Badnik celebrations marking the day before Christmas have begun with the consecration of round bread and oak branches at the St. Clement of Ohrid church in Skopje.
Archbishop Stefan, the Head of the Macedonian Orthodox Church – Ohrid Archbishopric, dedicated the round bread with professor Nikola Panovski, this year’s Badnik godfather and the toast-giver, professor Miodrag Vrchakovski, in attendance. The rite was performed in line with health safety protocols with only a handful people inside the church.
Oak branches, so called Badnik branches, were handed out to the faithful at the main entrance of the church and the entrance near the bell tower.
Due to the pandemic, large gatherings outside the Skopje church were cancelled. The children’s processions, held traditionally before Christmas Eve, were also cancelled as a precaution.
The association in charge of organizing the children’s procession has said that a vehicle with loudspeakers with police entourage will be driving through the usual route of the procession, from St. Dimitrija church to the St. Clement of Ohrid church.
