Ox

Ox is another domestic animal in Serbs, used to help about the farming jobs. Although the ox is a symbol of dullness, in everyday life, Serbian folk cared and loved the animal. Oxen have always been considered as providers for the human families. Almost any job around the house and in the field depended on them.

The oxen pulled ploughs and draw carts, usually tied by twos of similar strength. In irder to be able to work in the field, they had to be trained and got used to working jointly with its pair. The oxen would be pair while still calves, tied and fed one beside the other and as soon as they were grown enough, they would be put in a yoke and trained further.

Sometimes, two poor households would pair one ox from each household, doing the land in this way.

RELIGION AND TRADITION

In Serbs, oxen were respected as members of the household and cared for in a similar way. Whoever could not afford an ox was viewed as a real destitute – and not only in a material sense.

On festivities and patron saint’s days, there used to be rituals when oxen would be taken into a house and special food was prepared.