Slavsko žito

The story

A Serbian family that keeps a slava, the feast of its patron saint, prepares the decorated slava bread and a dish of boiled wheat called žito, or koljivo, one of the most important dishes on the slava table. The wheat is rinsed until the water runs clear, soaked overnight, cooked until the kernels split, dried on a cloth, ground and mixed with walnuts and sugar. It is then smoothed into a mound, sprinkled with more walnuts and powdered sugar, and decorated with walnut halves or pressed with a pattern. The Belgrade daily Večernje novosti explains what the dish stands for: the wheat for life, renewal and resurrection, the walnuts and sugar for the sweetness and togetherness of the household. Žito honors the saint and also remembers the family's dead. On a saint's feast the same boiled wheat is set before the saint's icon, and it is offered at memorial services on the third, ninth and fortieth days after a death and on the first anniversary. Novosti adds that it must be made with care, since the peace and prosperity of the home are believed to depend on it. It is served before the slava bread and wine. Make it a day ahead and keep it cold; guests take one spoonful each.