Paper short abstract:

The patron saint feast is a micro ritual, a family festivity celebrated as a religious holiday by the Orthodox population in Serbia in the form of the gathering of family and guests, coupled with appropriate rituals and a feast. Every family has their own patron saint, a guardian of the family and home, who is handed down from father to son. It is believed that the annual dedication to a single saint has contributed to preservation of the Serbian and Orthodox identity.

Paper long abstract:

Although it is rooted in Christianity and Orthodoxy, in the late 20th and early 21st century, the patron saint feast became identified with national affiliation under the slogan "to be a Serb means to belong to the Orthodox faith and celebrate a patron saint feast", in belief that only the Serbian entity celebrates patron saint feasts.

The origin of patron saint feasts in the Serbian population has never been scientifically explained. In time, the Orthodox Church established a church code of conduct during the celebration, but despite this, numerous rituals have been preserved more on an emotional level that are characteristic of the celebration and that offer a series of different elements in the structure of the celebration (presence of agrarian cults, numerous beliefs pertaining to a specific patron saint, etc.) The Orthodox Church views the patron saint feast as a prayer to God through a patron saint. All this implies that along with the Church code of conduct, the Serbian people created its own dimension of celebrating a family saint as a patron, where it is increasingly expressed that if a family leaves their homeland, they continue to celebrate their patron saint feast abroad as well.

Key words: patron saint feast, identity, agrarian rituals, family, rituals, emotional connection.