The badnjak is a log brought into the house and placed on the fire on the evening of Christmas Eve, a central tradition in Serbian Christmas celebrations. The tree from which the badnjak is cut, preferably a young and straight oak, is ceremonially felled early on the morning of the Eve. The felling, preparation, bringing in, and laying on the fire, are surrounded by elaborate rituals, with many regional variations. The burning of the log is accompanied by prayers that the coming year brings food, happiness, love, luck, and riches. It commemorates the fire that—according to folk tradition—the shepherds of Bethlehem built in the cave where Jesus Christ was born, to warm him and his mother throughout the night. Scholars regard the ceremony as inherited from the old Slavic religion. As most Serbs today live in towns and cities, the badnjak is often represented by a cluster of oak twigs with which the home is decorated on Christmas Eve. Since the early 1990s, the Serbian Orthodox Church has, together with local communities, organized public celebrations on the Eve in which the badnjak plays a central role.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badnjak

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1066:

Harold Godwinson was crowned King of England, widely regarded as the last Anglo-Saxon king before the Norman conquest. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Godwinson

1449:

Constantine XI Palaiologos was crowned Byzantine Emperor, the last one before the Fall of Constantinople. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_XI_Palaiologos

1907:

Italian educator Maria Montessori opened her first school and day care center for working class children in Rome. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Montessori

1953:

The first Asian Socialist Conference, an organization of socialist political parties in Asia, opened in Rangoon, Burma, with 177 delegates, observers and fraternal guests. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_Socialist_Conference

1994:

Two-time American Olympic figure skating medalist Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed on the right leg by an assailant hired by Jeff Gillooly, the ex-husband of her rival skater Tonya Harding. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonya_Harding%23The_Kerrigan_attack

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

exigent (adj): 1. Urgent; needing immediate action. 2. Demanding; needing great effort http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/exigent

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be. --Khalil Gibran http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Khalil_Gibran