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On 10
th
July 2001, the National Assembly of the
Republic of Serbia passed an act declaring that Serbian
Statehood Day be celebrated on 15
th
February, the holy
day of Sretenje (Candlemas / Meeting of the Lord /
Visitation), marking the day when the First Serbian
Uprising was declared at an assembly in Orašac in
1804, and also the day when the first Constitution of the
Principality of Serbia was issued and confirmed by oath,
in Kragujevac in 1835.
National Day commemorates a date of great impor-
tance to the building of Serbian statehood and Serbia’s uni-
versal history, in the culture and spirituality of the Serbian
people. This is a day over which there is no dispute.
Sretenje was also celebrated as Serbian Statehood
Day during the period of the emergence of the Kingdom
of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia), only
to be abolished subsequently.
This meant that the day became a nationwide holi-
day in Serbia, which was marked not only by the Serbian
Orthodox Church, but also the state. Various events also
marked the holiday throughout Serbia this year. The
President of the Republic Tomislav Nikolić personally
presented the highest national awards to those deserving
of recognition from Serbia, using the occasion to note:
“Often in the process of setting value systems, Serbia is
still obliged to preserve and improve itself and others, so
that in the future it can carve its name into the achieve-
ments of civilization, just as the Sretenjski Constitution
did in its time, step by step and with vision.”
Sretenje serves as a reminder of the events that
launched a turnaround in the history of the Serbian peo-
ple, who have centuries of wearying slavery, without their
own state, etched deeply into their consciousness.
For many generations of Serbs that freedom was
merely a concept. They could only recount tales of free-
dom based on earlier traditions, while simultaneously
dreaming about such liberty.
They overcame three and a half centuries of subservi-
ence under Ottoman rule and general terror that led to
the despair of the enslaved people. General dissatisfac-
tion grew and the decision was finally made to mount
an uprising at an assembly in Orašac on the holy day of
Sretenje in 1804. Little Serbia (the Belgrade Pashaluk),
with barely 368,000 Christian Orthodox inhabitants,
stood up against what was then one of the world’s most
powerful countries. At the very outset of the uprising
a total of nine of the twelve districts of the Belgrade
Pashaluk were liberated. At the same time, organs of the
new Serbian state were established and set up.
The First Serbian Uprising, mounted in 1804, had
failed by 1813. However, its legacy remained. The “Serbian
revolution”, which began with the First Serbian Uprising,
was crowned 31years later, in 1835, again on the same
holy day, with the adoption of the first constitution of the
Serbian state.
Serbia was declared an independent principality,
which laid the foundations of statehood on which the
country still stands to this day. The Constitution pro-
claimed the principle of separation of powers into legis-
lative, executive and judicial branches, which forms the
basis of democracy. The ruling power consisted of the
prince, state council and national assembly. The prince
and council shared executive power. The rights and free-
doms of citizens were proclaimed, as well as the inviola-
bility of the individual, the independence of the judiciary
and the right to a legal trial, freedom of movement and
residence, inviolability of the home, the right to choose an
occupation, equality for all citizens, regardless of religion
and nationality, and the abolition of slavery and feudal
relations...
The Sretenjski Constitution was one of the first demo-
cratic constitutions in Europe and with it Serbia became
the first country in the Balkans to gain its own constitu-
tion. The creator of the document, Dimitrije Davidović,
composed it with a view to the French Constitutional
Charter of 1814 and 1830 (when France introduced a con-
stitutional monarchy) and the Belgian constitution of 1831.
Unfortunately, the Sretenjski Constitution was aban-
doned after just 55 days. At the time Serbia was a vassal
principality of the Ottoman Empire and the adoption
of the constitution was opposed by the High Porte. It
was also opposed by Austria and did not conform to
the wishes of Russia, which saw in the adoption of the
Serbian Constitution “French seedlings in a Turkish for-
est” (Butelyev). The Constitution did not even suit Prince
Miloš himself, due to its proclamation of a separation of
powers and many libertarian principles, and, thus, it was
abolished.
This date, known under various names, is also one of
the biggest Christian holidays. It is celebrated to com-
memorate the 40
th
day after the birth of Jesus Christ – the
day when the Holy Virgin first brought the new-born
Christ to the Temple in Jerusalem for him to be sanctified
by God, according to law.
The word “Sretenje” means – to meet. Due to the im-
portance of the event which, according to the Bible, took
place on that day, and because of the symbolism of the
word “meeting”, this holiday has always been accorded
great symbolism for Christianity. In the Christian sense, it
symbolises the meeting of the Saviour with the people; a
meeting of the Old and New Testaments; a meeting of the
soul with God. In secular or pagan terms, this day is sym-
bolic of the meeting of winter and spring (summer).
There are also other symbolic meanings and different
folk customs linked to this great holiday. It is no coin-
cidence that the leaders of the Serbian people selected
precisely that day in 1804 to decide to launch their rebel-
lion, nor that the same holy day was again chosen in 1835
for the adoption of the first constitution of the resurrected
nation.
