A brief look at name days in SlovakiaAbove the sound of champagne glasses
ching-
chinging together rises the voice of one family member: “
Všetko najlepšie k
meninám,
Mária!” he says. The others smile and raise their glasses. They too wish
Mária all the best on her name day, September 12, and they have all gathered together to celebrate the occasion with her. This family, like many others in Slovakia, is continuing the tradition of celebrating a person's name day in much the same way as it was done in the middle ages. In Slovakia, this is a tradition that has existed for centuries and the country is not alone in commemorating such occasions. In fact, the practice is recognised in many other catholic and orthodox countries, like Bulgaria, Greece, Spain, Russia and even the USA. But where does this name day tradition originate?
The name day tradition has its roots in religion. And Slovaks, who are predominantly Catholic, owe this custom to the Catholic church. The Catholic church divide the year into different periods based on the life of Christ. Together, these periods make up what is known as a liturgical or Christian year. Initially, martyrs were recognised by the church through a day of commemoration on the day of their death. These days were allocated to the liturgical calendar. With time, the number of recognised martyrs and saints grew until eventually every day of the year had been allocated to a saint. Together, these dates formed what is known today as “The Calendar of Saints”.
This calendar helped the people and the church in earlier times to organize the year around various festivals and feasts that were important to them. It also helped in the simple matter of keeping track of what day of the year it was. On a saint's feast day, the day in the calendar allocated to the saint, the church celebrated his death in a way befitting his importance. The church also encouraged people who were named after the saint to celebrate the day as well. In effect, they were celebrating their name day! And this is the tradition that
Mária and her family were taking part in.
Today, common, modern-day names appear together with the names of the saints in the calendar. Many days of the year even have more than just one name allocated to them. This makes keeping track of them all for every member in one's own family quite a feat, especially for foreigners! In Slovakia, some help is provided. Calendars include the names of those celebrating on a specific day in the same way that public holidays are recorded. Also, many websites and newspapers publish the names of those who are celebrating their name day on the publication date. This widespread knowledge around whose name day it is today, often means that people are remembered more on their name day then on their birthday. It has also led to an unofficial and rather sneaky rule at the office, which says, you do not need to be invited for the afternoon coffee and cake on offer because of your colleague's name day. Why? Because his celebration has been published in the calendar, of course! This wouldn't happen on a birthday; for that, you would definitely need an invitation.
So, how do
Slovaks celebrate their name day? In much the same way that they would celebrate their birthday. Name days have the same importance in Slovakia as birthdays. This is probably due to the fact that the church used to encourage people to celebrate the day of their saint more than their birthday. Back in the day, birthday celebrations were disapproved of because they were considered to have pagan roots. Today men, women and children are usually given gifts and sometimes even flowers on their name day. To share the day with others, young children may take lollipops or sweets to school for their friends and adults may even serve something sweet at the office for their colleagues. Usually, the focus of the occasion is on the family. To celebrate, they may gather together over a special meal at home. Time is then set aside at these parties to congratulate the person who is celebrating, to wish them well, and to give them gifts.
But some name days transcend the family unit. These are the name days that hold some significance for the nation and may even be associated with ancient predictions or customs. It is said, for example, that Saint Martin arrives on a white horse. Saint Martin's day is on November 11 and usually this day is associated with the first snows of the year. Saint Štefan's day, which falls on December 26, is a day of celebrating and parties just after Christmas. Traditionally, the day of Anna and Štefan are celebrated with dancing events like the “Anna
bál” (Anna Ball) and “
Štefanská zábava” (Stefan's party). One saying goes, “
Katarína na ľade,
Vianoce na blate”, which means that when the day of
Katarína is cold, Christmas will be warm and without snow. Many more of these sayings associated with name days can be found in Slovakia.
History also tells us that name days have always been an integral part of Slovakia's past. In communist times, the day of Jozef, on March 19, was often celebrated at work as an unofficial “International Men's Day”. The occasion was famous for big parties with lots of alcohol and for breaking down the barriers in official work relationships, especially between men and women. But after spending some time in the
Slovakia of today, you will know that name days remain a crucial element of its present and hopefully, this rich tradition will continue long into its future.
To find out what name day it is on a particular date, visit the Zoznam website. The website also includes the name days of some other nations.
