About Serbian Days
"Saint Sava" Serbian Eastern Orthodox Church and Congregation in Vancouver is organizing the traditional Serbian Festival, a demonstration and celebration of Serbian culture as a part of Canadian multicultural society. The intent of the festival is to promote sport, music and folk dances as well as other various aspects of our heritage. This will be a good opportunity to present some of the traditional Serbian food and culture. Many guest-performers from various other countries and cultural backgrounds will also participate.
It is held in Vancouver at St. Sava Church and in nearby beautiful George Park at 505 East 53rd Avenue in Vancouver. Over 5000 visitors come by each year to enjoy Serbian music dance and food.
Three day event is traditionally held on the Labour Day long weekend in September each year.
St. Sava Church in Vancouver
Serbs were converted to Christianity not long after their arrival to the Balkan region, before the Great Schism split the Christian Church into the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches.
In the ninth century, the Holy Bible and church service books were translated to their native language, thanks to two Byzantine brothers: Saints Cyril and Methodius. In order to continue the Christian mission among Serbs, the Eastern Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople established the Church in Serbia as an autocephalous body, in 1219. The first archbishop of the Church of Serbia was St. Sava. He was one of the most famous monks of his time and brother of the Serbian king. St. Sava’s mission was so successful that the majority of Serbs still identify themselves today with the Orthodox Church.
Built in 1913, St. Sava Church is one of the oldest churches in southern Vancouver. The building was renovated in 1937 by the United Church of Canada. In 1970, it was acquired by the newly established St. Sava Serbian Eastern Orthodox Congregation
Serbs in British Columbia
In the 1850s the first Serbs to immigrate to Canada (probably from Boka Kotorska on the southern Adriatic coast) settled in BC along the Fraser River and in Vancouver. Most of them were young, single men who worked in the mining and forest industries. The second wave of Serbs arrived in the 1870s. Many were employed in mining or forestry near towns such as Phoenix, Golden, Prince Rupert and Kamloops. The immigration of Serbs to Canada continued during the 20th century but was intensified between the wars (1924-1939).
Also, immediately after the Second World War, British Columbia became the new home of many Serbs who fled their country after the communistic regime took control over their homeland. The latest and largest wave of Serbs moved to Canada shortly after the sudden breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. It is estimated that over 10,000 Canadians of Serbian descent live in the Lower Mainland today.
