Source: CIA World factbook, 2004

he Serbs are primarily Eastern Orthodox Christians. Unlike the other peoples who share their religion (the Greeks, Russians and Romanians are among those), the Serbs celebrate a holiday called slava. Each Serbian family has its own patron saint and celebrates that patron's day once a year. The most popular saints' days are for St. Luke (January 9), St. John (January 20), St. George (May 6), St. Peter (July 12), Archangel Michael (November 21), and St. Nicholas (December 19), but there are many more minor Eastern Orthodox saints whom families celebrate. The tradition is the result of combining Christianity with the ancient pagan South Slavic belief that each family is protected by a patron, a mythological creature believed to live under the family house threshold. The outcome was that each Serbian family has its own patron saint. The slava, or patron saint's day, is handed down from one generation of males to another. Girls and young women celebrate their father's slava until they get married, when their husband's slava becomes their own.

The slava is a three-day holiday when relatives and friends visit a feasting family and celebrate a patron saint with food and music. The guests usually come uninvited, thus showing that they remember the slava of a particular family. The holiday is long enough to allow people to go to more than one feast. The symbols of the slava are the slava cake, the slava candle, a special desert made of wheat grains, honey and walnuts, and red wine. The tradition is to have a priest come to the feasting house to bless the cake and wine and light the candle, and then the father of the family breaks the cake with his bare hands. A slice of cake must be left over for an unexpected visitor.

Today in urban Serbia, the religious content of the slava is frequently lost. The slava is considered to be a nice opportunity for families and friends to get together.