Christmas in Montenegro

Montenegro has two Christmases. Catholics keep 25 December; the Orthodox majority (71.1% of residents in the 2023 census) keeps 7 January, and the heart of that feast is Christmas Eve, Badnji dan, on 6 January, when young oak logs are blessed and burnt on fires in front of the churches of every town. 6, 7 and 8 January are paid days off for Orthodox employees and 24, 25 and 26 December for Catholic employees, but neither Christmas is a public holiday, so the law lets shops open, unlike on 1 and 2 January, although most are closed on 7 January. The holidays that are non-working for everyone are on the public holidays page; the square concerts and winter fairs are on the New Year page.

When is Christmas in Montenegro

The Orthodox Church keeps the Julian calendar, so its 25 December falls on 7 January of the civil calendar and its Christmas Eve on 6 January. The season runs from Catholic Christmas to Epiphany; New Year is the only public holiday in it.

The season after falls on Friday 24 to Sunday 26 December 2027 and Thursday 6 to Saturday 8 January 2028. The labour ministry confirms the dates in a notice each December.

Days off and what stays open

Two laws shape the season. The Law on State and Other Holidays makes New Year a public holiday kept on 1 and 2 January, non-working for everyone. The Law on Celebrating Religious Holidays gives an employee paid leave for the working days that fall on the holidays of their faith: for Orthodox employees Badnji dan and the two days of Christmas, 6, 7 and 8 January; for Catholic employees 24, 25 and 26 December. The employee tells the employer at least three days in advance. The labour ministry announces the dates every December under the title "non-working days", but the days belong to the believers who take them, not to the country as a whole: state bodies, local government and public institutions keep working.

Shops follow the same split. The Sunday and holiday trading ban in Article 35b of the Internal Trade Act covers the days of state and other holidays, so on 1 and 2 January only pharmacies, bakeries, petrol stations, markets, flower and souvenir shops, shops in stations, airports and ports and stalls at fairs may trade. On 6, 7 and 8 January and on 24, 25 and 26 December the ban does not apply: a shop, mall, bank or post office may open, and each decides its own hours. In practice Orthodox Christmas sets the pattern: on 6 January, Badnji dan, most shops work shorter hours, usually until about 18:00; on 7 January shops are closed across the country; on 8 January most work normally again. Nobody publishes a single list of Christmas hours for post offices, banks, buses or supermarkets, and hours vary from shop to shop, so check locally before you go. The pharmacies directory lists the 00-24 pharmacies, and the post offices and shopping pages the regular hours.

Schools are on winter break for the whole of January 2027, from Friday 1 to Sunday 31 January, so both New Year and Orthodox Christmas fall in the holidays; kindergartens run a duty service from 4 to 29 January. The National Museum of Montenegro in Cetinje keeps winter hours from 16 November to 14 April: King Nikola's Museum, Biljarda, the Art Museum and the Ethnographic Museum open Monday to Friday from 9 to 15, the Historical Museum, Njegoš's Mausoleum and Njegoš's birth house are closed, and the Dado gallery closes from 1 January. It publishes no Christmas closures, and 6, 7 and 8 January 2027 are weekdays. Other collections are in the museums directory.

Badnji dan: Christmas Eve

The Christmas fast lasts 40 days, from 28 November to Christmas Eve, and Badnji dan is its strictest day. The day takes its name from the badnjak, a young oak (cer or hrast; fir or pine in some regions) that the head of the house cuts early in the morning, before sunrise, traditionally with three strokes of the axe, and stands by the front door until evening. In towns the badnjak is bought at the market or handed out at church. The young tree stands for Christ and for the wood the shepherds brought to the cave to warm the newborn; the name is linked to bdjeti, to keep vigil.

After dark the badnjak, a bundle of straw and the pečenica, the roast for Christmas Day, are carried into the house with the greeting "Dobro veče, čestit Božić, Badnje veče!". The straw recalls the manger, and the small gifts hidden in it for the children recall the gifts of the Magi. The badnjak is laid by the stove, the family prays, sings the troparion of the feast and sits down to a lenten dinner, usually prebranac (baked beans) and other lenten dishes; the fast ends only on Christmas morning. The dishes themselves are on the local cuisine page.

In the churches the day opens with the morning liturgy; in the afternoon and evening the clergy bless the badnjaci and light them on fires in front of the church, which is the public part of the feast. In 2026 the fires were lit in most churches despite the rain. In the older village practice the badnjak was greeted, sprinkled with grain and kept burning through the night; the town celebrations grew out of it.

Where to see the Christmas Eve fires

Every parish lights its own badnjak; the biggest gatherings are in front of the cathedrals and the old-town churches, with several thousand people on the plateau of the Podgorica cathedral in 2026. The times below are the 2026 pattern: each church community posts its new times on 4 and 5 January.

The fires burn in the open and the evening is often wet: in 2026 most of them were lit in the rain. Dress for it and check the weather for the town.

