After a long fast, the Servian people await Christmas impatiently. It is a day of feasting in the whole country. Two days before Christmas Day—old style, of course—roasts are prepared, consisting of a lamb and a sucking-pig. On the morning of Christmas Eve one of the boys of the family goes into the forest and cuts the Christmas log or _Badgnak_—a usage which was recognised in the old days in France. Choosing a young tree, he recites a prayer and cuts it down, while another lad is careful that the first branch cut does not fall to the ground. He clutches hold of it, and it is placed in the milk, so that good cream shall be produced, or upon the beehive, that the bees may bring good honey. The bringing home of the Christmas log is attended by many quaint ceremonies. That evening, while the family is at supper—which mostly consists of fruits—the head of the house takes three nuts in his right hand, and throwing them towards the east exclaims, “In the name of the Father”; then three others, which he throws to the west saying, “and of the Son”; and then three others he throws to the north, adding, “and of the Holy Ghost.” Then with three others he makes the sign of the cross, and throwing them to the south, exclaims “Amen.” With the dawn of Christmas Day visits commence, the first person generally to arrive being a young man neighbour, known as the _polaznik_. He embraces the master of the house, makes the sign of the cross upon the Yule-log, and wishes good luck to the household. In the Christmas cake is placed a piece of money, and the person to whom it falls will have good fortune all the year. The Easter feast comes third with the Servians, and is a great occasion for egg-breaking, one egg being broken against the other. Each visitor receives an egg, and the fête lasts three days. The gipsies, of whom there are very many in the Balkans, go from house to house at Easter, singing and wishing good fortune to the householders, receiving, of course, money in return for their good wishes. There is also an extraordinary institution among the Servians called the _pobratime_. It often occurs that two persons of the same sex love one another very dearly, and regret that they are not allied by relationship. In such a case they go through a solemn ceremony, and become _pobratimes_, or brothers by election. It is the same with both sexes. In many cases religion or nationality does not count, for there are numbers of cases where a Serb has chosen for _pobratime_ a Turk or an Albanian. In some cases the ceremony is a grave and solemn one before a priest. Sometimes, indeed, the two persons make a slight cut in each other’s hands, and suck each other’s blood, so becoming blood relations. This custom is, strangely enough, very prevalent among the more savage of the African tribes. The _pobratimes_ remain faithful and devoted one to the other until death. [Illustration: HIS EXCELLENCY COSTA STOYANOVITCH, Servian Minister of Commerce. ]