St. George’s Day is a traditional Romani (Gypsy) holiday as well as an Orthodox Christian celebration (at least in the former Yugoslavia). Traditional ways of celebrating may include dying eggs, using herbs and flowers to decorate the house, baking a cake, grilling lamb and/or having a picnic – it’s important to be outside of the house (some say the next winter will be less harsh that way).

Ederlezi Avela, or St. George’s Day is Coming, is a famous, traditional Romani (and Turkish) song, and also sung by Serbs. Wikipedia does a nice job explaining the song and the holiday, including the Romani lyrics and English translation. Listen to the song and click here if you want more information. In sum, it’s a picnic day. A Romani woman called to ask me to buy her egg dye so she can color the eggs tonight, and painkillers for her bad tooth ache. I have meetings and obligations in various agencies tomorrow from 8-5, but (thunderstorm forecast pending), I’m hoping to join someone’s picnic after work. I like this woman’s version of the song Ederlezi: