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3 Tips on How to Spend Christmas in Croatia by Giving to the Needy

03/12/2017 by Anastasia Kingsley Leave a Comment

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HAPPY HOLIDAYS 2017

The holidays are upon us!  EEEEEkkkkkk!

I love the lights and scent of pine trees – hate to take them down when all this is over – but the pressure to buy, buy, buy can be almost overwhelming 😀  And now, for a little Croatian  history….(no blood I promise)….

A picture of Old Town Zadar near Pet Bunara
Lights, sound, and a feeling of Christmas during the Advent festivities in Zadar!

CROATIAN TRADITIONS

In the olden days (up to about 15-20 years ago), the Christmas tree went up on Christmas Eve, known as Badnjak -(bad -un-yack) when it was decorated (not before!).  Christmas decorations included foil-wrapped pinecones – the foil was saved from chocolate bars.

The traditional Christmas Eve food was Bakalar (bacca-larr) – which is Cod Stew, and Pasrate (pah-sure-aught-tee), a fried donut hole. A large log was put in the fire and people would stay up late singing songs and exchanging presents, which was quite unusual for people who got up at dawn and went to bed at sundown.  Sometimes, people went to Midnight Mass.

The next day, families went to church and there was a big dinner at mid-day. The holidays weren’t officially over until the 6th of January, known as Three Kings, at which point the Christmas tree was taken down.

Hi!  The links in my posts are people who I follow and things that I like, including my own personal recipes and other tidbits.  Consider it an early Christmas present 🙂

Nowadays the trees and lights are put up a lot earlier but still much later than in California 🙂

Palms at sunset
The December sunset looks like a cowboy movie on our lone Palm tree

GIVING TUESDAY

After all the Black Friday ads and Cyber Monday deals flooded my mailbox, I received an amazing post by a South African woman named Ann Wilson, also known as the Wealth Chef.  She is big on financial independence, advising people on how to live on their investments and free up their time away from the “exchanging time for money” routine.

She wrote about “Giving Tuesday” – the day after Cyber Monday, and introduced the most amazing project – a water project known as the Spring.

THE SPRING

(The video, located in sentence 3 of this paragraph, explains it all).  I am quite impressed by how a former hedonist from NYC got sick of the life he was leading and went to work as a volunteer photo journalist in Africa.  Here it is – right here in video.  To cut to the chase, unhealthy water filled with bugs, germs and diseases is the root cause behind many of the health problems poorer nations face, including parasites and huge facial distortions.  I also applaud Scott that every single dollar of this project goes to the water program itself – not to administrative expenses. Those funds are raised separately.

MAKING SENSE OF CENTS

I follow and subscribe to an amazing financial planner turned blogger, Michelle Schroeder-Gardner who always has great ideas for saving money.  Last week she sent out  a list of Eight Ways for helping others instead of buying often unused presents. To read her suggestions, please click here

DECEMBER – what does it mean in Croatian?

Today is December 1, and in Croatian, it’s called Prosinac. I was a bit shocked to find out that prosi means to beg.  It is a time of begging!  There are plenty of people whose basic needs are not being met, so it’s also a good time to think “what can I do to help”.

CARITAS

Here in Croatia, we don’t have Red Cross.  Caritas is the most common way to donate unused clothing (things your kids won’t wear, old “fat clothes” or things you hate in general).  In most large cities there are large bins to place a large bagful of clothes into.  It’s nice to think of another person getting some kind of benefit from it.

ADOPT A SHELTER

When I lived in Split there is an organization called MOST which means Bridge. They take care of homeless and nearly homeless people.  We also heard about a shelter that appreciated donated meals, so a friend and I made Komiška Pogaća and man, the men ate it right up. Where there is a will – there is a way, so that is what this post is about – the spirit of giving.

Meanwhile, if you do like my writing style, be sure to subscribe in the box below.  You can also follow me on Pinterest and Instagram!

 

Stay well and see you soon!

Winter flowers
Still flourishing in spite of the change in season

Disclaimer:  This post contains links to other, related articles as well as affiliate links, which, upon clicking, may or may not provide me with a small commission at no cost to you.

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Hi there!

My name is Anastasia. I am a translator by day, groupie by night. I love to go out and hear live music and explore the beautiful Croatian coastline. Born, raised and educated in the USA, I live in the most beautiful place in the world, Dalmatia, on the Croatian coastline. Welcome to my Amerikanka adventure!

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Hey there!

My name is Anastasia. I’m a translator by day and groupie by night - (I love to go out and hear live music!).

Born, raised, and educated in the USA, I live in the most beautiful place in the world, Dalmatia, on the gorgeous Croatian coastline, the land of my forefathers. Ever since I came here, I've been called Amerikanka, and I’ve grown to like it.

Tell me what you want to know about CROATIA!

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