Ninth letter – Celebration of St. Nicholas in Orahovac
Sunday, 25 May 2008.
May the Lord help you, my dear, happy slava (1) to all the hosts of the family celebrating St. Nicholas as their patron saint, may they celebrate it in peace, good health and pleasure. I’ve decided to describe to you the Liturgy served in Orahovac on St. Nicholas’ holiday. Church bells ring; that is the call to the Liturgy served in the honour of St. Nicholas. The church is full of people; among them are hosts who celebrate St. Nicholas as their family saint patron. They bring their kolac (2) to the church and put them on the table near the altar. There is also cooked wheat by the slava cake. Father Velja Stojkovic starts the Liturgy; there are also choristers who take part in the Divine Service. Babies receive Holy Communion; the youngest among them is Marija Stankovic who, with the peace of God, receives Holy Communion every week.
The time has come to cut the kolac, among which is also Father Velja’s, which is broken (3) by Luka.
At the end of the Liturgy dedicated to St. Nicholas, antidoron (4) was given out. We congratulated slava and St. Nicholas’ holiday to one another. Everybody was happy.
When the Liturgy ended, people from the Czech Republic arrived.
Among them was Mr. Foldina and Andrana; they expressed the wish to build a school for us. When Mr. Foldina arrived, he was very angry because the Czech Republic recognized Kosovo independence. On that day they visited Decani and some other monasteries and when they came back to us, he was very angry and sad because the Albanians threw stones at their bus, and when he came to us he felt our love. He told us that the Albanians welcomed him with stones, while my family welcomed him with bread and wine. They gave a lot of presents to me and my sisters.
Children were happy. In front of the school I and my friend gave interview to a Czech journalist. They gave us chocolate bars. After this we went to the kindergarten. There the children greeted the guests with the song about friendship. Children were happy because they got the colouring books, pencils, drawing paper etc. The babies who were born this year also received some money. Educator Ljiljana started to cry, those were the tears of happiness. Yet children were the happiest, because someone from far away came to visit them and even thought about them.
When our guests went back to their bus, children did not want them to leave because they were very good people. They entered the bus and children waved at them heartily, and people from the bus waved back at us with tears and joy, because they visited us. They left, and our people stayed with the same sorrow, watching the bus leave along the narrow stone-paved road and as if with them all our hopes disappeared because we were staying here and waiting for someone to remember us and do something for us.
I would like them to visit us again because they’re such good people that it’s hard to describe. I hope they might come again and stay a little bit longer. This is how that day passed filled with happiness which I would like to experience again.