieces and flour. Whisk egg whites until stiff. Add to the mixture and stir gently. Lightly butter loaf pan and sprinkle with flour and bake at 180-190C for 40 minutes.

Leave beaked bread for a day or two before serving

(Recipe was taken from the book “Domaći kolači”, Ivanka Biluš, Cirila Rodé and Ivanka Božić)

 

Christmas stars with homemade apricot jam

Ingredients:

500 g of flour

1 butter

200 g powdered sugar

2 egg yolks

2 tea spoons of bicarbonate soda or half of backing powder

Pinch of salt

2 vanilla sugars

Orange or lemon zest

2 tbsp sour cream or 5 tbsp milk

Apricot jam (or some other jam)

Take all the ingredients (except jam) and form dough and let it rest in a cold place for at least half an hour. Take the dough and roll it out and divide in the halves. Cut both halves in the shape of stars, making one half with the hole in it.

Bake for 20 minutes on 190˚C. Take cooled stars and put a dollop of a jam in the whole star and cover it with the star with hole in it and sprinkle with some powdered sugar.

It is useful to preheat the jam before putting it on the stars. (Zdenka Brlek – English language student)

 

Vanilla kifli

350g flour

20g butter

100g ground walnuts

80g sugar

1 egg white

Knead the dough. Form cookies in a form of a crescent moon. Preheat the oven to 200˚C and bake for 18-20 min. When done sprinkle with powdered sugar. (Recipe was written by Ana Šarić - Computer class)

 

O nekim božićnim običajima u Hrvatskoj

Napisala Ria Olić

U božićnom ciklusu koji počinje adventom, prvi značajniji blagdan je 6. prosinca, posvećen svetom Nikoli, koji i danas, u liku roditelja, svojih opunomoćenih zastupnika, potajno noću puni slatkišima i inim dječje cipele očišćene i stavljene u prozor, dodaje, simbolično, više kao opomenu i zlatnu šibu ukrašenu crvenim trakama koja je elegantna zamjena za nekadašnju granu s nataknutim krumpirom namijenjenu onim zločestima. Nekada je, bar u Podunavlju, rijetko tko imao sreću vidjeti svetog Nikolu, Mikulaša, jedino ako, recimo, ležite u visokoj temperaturi posuti vodenim kozicama a on dolazi i nekako, sasvim malo, ispod duge brade zvuči kao susjeda Anuš-neni. Krampus nije nikad viđen, suviše je zastrašujuć pa se s njime samo prijetilo, no danas šeću ruku pod ruku gradskim ulicama i trgovačkim centrima.

Međutim, najznačajnija je večer prije Božića koja se u Hrvatskoj zove Badnjak najvjerojatnije po nekadašnjem običaju da se na ognjište unosi panj odnosno badanj, badnjak. Običaj se u modernim vremenima većinom izgubio, a ime je ostalo. Diljem Hrvatske u različitim regijama, raznolike su nijanse običaja te večeri. No svuda je to večer okupljanja obitelji, bdijenja, očekivanja radosnog događaja rođenja sina Božjega koje završava odlaskom na ponoćnu misu, polnoćku.

Nekoliko običaja je ipak svima zajedničko, a naglasili smo one iz Podunavlja i sjeverozapadne Hrvatske odnosno zagrebačke regije.

Badnjak je nemrsni dan, kada se ne jede meso, pa se svuda priprema riba koja je u potpunosti zamijenila neka stara jela, kao što je u Podunavlju bila posna juha od krumpira i rezanci s makom ili orasima. Na blagdanskom stolu diljem Hrvatske pa tako i u Zagrebu i okolici prevladao je bakalar s krumpirom, jelo poteklo iz Dalmacije. No, u Podunavlju je tradicionalni specijalitet, riblja juha - fiš od slatkovodne ribe, mahom šarana. U Podunavlju se još uvijek spravlja i hladetina, sulc, od dimljenih svinjskih nožica, uha, jezika i repa koja se jede na božićno jutro, a nekoć se jela po povratku s ponoćne mise.

