In Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro, two days before Orthodox Christmas, the national holiday — Tutsindan (Serbian) is celebrated. Tucindan). Translated into Russian, the name sounds like «Fucking day» or «Fat day». This is the first day of a three-day Christmas celebration.
The holiday is considered Orthodox, but the ritual of the holiday contains pagan elements preserved from the time of St. Sava, the first Archbishop of Serbia. With the goal of converting the «-Balkan pagans» to Christianity, he created the Serbian Orthodox Church, became its first Archbishop in 1219 and pursued a competent policy in this status of attracting fellow tribesmen to the Christian faith.
Saint Sava deliberately preserved folk customs, but adapted them for the sake of the holy cause to Christian traditions in order to attract more people to the Orthodox faith.
There is a very common belief that children should never be punished on this day, otherwise they will behave very badly all year.
On this day, a lamb or pig is slaughtered for the festive table, which will be prepared the next day and served at Christmas. And in some places, the main decoration of the festive table is a dish of turkey or goose.