Welcome to the Saint Sava Serbian Church Choir Website!
The Saint Sava Serbian Church Choir is truly a harmony of voices and we pride ourselves in being an amateur choir with the heart and soul of a professional one. Most of the music we sing is “a cappella”, which means performed in the church style; without instrumental accompaniment. Our choir is comprised of over fifty voices and has been singing religious hymns of praise and traditional Serbian songs since 1955! Please follow this link for more information on our rich and wonderful history.
Vaskrs je najveci hriscanski praznik .
Toga dana je Gospod Isus Hristos vaskrsao iz mrtvih ,
pobedio smrt i svima ljudima od Adama i Eve do poslednjeg coveka na zemlji darovao vecni zivot .
Zbog znacaja ovoga praznika , svaka nedelja u toku godine posvecena je Vaskrsu i svaka nedelja je mali Vaskrs .
Vaskrs spada u pokretne praznike , i praznuje se posle jevrejske Pashe ,
u prvu nedelju posle punog meseca koji pada na sam dan prolecne ravnodnevnice ,
ili neposredno posle nje , nikada pak ne pre te ravnodnevnice . Najranije moze da padne 4. aprila ,
a najkasnije 8. maja po novom kalendaru .
Za Vaskrs su , takode , vezani lepi obicaji u nasem narodu . U celom hriscanskom svetu , pa i kod nas Srba ,
za ovaj praznik je vezai obicaj darivanja jajima .
Jaje je simbol obnavljanja prirode i zivota I kao sto badnjak goreci na ognjistu daje posebnu car bozicnoj noci ,
tako isto vaskrsnje crveno jaje znaci radost i za one koji ga daju i koji ga primaju .
Preparation for Easter
For Easter, the most important holiday celebrated, there is great preparation.
Families gather to celebrate the holiday with centuries-old cultural and food traditions
that follow the 40-day Lenten fast, during which they abstain from eating all animal products -
meat, dairy products, eggs and fish - to purify their spiritual senses in preparation for the Resurrection.
Activities the week before follow a schedule made by the housewife.
On Thursday before Easter, eggs may be dyed. All colors are used, but some eggs must be dyed red to symbolize
the coming happiness in the Resurrection.
In some homes, beautiful designs are carefully scraped on the surface of the dyed egg with a sharp tool.
This unusual technique is the Serbian style of decorating eggs.
The first egg to be dyed is put aside and called "Protector of the House" (Cuvarkuca).
It is placed beside the family icon and saved for Saint George's Day.
Some baking is done on Thursday,
so that nothing but essential duties are performed on Holy Friday.
The family will observe a strict fast and attend church, where they will kiss "The Grave of Christ" (Plastanica).
Fish and oil are omitted from the menu of Holy Friday, and only nuts, fruits and vegetables are eaten.
On Saturday, the house and much of the food for the coming day are prepared.
Dying of hard-cooked eggs is traditional, as is a game played at the Easter dinner
table with the eggs.
Those gathered pair off and tap the ends of their eggs together, and the person at the table with the last uncracked
egg is said to have good luck.
There are traditional dishes for the Easter meal.
A typical menu includes lamb soup, sarma, roast lamb, salad and delicious cakes.
Dying Easter Eggs--the Natural way!
This Easter, why not color your eggs using nature's very own dyes?
It's possible to come up with a great number of colors using natural ingredients
that can easily be found in almost any kitchen.
Pale Red: Fresh beets or cranberries, frozen raspberries
Orange: Yellow onion skins
Light yellow: Orange or lemon peels, carrot tops, celery seed or ground cumin
Yellow: Ground turmeric
Pale green: Spinach leaves
Green-gold: Yellow Delicious apple peels
Blue: Canned blueberries or red cabbage leaves
Beige to brown: Strong brewed coffee
To dye the perfect Easter eggs the natural way, here's what to do:
1. Put eggs in a single layer in a pan. Pour water in pan until the eggs are covered.
2. Add about a teaspoon of vinegar.
3. Add the natural dye appropriate to the color you want your eggs to be.
(The more eggs you are dying at a time, the more dye you will need to use.)
4. Bring water to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
5. Remove the substance you used to color the eggs. Put eggs in a bowl.
If you want your eggs to be a darker shade, cover them with the dye and let
them stand overnight in the refrigerator.
Of course our choir would be nothing without the incredible dedication of our members, some of whom have been members since the choir was formed almost fifty years ago! Unlike other choirs, the Saint Sava Choir does not hold auditions and thus, membership is open to everyone. We believe that even the weakest voice has a song to sing! We’re overjoyed when anyone new joins our choir regardless of their experience or vocal talent. Please follow this link for more information on our members or for details on how you can become a member.
The Saint Sava Choir is also one of the most active organizations belonging to All Serbian Saints Serbian Orthodox Church. Our new church, consecrated in 2002, is certainly one of the most beautiful on this continent. We’re proud to serve our community by participating each week in the Divine Liturgy, by singing at special community events and church occasions, and by actively participating in and supporting all of the fundraising efforts our community undertakes. Please follow this link for more information on our upcoming performances and events.
Talking about a sense of community, we truly are blessed in having a group of people who support us by attending all of our events. These people also support us with good deeds, often by volunteering to work at our events and by making baked goods for our now famous monthly coffee hours. These treasured souls are often spouses and children of choir members but we also include many prominent parishioners in this group, whose unending support is appreciated by all of us. We thank everyone who inspires us to sing! Please follow this link for more information on becoming a financial supporter of our choir .
Our choir is also blessed to belong to an “extended family” of singers as a result of our membership in The Serbian Singing Federation. The SSF is one of the oldest and most respected organizations on this continent and their tireless work and incredible efforts to preserve the music of the Serbian people is exemplary. For more information on the SSF, please visit their site, by clicking here.
We thank you for visiting our website and hope you enjoy your time spent here. Our site is full of interesting facts, wonderful nostalgia and surprising things you may not know about our choir. Please remember to visit often, because we’ll always have new and exciting updates. We also hope you have the pleasure of hearing us whether it be in church or at one of our upcoming events.
| upcoming events | |
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Weddings |
| past events | |
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52nd Annual Concert |
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Pool of Sponsors |
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51st Annual Concert |
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Kosovski bozuri |
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Annual Concert |
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P.Aksentijevic |
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Our Fall Concert |
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Garage Sale |
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Majko kosovska od zlata jabuko |
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Cvijan's seminar |
©SAINT SAVA SERBIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH CHOIR ( TORONTO– MISSISSAUGA )
Design and concept by Djordjo B. Vasic, 2008
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