Page:The Ballads of Marko Kraljević.djvu/234

 circular cake of wheaten flour bearing the letters embossed within the arms of a cross—is bent slightly by the svečar and the priest so as to break open the surface of the cake along the lines of the cross when the priest pours in a few drops of red wine. On one occasion, when I was privileged to assist at the private family service, the svečar was perturbed to discover, just before the priest arrived, that there was white wine only in the house. The priest entered and on learning how matters stood he said sternly: "Christ's blood was red," and refused to proceed with the service until a bottle of red wine had been sent for. In addition to the kolač, another cake, made of boiled wheat, dusted over with white powdered sugar—the koljivo—plays an essential part in the ceremony. The word is said to mean "something killed with the knife ," and is supposed by some to be the Christian substitute for actual sacrifice. Certainly it is significant that the koljivo is used not only at the Slava but also at the feasts for the dead—the daća. Moreover on the days dedicated to Saint Elias (July 20, O.S.) and to the Archangel Michael (Nov. 8), the Slava is celebrated without the koljivo, the explanation being that neither St Elias nor St Michael has ever died and therefore the offering to the souls of the dead symbolised by the koljivo would here be inappropriate.