Blagdanski božićni kruh koledo

Koledo is a festive Christmas bread with origins in the Croatian village of Plemenšćina. The bread is traditionally prepared on Christmas Eve. It is made with a combination of corn flour and cvajerica – wheat flour or corn flour and rye flour combined with yeast.

The dough is formed into circular shapes, and it is decorated with only one or four to five walnuts in their shells. In the past, the bread was decorated with exactly seven walnuts. It is believed that the walnuts give the bread some kind of magical protection, providing health and fertility for the whole family and their animals in the following year.

Once baked, the bread should be kept in the house until Epiphany, while the walnuts were often kept in the house throughout the year, as they are believed to help with various problems such as speech impediments.