Croatian Inspired Advent in Boston: Croatian Traditions Cross the Atlantic

December the 11th, 2018 – The United States might be very far from Croatia, both in terms of geography and in terms of many customs, but how do we bridge the gap? A quick look at how the diaspora keep their ancestral home close to their hearts during the festive season with a Croatian inspired advent in Boston, USA.

Santa (Djed Mraz) gives out early gift bags filled with Croatian candy

Over 100 members of the New England Friends of Croatia (NEFC), a non-profit organization in the Boston area which fosters the preservation of Croatian culture in New England, has gathered to celebrate Advent (Dočašće) as well as to welcome winter.

This year, there were a few new members, some of whom arrived to the party from as far as north as Concord, NH. The guests were welcomed by the members of the board and they discussed the organizations’ plans for the next year. In addition, both the menu and the music were ”Croatia inspired”, which made sure that everyone felt like they were celebrating with their families in Croatia. 

NEFC Board Members discussing next year’s plans – from left: Dado Grabovac, Irena matulic, Dragomir Ralic, Bozo Polic, Irena Rasin, Biserka Ralic, Jelena Mustra and Mirena Bagur

The friends of Croatia were hosted by the Sabur Restaurant, known in the Boston area for its Mediterranean cuisine. As usual, the chef ensured that the menu included traditional Croatian Christmas dinner items such as roast turkey and pork, with mashed potatoes and “kiseli kupus”. But, the most celebrated were in fact the desserts – from fritule, orehnjača and čupavci to snowflake sugar cookies, all brought in from the home ovens of the Croatian ladies. 

 Croatian-American students, Shanaelle Petty and Sarah Reilly, are first in line for the traditional Croatian cookies

Djed Mraz told the children he arrived early because of the cookies! He sang with the kids and gave them all small presents reminding them of their ancestral homeland.

Djed Mraz and Jolanda Keyneres-Pavlinic and Ariana Zelic, who have been instrumental in keeping the community together

All in all – this was a humble and warm celebration of Christmas and the festive season with great reminders of Croatian traditions and further inspiration for future accomplishments in connecting the United States of America with the Republic of Croatia.

Enjoying the seasonal festivities

Make sure to follow our diaspora page for more in the Croatian diaspora in the USA, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and much closer to home in Europe.

Text and images by Mirena Bagur, President of the New England Friends of Croatia

 

Subscribe to our newsletter

the fields marked with * are required

Email: *
First name:
Last name:
Gender:	Male Female
Country:
Birthday:	[DD] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 [MM] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 [YYYY] 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

Please don't insert text in the box below!