Christmas in
Croatia
Celebrated: December 6 (St. Nicholas), December 13 (St. Lucy — the wheat planting), and December 24-25
Signature traditions
- 1.Planting Christmas wheat on St. Lucy's Day (December 13) — grains of wheat sown in a shallow dish, watered daily, growing into lush green grass by Christmas Eve, then tied with a ribbon in the Croatian red-white-blue and set on the table with a candle in the center
- 2.Burning the badnjak (Yule log) on Christmas Eve — an oak branch brought into the home and lit, its flame and sparks read as omens for the year's prosperity
- 3.Setting up jaslice (nativity scenes) and attending Polnoćka (Midnight Mass)
- 4.Zagreb's Advent — repeatedly voted Europe's best Christmas market — turns the capital's squares into weeks of lights, food stalls, ice rinks, and concerts
- 5.St. Nicholas (Sveti Nikola) filling children's polished boots with small gifts on December 6, with the threat of Krampus for the naughty
What's on the table
Bakalar, sarma, and fritule
Christmas Eve, a fast day, centers on bakalar (salt cod) — stewed with potatoes or whipped into a spread. Christmas Day brings roast pork or turkey with mlinci (baked flatbread softened in drippings) and sarma (cabbage rolls). Fritule (small spiced doughnuts with citrus zest and rum, dusted in sugar) and orehnjača (walnut roll) are the iconic Croatian Christmas sweets.
The iconic decoration
The St. Lucy's wheat (pšenica)
The signature Croatian Christmas decoration is the dish of green wheat grown from grains planted on December 13. By Christmas it stands lush and tall, tied with a tricolor ribbon, often with a candle set in the middle — the height and density read as a forecast of the coming year's harvest and the family's fortune. The Christmas tree, Advent wreath, and jaslice complete the home.
How gifts are given
Sveti Nikola (St. Nicholas) brings small gifts in children's boots on December 6. The main Christmas gifts arrive on Christmas Day — in modern households from Djed Božićnjak (Father Christmas), and in more traditional Catholic families from the baby Jesus (Isusek), left under the tree.
But who delivers yours?
There are eight cultural Christmas gift-givers around the world — Santa Claus, La Befana, the Yule Lads, Ded Moroz, Sinterklaas, the Three Kings, Christkind, and Joulupukki. Take the 6-question quiz to find out which one matches you.
Take the gift-giver quizDid you know?
On St. Lucy's Day, December 13, Croatian families plant a dish of wheat grains and water it daily. By Christmas Eve it has grown into a thick stand of green grass, tied with a red-white-and-blue ribbon and centered with a candle — a living decoration that doubles as a folk barometer: the taller and denser the wheat, the better the year's harvest and household luck are said to be.