Christmas Day: Božić

The greeting from Christmas morning is Hristos se rodi! (Christ is born!), answered Vaistinu se rodi! (Truly he is born!). The Christmas liturgy is held at midnight in some churches and before dawn in others. In 2026 the midnight liturgies were at the church on Ćipur in Cetinje, St Sava's in Tivat, the Old Town and Topla churches in Herceg Novi and All Saints at Veliki Pijesak near Bar; Cetinje Monastery had matins at 4:00 and the liturgy at 5:30, Risan at 5:00, the Podgorica cathedral at 8:00 (matins 7:00), St Nicholas' in Stari Bar at 8:00 and St Nicholas' in Kotor at 10:00. Services are open to anyone; Christmas morning is when the churches are fullest. The country's churches are on the churches and monasteries page.

At home the day turns on the česnica, the Christmas bread of wheat flour and the cleanest water, baked on Badnji dan or early on Christmas morning with a coin inside (or another small object kept from year to year, ideally of precious metal). At the start of Christmas lunch, after the prayer, the host and one member of the family turn it three times clockwise and break it among everyone at the table; whoever finds the coin is held to have a lucky year ahead. The pečenica carried in on Christmas Eve is the main dish of the meal.

The feast continues on 8 January, the Synaxis of the Mother of God, and 9 January, St Stephen's day, both with liturgies; in 2026 the 8 January liturgy in Kotor was at the Church of St Luke at 10:00 and in Prčanj at St Peter of Cetinje at 9:00. The days off end with 8 January.

Catholic Christmas in the Bay of Kotor

Catholics are 3.27% of the population nationally and far more in a few municipalities: 39.7% in Tuzi, 16.5% in Tivat, 10.1% in Kotor, 9.8% in Ulcinj and 6.1% in Bar. Catholic employees have 24, 25 and 26 December as paid leave on the same terms as Orthodox employees in January.

The Diocese of Kotor publishes its Christmas mass times each December; the 2023 schedule shows the pattern. Midnight mass, the polnoćka, is sung in St Tryphon's Cathedral in Kotor, in the parish churches of Perast, Budva and Herceg Novi, in St Nicholas' in Prčanj and in St Anthony's in Tivat; the churches of Dobrota, Muo and Stoliv hold an evening mass on 24 December instead. On Christmas Day the cathedral mass is at 10:00 and the evening mass at 18:00 in the Church of St Clare, with 10:00 masses in Perast, Tivat, Budva and Herceg Novi. A Christmas concert in the cathedral follows the feast: 26 December in 2023, 27 December in 2025.

Kotor keeps both Christmases in one programme. The Municipality and the tourist organisation run "Od Božića do Božića" (From Christmas to Christmas) inside Kotor Winter Fest: in 2023 it opened on 23 December, with priganice at the main town gate and a klapa concert on 24 December, a concert for Catholic Christmas on 25 December and an Orthodox Christmas concert in January. The Christmas concert of the choirs of SPD "Jedinstvo" 1839 in St Nicholas' Church in the Old Town is part of it each season (4 January in 2026).

After Christmas: Orthodox New Year and Epiphany

The Orthodox New Year, Mali Božić (Little Christmas) or Vasiljevdan, falls on 14 January and is seen in on the night of 13 January. It is not a day off, but some towns close their winter programmes with it; the concerts are on the New Year page. Many households keep the Christmas tree and decorations up until the Orthodox New Year and take them down around 14 January; some leave them until Epiphany. Epiphany, Bogojavljenje, falls on 19 January. By tradition the sky opens (nebo se otvara) at midnight on the night of 18 to 19 January, recalling the Gospel account of the heavens opening at Christ's baptism in the Jordan, and many people step outside or go to a window at that moment to make a wish. On the day itself young men swim for the Holy Cross. In 2025 it was held at the confluence of the Ribnica and the Morača below Nemanjin grad in Podgorica at 12:00, from the beach in Budva at 11:00 after a procession to bless the sea, from the beach by King Nikola's Palace in Bar at 12:00 and in the Zeta below the town bridge in Danilovgrad at 12:00. Neither day is paid leave under the religious-holidays law.

Weather, snow and skiing at Christmas

Christmas falls in the coldest and wettest part of the year. On the coast, Bar and Herceg Novi reach 12 to 14 °C by day in the 1961-1990 normals, with rain on 13 to 15 days a month and frost on only one to three; the north is in full winter, with a January mean of -2.1 °C in Kolašin and -4.5 °C in Žabljak. Skiing starts only with snow: Kolašin 1600 opened its lifts on 21 December in 2024, but in the 2025/26 season only on 10 January, after an opening weekend of events without skiing on 12-14 December; Savin kuk above Žabljak started its lifts on 19 December 2025. Check snow and skiing today, the weather and road conditions before driving north; the skiing page and the ski resorts list have the rest, and the months are described on the December and January pages.

Christmas and New Year

The winter fairs run across both feasts. Podgorički pazar on Trg nezavisnosti in Podgorica opens in mid-December and runs into January (to 7 January in 2025/26, with postponed concerts up to 13 January); the Christmas Bazaar on Trg boraca in Kolašin runs to the end of January; the Municipality of Nikšić holds its New Year and Christmas bazaar from 10 December 2026 to 15 January 2027; and Kotor Winter Fest in Kotor runs to the end of January. The square concerts, the New Year's Eve line-ups and what is open on 1 and 2 January are on the New Year page.