the procession each year, and the event began to take on the character of a public holiday. During the 1930s, the laying of badnjak on the fire became a court ritual. It was performed, in the presence of the royal family, by representatives of the army in the Royal Palace's room with a fireplace. At the end of the 1930s in some parts of Yugoslavia, especially Vojvodina and Montenegro, the military badnjak ceremony was performed not in the barracks yard but in a square in the garrison town. An open fire was built, on which the badnjak was placed by an Orthodox priest in the presence of soldiers and citizens. This tradition, symbolizing the unity of state, church, and people, was ended by the outbreak of World War II. Yugoslavia's socialist government suppressed or discouraged public religious celebrations until the early 1990s. Since then, the Serbian Orthodox Church has, together with local communities, organized public celebrations on Christmas Eve. There are typically three elements to such celebrations: the preparation, the ritual, and the festivity. The preparation consists of cutting down the oak sapling to be used as the badnjak, taking it to the church yard, and preparing drink and food for the assembled parishioners. The ritual includes Vespers, placing the badnjak on the open fire built in the church yard, blessing or consecrating the badnjak, and an appropriate program with songs and recitals. In some parishes they build the fire on which to burn the badnjak not in the church yard but at some other suitable location in their town or village. The festivity consists of gathering around the fire and socializing. Each particular celebration has its own specific traits however, reflecting the traditions of the local community. The expedition to cut down the badnjak is the basic activity in the preparation part of the celebration. It can be performed by an individual, but it is usually a collective act accompanied by a festive procession that may include carriages and horsemen. After the tree to be used as the badnjak is cut down, it is adorned with straw, ribbons, oranges, apples, and sometimes with the Serbian flag. In some parishes more than one badnjak is used in the celebration, and a different tree is felled for each. Often bunches of leaved oak twigs are prepared to be distributed to the congregation gathered at the church. Each badnjak is festively taken