A božićno drvce, krizbam, zamijenilo je svježe zelenilo, grančice kićene orasima i jabukama koje su se zatakle za grede na stropu, u sjeverozapadnoj Hrvatskoj zvane kinč. Božićno drvce resi se na Badnjak, među ukrasima su obvezni licitarski kolačići obojeni crveno u obliku srca, konjića, jabuka, trešanja. Pritom se uobičajeno pjevaju izvorne hrvatske božićne pjesme, stare i po nekoliko stoljeća. Nekoć je bilo obavezno i obredno božićno pecivo, kruh ili pogača te orasi i med koji su se vremenom pretočili u božićne kolače, orahnjaču i makovnjaču, kuglof s kremom od oraha, medenjaci i paprenjaci te medicu (medena rakija). Dakako i danas se ponešto od toga nađe gotovo na svakom blagdanskom stolu. Nezaobilazni dio, međutim,ostala je božićna pšenica. Iznikle mlade vlati koje su posijane 4. prosinca, na dan svete Barbare ili 13. prosinca, na dan svete Lucije. Vlati se vezuju crvenom ili trobojnom trakom, a u sredini posude je mjesto za svijeću ili uljanicu. To blago svijetlo koje se nazire kroz zelene vlati trajna je uspomena na badnje noći iz djetinjstva!

 

Srebreni bonboni

Božićni blagdani našeg djetinjstva. Sjećanje na roditelje: na miris maminih kolača, na tatu koji s jelkom zastaje na vratima stana da bi otresao snijeg sa cipela. I na badnju večer punu iščekivanja, kad bi trebalo zaspati, a ne možeš. Napokon te san prevari, a ujutro i opet ne znaš kako je Isusić ušao u sobu. Pod jelkom skromni darovi. Lopta ili slikovnica. Naranča.

Još pamtim mamine kuglice, staklene , posute zlatnim prahom. I bombone od šećera, zamotane u srebreni papir. Tanki pramenovi vate na granama jelke glumili su snijeg, a izniklu pšenicu koju je mama posijala da slijedeća godina bude plodna, krasila je traka u bojama hrvatske trobojnice.

Na blagdan Sveta tri kralja jelku je trebalo raskititi. Pažljivo, kuglicu po kuglicu, mama je spremala svoje blago u kutiju, a tu bi mjesto našli i srebreni bomboni.

Ne sjećam se više tko se dosjetio, ali jedne zime moj brat i ja, dan po dan, sladili smo se tajno, a u kutiji su uz kugice ostali samo papirići. Slijedeće godine, nekim čudom, na jelki je opet bio kompletan nakit. A mi smo se stidjeli. (Napisala Ana Jurenić)

 

Biskupski kruh

14 dag šećera

4 jaja

kora naranče

5 dag badema

10 dag grožđica

5 dag čokolade

14 dag brašna 

Šećer i žutanjke miješajte što dulje da smjesa dobro naraste. Zatim dodajte struganu koru naranče, na listiće izrežite bademe (koje ste neoguljene malo propržili u tavi), grožđice, na kocke izrezanu čokoladu, zatim brašno i na kraju čvrsti snijeg od bjelanjaka. Sve lagano promiješajte i stavite u namašćen i brašnom posipan duguljast kalup i pecite oko 40 minuta na temperaturi od oko 180C – 190C.

Pečeni kruh istresite i ostavite da odstoji dan – dva prije upotrebe.

(Recepet je preuzet iz knjige „Domaći kolaći“, Ivanka Biluš, Cirila Rodé i Ivanka Božić)

 

Božićne zvjezdice s domaćim pekmezom od marelica

Sastojci za tijesto:

50 dkg brašna

1 putar (može i margarin)

20 dkg šećera u prahu

2 žumanjka

2 male žličice sode bikarbone ili pola praška za pecivo

Prstohvat soli

2 vanilin šećera

Naribana korica neprskanog limuna ili narandže

2 žlice vrhnja ili 5 žlica mlijeka

Pekmez od marelica (može i neki drugi) za spajanje

 

Od svih sastojaka osim pekmeza zamijesite tijesto i ostavite da stoji najmanje pola sata na hladnome. Zatim tijesto razvaljajte i kalupom režite oblike zvjezdica, a na drugom keksu napravite u sredini rupu.

Oblike pecite oko 20 minuta na cca 190˚C. Ohlađene kekse zalijepite pekmezom i posipajte šećerom u prahu.

Napomena: pekmez je dobro prije zagrijati i ohladiti i nakon toga mazati kekse. (Zdenka Brlek – polaznica engleskog jezika)

 

Medenjaci

900g crnog brašna

200g šećera

300g meda

200g masti

2 čajne žlice sode bikarbone

2 cijela jaja

vrećica cimeta u prahu

14 čajnih žlica vode

 

Tijesto treba odstajati 24 sata u frižideru. Praviti kuglice veće od lješnjaka. Peći na 170˚C 10 do 12min.

(Recep je napisala Ana Šarić - polaznica Informatike)