Third C as a valid currency

On January 7th Orthodox Christians remember Jesus Christ’s birth. We eat pogača and drink red wine – the former meaning consumption of his body, the latter his blood. I ate his body every January and drank his blood every weekend.

The lady sacred bread consists of several ingredients: flour, eggs, milk, and triple C: Cornelian cherry, a plant, and a symbol of health; Corn, a symbol of diligent workers; Coins as a symbol of wealth.

We do not simply eat pogača. We stand up, grab it, and rotate it for at least 1 min. When three circles are made, each participant breaks some part of the pogača towards them. It is an orthodoxy rollercoaster, twisting the possibilities, switching the roles from the previous year, and strongly believing in your rotating skills. A piece of pogača is not there just to nourish you and warm your belly. There are an internal potential and the target.

The table is set up. I am on the right side, next to my mother, holding her knee below the table cloth with one hand and the bread with another one, as if bombs are going to break the windows or Jesus himself will appear out of the blue. The air becomes dense, filled with passion, buzz, and hysteria. The window is wide open, so one can bathe his sweaty face with fresh oxygen. Waiting for the decision on our fate.

What does it mean to be a proper Orthodox? Not fornication and debauchery, but the commitment to Him, and additionally a tradition of small gestures that go with faith. I believe there is a scale of religiousness; Jesus’s icon on the wall, church twice per week, kissing the paintings, coins on the icon, coins in the bread.

Baking pogača in a catholic country feels sophisticated. Look at this: 1 dinar (Serbian currency) is equivalent to 2 cents. "Be creative little Serb", I told myself, "consider your current geopolitical position". Smart one. I excluded first and second C from the content. Have a look at my little banquet now: my pogača screams from the richness while absorbing euros in her freshly baked body. Her grain becomes more prosperous, she smells like an upcoming fortune. Promised land, wealthy bread.

Use the template and make it orthodoxy. Remember, the third C holder is the most important one.