Name Day tradition in Slovenia

In Slovenia, the Name Day - "god" in Slovenian, is still way more important to a lot of people than their birthday - and that's what they celebrate every year. Just last night Nežka was telling me about the Name Day tradition in the village near Domžale, where she comes from.

In my early years, the traditional celebrations haven't been a significant part of my life - although I lived in a small village with around 600 residents, scattered around pretty large area. But my mom was a teacher and my dad was a journalist and they both worked all days. Therefore, when other kids spent their out-of-school time on the fields, pastures and woods or in the barns, I was with either of my grandmothers - pretty far away - or on the beach.

A few minutes ago I came across a post on FaceBook, saying that today is "god" - the Name Day of all whose name is "Jože, Jožica, Joci, Pepi, Pepca..."

I can easily imagine that tonight is about to be a party night for a lot of Slovenians because these are all very common names and "veselice" will happen in private homes and public places.

Let's join in the party with this lively polka "Ljubim Jožico" (I Love Jožica) performed by one of my favorite Slovenian bands, Donačka.

"Lepo praznujte" (happy celebration)! :)


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