Why, It Sounds Like a Serbian Christmas

A caravan of three dozen cars filled with men firing pistols and shotguns into the air drove down the main street of this old Gold Rush town at high noon Wednesday.

In front of City Hall they stopped their cars, jumped out and fired some more.

The gunmen had come from the steps of the stately white 19th-Century St. Sava’s Church high on a hill overlooking Jackson, where they also had unleashed a barrage of gunfire into the sky.

This scene out of the Old West is Christmas, Serbian style, as it has been celebrated in Jackson, population 2,500, for more than a century.

“Hristoscq se rodi (Christ is Born), “ the celebrants shouted in Serbian as they fired away. Others shouted in response, “Vaistinu se rodi (Indeed he is born). “ Then they all cried out, “Mir Bozi (God’s Peace). “

St. Sava’s pastor, Milletta Simonovich, 60, explained that the unusual tradition of firing weapons represents a merger of Old West and Serbian traditions.

Yugoslav Custom

“In the old country (Yugoslavia) it is a tradition to stand in front of one’s home and shoot at the sky at midnight Christmas Eve to announce the birth of the Christ child. However, they don’t shoot the guns on the church steps over there or while driving through town,” he said

The gunfire represented no threat to life and limb since the guns were loaded with blanks.

(Every New Year’s Eve in urban area like Los Angeles, residents are warned against firing guns into the air because the falling bullets can injure or kill people.)

Serbs use the Julian calendar, accounting for the celebration of Christmas 13 days after Dec. 25. Serbian New Year’s Day is next Wednesday.

St. Sava, the mother church of the Serbian orthodox faith in North America and named after the 13th-Century founder of the Serbian orthodox church, was built in Jackson in 1894 by Serbian miners in the old gold camp. But while 600 Serbian immigrant families lived in Jackson at the turn of the century, only 60 Serbian families remain here today.

Serbian Americans from as far away as Michigan, Illinois, Pennsylvania and New York journey to Jackson for the Christmas festivities.

“This church is so special to us Serbs because it is the fountain church of our religion in this country,” said John Mirkovich, 34, owner of a St. Claire, Mich., plastics company. “And Christmas in Jackson is unlike Christmas anywhere else in America or the old country,” added Mirkovich, who was born in Yugoslavia.

“I come from my home in North Hollywood every year for this,” said Branislav Boroikovic, 62, an electrical engineer. He said he lights Christmas candles in the church for his relatives among the 500 people buried on the church grounds.

Because Serbian Christmas and New Year’s are two weeks later than the conventional holidays, the people, towns and shops of Amador County keep up their Christmas decorations at least until Jan. 14.

Day of Feasting

After Wednesday morning’s Christmas services everyone spilled out of the church, embraced and kissed one another three times on the cheek. After the noisy caravan through town the Serbs began a day of feasting on barbecued goat, lamb, sarma (rolled cabbage), kubasica (Serbian sausage), povitica (nut roll) and other goodies.

The hills around Jackson reverberated with gunfire much of Tuesday night and all day Wednesday, but townspeople were oblivious to what sounded like a rip-roaring battle.

“Everyone around here is accustomed to the Serbian Christmas gunfire. We always get calls from people wanting to know what the hell is going on. But they’re strangers in town,” said Jackson Police Chief Rich Lockwood, 56. “The shooting is a time-honored tradition here.”