Sretan Božić

Merry christmas, feliz navidad, sretan božić, joyeux noël, buon natal, i Cpetaн Бoжић! This morning I woke up to the sounds of the cathedral ringing its bells and the call to prayer. I love the fact that from my house I am less than a 10 min walk to the catholic cathedral, two orthodox churches, several mosques and the oldest (and only??) synagogue in Sarajevo. It being Christmas, I headed over to the cathedral to see their goings on but it was still closed (it’s being repaired) but I heard that at midnight Christmas eve they did have a little gathering to sing and pray. Of course I was too lazy to leave the house, already having settled into my pjs, but I’m considering going to mass tomorrow there at noon. I can’t remember the last time I went to an actual service (hmmm probably because I'm agnostic!). 

I decided to spend the day wandering. This is a fantastic city to just wander. Everyone was out, walking along the main pedestrian street and Christmas carts were outselling fireworks, toys, lights and general festivity. The street where the catholic cathedral is located has Christmas lights hanging, with big snowflake shaped ornaments and such and Christmas trees flanking the cathedral doors. The other streets, like marshala tita have lights that have been hanging there since Bajram/Eid al-Adha and I hope they keep them up during the whole winter. I did spot a couple of santas and snowmen along the streets, usually with saxes (???).  I can’t find any figure for the current demographics of Sarajevo, but in 1991 Croats made up only 7.5% of the population, and I’m guessing its less than that now, so I’m not sure who is actually celebrating Christmas today since the orthodox calendar celebrates it on Jan 7^th. I wandered in Bascarsija, ate some cevapi for lunch/dinner and then spent an hour reading the New York Times on my ipod in one of my favorite coffee houses, in Morica Han. This used to be a Turkish caravanserai and now has a café in part of it, along with several other shops. It was almost empty, except for a group of young guys behind me who were hilarious. Then I wandered over to the carpet shop across the courtyard and quite unintentionally spent about an hour talking carpets with the owner who is an Iranian who has lived in Sarajevo for 20 years. It was so interesting; he explained certain motifs, their meaning, where they come from, tribes, traditions and such. And because I always have to explain why I don’t look like a “typical American” (sigh…I should write a whole post on that) we talked about Colombia and traditions there. He wanted to know if we had carpets like here, what the economy is based on, etc. Very interesting man and I enjoyed talking to him. He may actually talk me into a carpet one day (when I’m not on a student budget)! 

Since it’s the Christmas season, all the major shops are having their big post-xmas sale (even though today is actually xmas day), so I also picked up some cheap summer dresses and tees from Mango. Then I wandered through the leather streets, looking for a simple leather bag for my laptop since my backpack is prone to pick pocketing (I caught a women and her daughter opening up my backpack, so time for something a little more finger proof).  One fantastic thing about shopping in Sarajevo is that this is a craft town. Can’t find what you need? No problem, talk to the cobbler, jeweler, dressmaker and they will make it for you. I’m going to have a shop owner make me a simple leather messenger bag just big enough for my laptop and water bottle. The rest of the day I just walked. I walked along both sides of the river, window shopped and enjoyed the outdoor culture here. I’m certainly going to miss that when I leave.

Other than that, I’m finishing up a grant application for UNDEF for a TPO project that I designed and getting ready for a short vacation to Berlin for New Years Eve with friends. Very much looking forward to it! Hope everyone had a great Christmas!


Also: tried to upload photos and its not working! Help! trying to upload jpegs from my folder...