
On Monday evening, Serbians will welcome the New Year according to the Julian calendar, marking the occasion 13 days after the widely observed Gregorian calendar New Year.
The main church in Serbia is the Orthodox Church, which uses the “old” Julian calendar. This calendar, suggested by Julius Caesar in 46 BC, was a reform of the Roman calendar and took effect on January 1, 45 BC. The difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars (the latter named after Pope Gregory XIII in October 1582) is 13 days, which is why those who follow the old schedule celebrate Christmas on January 7 and New Year on January 13.
This year’s celebrations, however, will in many places be marked by solemn remembrance following the November 1 tragedy in Novi Sad, where a concrete canopy at the recently renovated main train station collapsed at 11:52 am, claiming 15 lives and severely injuring two people. In response, students across Serbia have been holding weeks-long protests demanding accountability for the incident.
In Novi Sad, protesting students will welcome the Serbian New Year in silence. Natalija Petrovic, a student at the Novi Sad Faculty of Philosophy, told N1 that they want to show, even on this date, that they “have nothing to celebrate.”
According to Petrovic, students and citizens will gather outside the University rector’s office building on Monday evening, where they will write New Year’s wishes, letters, and messages, followed by a student program at the Petrovaradin Fortress. At 11:52 pm, students will begin a 15-minute period of silence as they enter the New Year.
“On this date, we wanted to show that we have nothing to celebrate and that we will enter the New Year in silence, because we believe that is the only legitimate way to mark this moment,” said Petrovic, adding that she expects Novi Sad residents to join them.
In Belgrade, students from the School of Civil Engineering announced the cancellation of their planned Serbian New Year celebrations on January 13. Originally, they had planned a cultural and artistic event to raise funds for the victims’ families in Novi Sad. However, the event was canceled after, as they said, political actors became involved in its organization. The students emphasized their desire to maintain the protest’s student-led nature, free from political influence.
N1’s reporter spoke to students from this school who expressed concern about unnamed individuals accessing information about their faculty’s plenary meeting decisions regarding plans for New Year’s Eve. In addition, the students also indicated that threats from certain individuals who had come to the faculty contributed to the cancellation of the planned New Year’s Eve events. According to unofficial information, the threats were made by a man believed to be a member of the Security Intelligence Agency (BIA).