In church services for the feast of the Nativity of Christ, there are three special Sundays, two before and one after Christmas. These are the Sunday of the Forefathers, the Sunday of the Fathers and the Sunday of the Godfathers. On the Sunday of the Forefathers (known in Serbian as Materice) we commemorate all the forefathers of the People of God in our services, from Adam to Joseph, the betrothed of Mary. We also mention all the prophets who preached about Christ, from Samuel to John the Baptist. On the Sunday of the Fathers (known to us as the Fathers) we celebrate all of Jesus' ancestors according to the flesh who are listed in the genealogy in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. On the Sunday of the Fathers, after the Feast of the Nativity of Christ, we commemorate the Righteous Joseph, the betrothed of Mary, and King David as the direct ancestor of Jesus.

Awaiting the feast of the most holy Nativity on earth, the Serbian people and the Serbian Church commemorate our earthly families in the three weeks before this feast, which are the Church in miniature and images of God's love in the Holy Trinity. Therefore, it is a typical Serbian celebration, just as the Baptismal Feast is a typical Serbian feast. In the book Veronauka u kući from 1982, it is written: “Preparations for this most joyful day, exclusively among our Serbian people, are especially dedicated to the last three weeks before Christmas, for which our people also have special names: Detinjci, Materice and Ocevi, as well as for the days before the holiday itself: Tucindan and Badnjidan.

In these preparatory weeks before Christmas, folk customs are, for the most part, the same everywhere. First, fathers and mothers, on the third Sunday before Christmas, which is called Detinjci, early in the morning “tie up” their children, sometimes even the one in the cradle, and the children “dress up” them. Since it is always the Sunday after Saint Nicholas, it is usually “Saint Nicholas brings gifts to the children in the morning”.

On the second Sunday before Christmas, which is called Materice, fathers and children “tie up” their mothers (mothers), and they “dress up” them. On the Sunday before Christmas, which is called Fathers' Day, mothers and children "bind" their fathers, and they "dress" themselves. This mutual "dressing" is a mutual gift of love, which creates a festive, festive atmosphere in family Christian circles. Such a festive atmosphere was created by the wise men of the East to the holy family of the God-Child by bowing to Him in the Bethlehem cave, with gifts: myrrh, frankincense, and gold. The symbolism of this mutual "binding" and "dressing" of children and parents is clear: we are preparing for the celebration of the most joyful Christian holiday - Christmas, which reconciled man with God by freeing him from the bonds of sin, and binding him with a new bond of love for God. In the desire, therefore, to await His coming bound by the strongest bonds of mutual love, because He – Christmas – is also Love, which is the “bond of perfection”, we too “bind” and “dress” each other about the Infants, Wombs and Fathers. This binding and dressing goes beyond our family circles and extends to relatives, friends and all our acquaintances, and thus a spontaneous general Serbian, Orthodox-Christian celebration of binding and dressing arises before the upcoming feast of the Nativity of the Savior, who freed Adam and Eve from eternal death and gave them eternal life.

And so, exclusively the Serbian people have designed our Christian-Orthodox calendar, which is also the Serbian folk calendar, based on their own experience. Detinjci, Materice and Oci are, therefore, our national holidays strung together in the pre-feast of the Nativity of Christ, so that in the middle of Materice, Mother's Day, because the mother is the link through which "if it were not for the mother, there would be no world".

Materice is the feast of the Holy Serbian Mothers, Detinjci is the day of the Holy Serbian Children, and Oci is the day of the Holy Serbian Fathers, whose number cannot be counted (pp. 60-61).

Archpriest-Stavrophor Dušan Kolundžić