Slava song "I Shall Sing unto My Goblet"

The Slava (celebration of a patron saint) is a custom observed in several Balkan ethnic and religious groups, but it is most widespread among Orthodox Serbs and it survives in this part of the world to this day. It represents a unique inherited cultural practice and an important identity marker passed on from generation to generation ever since it was first mentioned in written sources in the early 11th century (1018).

The manner of celebrating the Slava has changed over time, but the context and the concept remain the same. The most important points in the celebration are the breaking of the Slava cake and drinking of the toast (performed in a virtually identical manner everywhere). The canonised, that is, traditionally established, elements of the Slava are as follows: an icon of the patron saint, a cake of bread, wine, a candle, thyme, and boiled wheat. The custom includes toasts, the Slava prayer, and chants and songs, both ceremonial and non-ceremonial. 

The song "Ja ću svojoj čaši zapjevati (I Shall Sing unto My Goblet)" is sung during the toast and the extending of felicitations, and is one of the few monophonic examples of this type. The transcript is kept in the Ethnology Department’s Folklore Archive, in Folder I, which contains 80 transcriptions of songs. This song was transcribed in September 1947 by Cvjetko Rihtman during his research at the Folklore Institute in Sarajevo, and the performer was Stana Brčkalović (born 1824) from the village of Sumbulovci.