Materice
Materice (also known as Majčice and Majke nebeske[1]) is a Croatian Catholic family tradition at the third Sunday of Advent in Dalmatia, among the Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bačka.[2] The custom is part of a whole with the Djetinjci of the second Sunday and the Očići of the fourth Sunday of Advent.[1][2] A similar custom (Материце) exists among Serbian Orthodoxs on "Sunday of the Forefathers", the penultimate Sunday before Christmas according to the Julian calendar.[3]
Customs vary from region to region, but they all have one thing in common: a joke on the mother's account.[4] The children "threaten" their mothers, who appease them with gifts.[1] According to custom, mothers give their children candy, nuts, fruit, hazelnuts, and other gifts, while children express their gratitude by congratulating them Materice.[1] The mother is not expected to give money, but rather an edible gift.[5]
It has been recorded that in the Sinjska krajina children prepare a rope in the morning and "threaten" their mother with hanging her if she does not make amends.[6] On that day, the groom comes to his mother and asks for a ransom, in the form of a walnut or a cigarette, then goes to the sílo (communal meeting), brings his bride rakija, while she gifts him with a shirt, socks, etc.[6]
Although, as a rule, only children congratulate their mothers, the custom has also become established in which husbands congratulate their wives, including mothers-in-law and other married women in their locality.[1]
Literature
[edit]- Dragić, Marko (2008). "Advent u liturgiji i narodnoj kulturi Hrvata" [Advent in liturgy and national culture of the Croats]. Crkva u svijetu (in Croatian). 43 (3). Split: Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Split: 414–440.
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e Dragić 2008, p. 430.
- ^ a b Jurišić, Mario (13 December 2022). "Katolički običaji u došašću (Djetinci, Materice, Očići)" [Catholic traditions in Advent (Djetinjci, Materice, Očići)]. franjevci-st.com (in Croatian). Bogoslovi Franjevačke provincije Presvetog Otkupitelja.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ "Danas su Materice - da li znate koji su običaji". rts.rs (in Serbian). RTS.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Majdandžić-Gladić, Snježana (16 December 2014). "Materice – stari običaj 3. nedjelje došašća". Vjera i djela (in Croatian).
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ Dragić 2008, p. 438.
- ^ a b Miličević, Josip (1967). "Narodni običaji i vjerovanja u Sinjskoj krajini". In Bošković-Stulli, Maja; Gušić, Marijana; Palčok, Zoran; Žganec, Vinko (eds.). Narodna umjetnost [Folk traditions and beliefs in Sinjska krajina] (in Croatian). Vol. 5–6. Zagreb: Institut za narodnu umjetnost. p. 490.