Yesterday, the traditional “Čvarkijada” (Crackling Festival) was held at the Serbian Brotherly Help estate near Chicago, where the best teams of crackling makers from the local Serbian diaspora crossed cauldrons and knives!
Due to complicated American laws, it wasn’t exactly according to the tradition from the homeland, where the making of cracklings is preceded by a pig slaughter, but the local farmers, the Amish, did an excellent job. The meat was fresh, of high quality, perhaps a bit less fatty than what we are used to, but who cares about that…
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Everyone across the board was stirring and melting the cracklings: people from Valjevo, Požega, Vojvodina, the Krajina, Herzegovina, Šumadija, friends and godfathers, grandfathers and grandsons. And the fire was extinguished—with firewater—as the Indians who lived on these vast lands before us would say! Or in Serbian terms: with strong brandy!
The masters used traditional recipes for “tobacco” cracklings, Vojvodina cracklings, with an occasional master secret that they wouldn’t reveal for the life of them! But after a few brandies, the hearts of some softened after all…
The Crackling Festival was introduced to us, as is fitting, by the host, Dragan Selaković, former president of the Serbian National Defense and leader of the local Chetnik association.
-The ritual is not exactly as in the old country, but we manage as best as we know how. We shouldn’t even talk publicly about everything we do, but the important thing is that everything is legal. We get the pigs from the Amish, but the most important thing is that the tradition is respected, that is more important than the cracklings themselves. A small problem is that the Crackling Festival happens during the fast, but that is simply unavoidable, so before the start of today’s work, we prayed to God and crossed ourselves, and for the guests who are fasting, we provided appropriate food, says Selaković for Serbian Times.
Among the many masters, a woman appeared at one point, a lady master, to perform the final check and issue the order for packing! And the woman’s name is Branka, just like in that song…
-There is nothing without a woman’s hand! Although the greatest chefs in the world are men, it is known who makes lunch every day and for whom it is not a profession, but a feeling of love and responsibility toward the family. And I perceive this place and these people from the Serbian Brotherly Help as my family, because when I came to America with my husband 7 years ago, these people took me in and let me live for free on their estate until we found our footing. We don’t live there anymore, but we always come when help is needed, as is the case today, at the Crackling Festival, emphasizes Branka Terzić.
The Crackling Festival fell during the time of the Christmas fast, so for those who stick to Orthodox customs, the organizers prepared fish and fasting cabbage. And they could take the cracklings home and wait for the most joyous Christian holiday, then cross themselves and break their fast with them.
Some were making cracklings, sweating and straining, while some waited calmly in the warmth, at the tables and bars, for the masters to finish the job. In the process, they raised the acid in their stomachs so that they could later treat it with fatty cracklings as an antidote.
And all this in the atmosphere of the Serbian Brotherly Help, one of the oldest Serbian organizations in the world, which reminds one of past times and history that is remembered and not forgotten.
The Crackling Festival was visited this year by people from Chicago and the surrounding areas, the neighboring American states of Wisconsin and Indiana, and some even came all the way from Serbia to witness this event.
Everyone who came had a good time and will surely not miss the opportunity to return here next year, and among them will certainly be your reporter. Why? Well, you better look at the gallery below…
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Author/Photo/Video: Antonije Kovačević Video Editing: Ivana Talijan
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