White Christmas for the Boston Croatian Community

Sv. Niko visits Boston Community’s Annual Christmas Party

The snow covered the ground last Sunday, just in time for the annual gathering of over 120 adults and kids participating in the Christmas party of the Boston’s Croatian community.

As usual, the children dressed in sparkling outfits stole the attention as they showcased their skills in Croatian language, in public reading as well as performing Christmas songs.

The Croatian School of Boston, led by Educational Director Andrea Katic Bruno, M. ED., whose leadership skills shone as she made sure the children shared what they have been doing this year (from learning about the Croatian heritage to meeting Croatian sportsmen and getting excited about the FIFA World Cup).

Children getting ready for the singalong with a great statement “I’m not perfect, but I am Croatian, and that is kind of the same thing”

The program included singalong of Croatian Christmas songs, both traditional and from the pop culture.  From U sve vrijeme godista, Veselje ti najvescujem, to Zeko i Potocic, and finally Sv Niko to invite him to arrive.

The production of the performance alone included more than 20 people, lead by Andrea Katic Bruno, educational director of Croatian School of Boston; Irena Matulic, director and co-founder of the Croatian School of Boston, also Board Member of New England Friends of Croatia and Lana Dinic, Treasurer, Croatian School of Boston.

The school’s teachers (Ana Jergovic, Iva Dujmic, Daria Kokic, Ksenija Krasina), were joined by musicians including Ana Zecic-Jeffers, Katarina Peric, Jerry Starcevic, and daughter Nadia, Erika Vogel and Zoe Miller. Lastly, the two key characters for this time of the year were Krampus (Hrvoje Melinscak) and Sv. Niko (Anto Brnada).

The Croatian School of Boston team with Krampus and Sv. Niko

Because the hall in Arlington which is the base for the Croatian School of Boston is a rented space, all of the organization, from setting up stage to table and chairs and the kitchen duties and cleaning up afterwords, falls on the Croatian community.

This time, the organization well as oversight of the food and transitioning of the performance center into a dining room was done by dedicated team of Jeff Bruno, Loreto Silva, Yvone Illich who asked many other volunteers to lend helping hands.

The festive menu included familiar items from the Croatian Christmas dinner, from roast turkey with mlinci, to sarma, which need no introduction, to Grb-decorated francuska salata, the famous French potato salad with the decorations of Croatian crest in white and red checkers. But, the most celebrated were desserts – from fritule, orehnjača and snowflake sugar cookies.

Photo by New England Friends of Croatia and Diego Suazo: All enjoyed traditional Croatian dishes

This gathering as many others in the area, was organized by the New England Friends of Croatia and Croatian School of Boston  — two organizations working together to educate and spread awareness about Croatia, be it from language, art, culture, history or sports perspective, as well as assist Croatians in the area and the homeland. 

For people interested in joining the community or for more information, contact [email protected].

Author: Mirena Bagur, president of New England Friends of Croatia; Board Member of National Federation of Croatian Americans Cultural Foundation; founder of www.CroatianPremiumWine.com, and executive director of The Global AVA, wine alliance.