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==Twelve Days of Christmas==
During the [[Twelve Days of Christmas]] (7 January – 18 January on the Gregorian calendar), one is to greet another person with "Christ is Born," which should be responded to with "Truly He is Born," or in [[Gaj's Latin alphabet|Serbian Latin]]:
January 14 on the Gregorian calendar corresponds to January 1, New Year's Day, on the Julian calendar; this holiday is also called ''Mali Božić'' ("Little Christmas"). In some regions, the head and the right [[Boston butt]] of the ''pečenica'' are set aside at the Christmas dinner, and are served for dinner on this day. A part of this meal may consist of little round loaves made with [[cornmeal]] and [[cream]]. The loaves are named ''vasilica'' after [[Basil of Caesarea|Saint Basil the Great]], because January 1 is also the feast day of this saint. People versed in [[scapulimancy]] used the [[scapula|shoulder blade]] of the Boston butt to foretell events concerning the family in the ensuing year.<ref name=v94>Vuković, pp. 94-95</ref> The snout cut from the head of ''pečenica'' could have been used in [[love magic]]. If a girl looked stealthily through the snout at a boy she wanted, who was not interested in her, he would supposedly go mad about her.<ref>Vuković, p. 222</ref>
On the day before Little Christmas, especially in south-eastern Serbia, a group of young unmarried men went through the streets of their village and chased away demons by making a deafening noise. ''Sirovari'', as these men were called, shouted as loud as possible two words, "''Sirovo burovo''!" accompanied by the noise made with bells, [[Ratchet (instrument)|ratchet]]s, and horseshoes strung on a rope. The group consisted of seven, nine or eleven members; it was said that if there were an even number of ''sirovari'', one of them would die within a year. Moving through the village, they tried to make it impossible for anyone to count them. They constantly changed positions in the group, hid and suddenly reappeared. Villagers were glad to receive them in their homes, and treated them with food and drink.<ref>{{cite journal
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