As part of a long-established custom, Karić family started their celebration of St. John the Baptist on 19 January 2019 in the villa “Jelena”.

The family started their festivity, as in previous years, the day before on the Epiphany holiday by celebrating the birthday of the oldest member of the family, mother Danica Karic, who performs her monastic life as Mother Angelina, and this year she turned 99. Hosts were brothers Dragomir, Zoran and Bogoljub Karic with their sister Olivera Karic-Nedeljkovic.

Traditionally, His Holiness the Archbishop of Peć, Metropolitan of Belgrade and Karlovci, and Serbian Patriarch Irinej cut the feast cake on the eve of the Karic family celebration.

The ceremony was attended by numerous representatives of the Serbian Orthodox Church, the Belgrade Archbishop and Metropolitan Monsignor Stanislav Hocevar and representatives of other religious communities.

Beside many members of the Karic family at the villa “Jelena”, patron saint of the family was celebrated with numerous guests, associates, friends, laureates of the “Karic Brothers Award”, employees of the companies: “BK Group”, “Karic Foundation”, “Alfa BK University” “BK Television”, members of the PSS (Serbian Power Movement), as well as numerous celebrities.

Many foreign ambassadors, consuls and other members of the diplomatic corps and some of them for the first time, attended this national-church custom associated with the date of a particular Christian saint, the most important family holiday after Easter and Christmas, so characteristic of Serbs. The guests watched with great interest the traditional Orthodox ritual of blessing  the water  and Serbian cooked wheat pudding, to cutting the feast ritual bread and chanting the tropars.

In his congratulation to Karic family and Mother Angelina, Serbian patriarch sent prayers and wishes to the Lord that this wonderful family celebrates their home Patron Saint for many, many years and generations. “Let this day be blessed for the Karic family, may they multiply and grow as it is to this day, that is the greatest wealth. In vain with everything, if we don’t know what we have, if we don’t have anyone to leave it to, if there is no one to inherit and extend the family line and the feast day.” He also said that as we care for our home, so we should take care of our nation as well.

His Holiness Patriarch Irinej tropar chanting was accompanied by the “Belgrade Men’s Choir”, led by the conductor deacon Vladimir Rumenić.

The guests were welcomed by the family feast host Mr Dragomir J. Karic together with family members. “Our family is from Peć, from Kosovo and Metohija and we traditionally celebrate our home Patron Saint John the Baptist. It is an extraordinary feeling, feeding with spiritual energy that refreshes the brain, the body and the soul, so that everything dances inside us and in our hearts above all. We were fortunate while we lived in Pec, to have Patriarch always come to our feast day, the Holy Patriarchs, German, Paul, and now Patriarch Irinej. We are happy that our Patriarch, Mr Irinej, is in good health, that he performed his holy prayer with his clergy tonight … Tolerance is the key word when it comes to family and is very important when other religions are in question, so as we care about our tradition and our Orthodoxy, we should respect and understand others as well. “said Mr. Dragomir J. Karic.

Mr. Bogoljub J. Karic pointed out that without family there is no happiness, no satisfaction, no life. Regardless of the fact that their family members live elsewhere in the world, scattered across the continents, everyone always knew where the gathering place was. “There are 200 members of our family and I have to tell you that everything I do, and all of us together, is the promotion of the family; not the Karic family, but families in general, of all our families, especially with us Serbs who have experienced so many hardships during the last centuries and decades that it is a miracle that we are all together, alive and well. I’m always talking about the importance of promoting the family and that it is necessary for children to respect their parents, that parents must know that their children are the most important and that they always must have time for them. Regardless of the business we are dealing with or how busy we are, our children, parents, grandparents, our family always come first. It all begins with the family. If we live in harmony, care and love each other, then we have everything else in our life.”

Kosovo cuisine specialties caught the most of the attention fom the traditional Slavic cuisine.

Numerous guests at villa “Jelena” didn’t hide their satisfaction of being able to magnify the family celebration.

Mr. Milutin Popovic Zahar, among others, said that he is privileged to know the family Karic for 35 years and that he is glad to be here; Snezana Dakic noticed that, beside the feast day customs that Karic family cherishes, she especially likes the fostering of the “cult of Mother”, not only mother Danica-Mother Angelina, and that they are passing it to their children and grandchildren … “We all learn from the Karic family”, she added.

Mr. Srdjan Djokovic, who was with his wife Diane, said that celebrating the home Patron Saint, we extend the life of the family and the feast day.

Mr Nikola Rackov explains that this Serbian tradition has always been a cause for socializing over the centuries, for talking to one another about the troubles and where help is needed. He also added that Serbian family patron saint day celebration „Slava“, the traditional Serbian dance „Kolo“ and  singing to the accompaniment of the Gusle, has been included in UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Mrs Isidora Bjelica, winner of the “Karic Brothers Award“, said that the Karic family has her outmost respect for they permanently live with christianity “both from the outside and from the inside”, not only during the celebration of Christian holidays, and not just celebrating their patron saint day, and that is the true essence of faith.

One of the laureates of the “Karic Brothers Award“, a respected artist, Mr Bora Dugic, said: “Gatherings on patron saint day, besides the festive customs, are an opportunity for people to meet and socialize, and the desire of the Karic family to share their celebration with friends is a wonderful example of how heritage and tradition are passed down from generation to generation and what is the essence of sharing. ”

And as everyone present as well as friends on social networks and His Holiness Patriarch himself, Mr. Irinej, wished to Karić family:

HAPPY PATRON SAINT DAY, FOR MANY YEARS TO COME!