Badnjak i Božić
Christmas Eve and Day, with a meatless cod dinner on Badnjak, midnight mass and festive Christmas Day feasts.
Badnjak, Christmas Eve, and Božić, Christmas Day, are the heart of the Croatian winter. Preparations start on 13 December, St Lucy's Day, when wheat is sown in a small dish; by Christmas Eve the green shoots, tied with a ribbon in the national colours and holding a candle, stand on the table as a sign of new life. Christmas Eve is a day of fasting: the tree is decorated, the jaslice, the nativity scene, is set up, and the family eats bakalar, salted cod stewed with potatoes and garlic, before going to polnoćka, the midnight mass.
On Christmas morning families greet each other with 'Sretan Božić' or 'Čestit Božić', and the whole day is spent at the table: sarma, sour cabbage leaves stuffed with minced meat, pečenka, roast pork or turkey, and trays of sweets such as orahnjača, the walnut roll, and fritule, small fried dough balls dusted with sugar. Carols like 'Tiha noć' and 'Radujte se, narodi' are sung at mass and at home, and in Dalmatian villages the badnjak, a yule log, is still burnt on the eve. St Stephen's Day, 26 December, is a holiday too, spent visiting relatives.
The pack has 36 words spread across these domains.
Same words in both. Beginner gets more help: matching and completing. Advanced listens and spells it out unaided. Pick it in practice; it locks when you take the scored run.
Practise as often as you like, all year. The scored run happens once, while the competition is open, and cannot be retaken.