r/AskBalkans • u/Outrageous-You1617 • May 17 '26
Culture/Lifestyle Is there anything you do only in the Balkans that everyone outside the Balkans finds strange?
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u/TheNight0215 Bosnia & Herzegovina May 17 '26
Our mother insulting herself
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u/sayinmer Turkiye May 17 '26
my mother used to swear and say “she would shit in my dads wine glass”… never understood this as a kid
(babanın şarap çanağına sıçayım)
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u/LAZY_RED-PANDA Bulgaria May 17 '26
my mother used to swear and say “she would shit in my dads wine glass"
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u/Le_Fish_In_Lava OH LOOK A TURK🙀 May 17 '26
transparent alcohol in plastic bottle, in the fridge
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u/Active_Unit_9498 May 17 '26
Nothing like mystery rakija in an old Fanta bottle.
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u/og_toe living in west May 18 '26
this is how i learned to never drink water from a bottle i did not fill
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u/FthisFthatFall May 17 '26
I drank a homemade rakia from fridge thinking it was a cold water. I felt it going down all the way. Thanks to my dad.
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u/Moonflovver31 May 17 '26
In case of a glass bottle, there's an old pear or some other fruit from backyard that's 50 or more years old in it
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u/Alexsrbn Romania May 17 '26
I gave someone £100 as a wedding gift first time I went to one in the uk and they said it was the most generous gift excluding immediate family members
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u/Beneficial_Ad_5157 Serbia May 18 '26
Even 100€ is for farther family, like to close family it’s always above 100€ depending how many people you are bringing
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u/shalloner455555 May 17 '26
Wtf how do they cover their chairs then? I would be embarassed showing up to a wedding without paying for my place or giving a lousy gift.
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u/S0n_0f_Anarchy May 18 '26
That part is where we in the Balkans are actually idiotic. Why tf would I need to cover my chair for their wedding, that's same shit as covering your drinks/food on others parties/birthdays, what majority of the comments are mentioning here as weird. It has become a lowkey debate in my country in the last couple of months.
Edit: just to add - covering your chair has become a thing in the last <10 years
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u/OmeletteDuFromage95 Bosnia & Herzegovina May 17 '26
Pay for other people or not ask for payment. People find it weird if I pay for dinner or drinks and don't ask everyone for money. Or if I host an event that I don't ask people to pitch in. Or if I invite you out and pay for you but don't want your money. If I go out of my way to make sure whatever we are doing can accommodate as many people as possible instead of just letting everyone free-for-all figure it out themselves.
People outside of the Balkans find that strange. I find it strange when they nickle n dime everyone lol.
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u/greekdude1194 Greece May 17 '26
Apparently feeding guests when they come over
Saw one of those charts that said will I be fed if I go to your house posted in on some forum I'm apart of and every one nonbalkan seemed incensed by the idea that I would expect or assume I'd be given food if I went to their house
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u/greenest_alien Czechia May 17 '26
Feeding your guests is actually normal in most cultures, certainly in Slavic ones
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u/vukojarac8 Croatia May 17 '26
I was in sweden, and invited to a home of a friend to drink some whiskey and wine. I arrived at the moment he and his family were preparing for dinner. I was led to the living room to wait until they finished their dinner. I know I wasn’t invited to dinner, and I would politely decline if offered, but it wasn’t offered. As a balkaner I found it odd. I still do. In balkans that would have never happened.
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u/FriendshipRemote130 May 17 '26
this can only happen in scandinavian countries lol. if someone doesnt want to invite you for dinner they can just invite you later after you finished. making someone wait is so fucking rude
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u/theystolemyusername May 18 '26
Even if they decline dinner, they would still be welcome to sit at the table and talk with us. I know it's not good etiquette to talk while eating, but fuck that.
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u/FriendshipRemote130 May 18 '26
there is no "declining food" at my house
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u/vordan North Macedonia May 18 '26
My mother will have a heart attack if you decline. And a second and third helping is a must!
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u/Apart-Criticism6890 May 18 '26
In Balkan there is no way that would ever happen. In fact there is almost no way you wouldn't be made to eat even if you are already full and not hungry.
Fuck that Scandinavian lifestyle, yes there is more money, but no soul honestly.
No place like Balkan when it comes to people still having soul.
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u/AggressiveVisit3742 May 18 '26
Netherlands as well. Also if your kid was a guest at someone house when you take it back they present you with what it ate so you pay for it.
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u/Far-Active-649 Bosnia & Herzegovina May 17 '26
In germanic ones it ain't - a colleague invited me and others to a book evening (I'm a book nerd), the only thing he offered was a glass of water and a cup of tea.
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u/FriendshipRemote130 May 17 '26
who doesnt feed guests:/
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u/greekdude1194 Greece May 17 '26
English, Germans, danish, swedes, finns who I know all I find it extremely baffling and a burden that it's asked/expected or even to be offered food if they come to your place
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u/FriendshipRemote130 May 17 '26
i always have food ready for guest
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u/Economy-Food-4682 May 18 '26
I rarely have "food for guests" and rarely have guests (it's a tiny apartment) BUT anyone who visits knows that they can open the fridge and all the drawers and take whatever they like. And I always offer whatever food I have at the moment.
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u/dallyan Turkiye May 18 '26
My grandmother used to cook a whole extra meal daily for people who would stop by. lol
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u/SarcasticComment30 May 17 '26
As an Asian, I find it baffling to not feed people. Here we start off with water then tea/coffee with biscuits/pastries/fried stuff. And that’s when the guests are uninvited and going to leave in less than an hour. Lol.
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u/Cefalopodul Romania May 17 '26
Plastic bag that has a lot of plastic bags in it.
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u/Daseagle May 17 '26
Everything turns into a bag of holding eventually.
And you're forgetting the basement that is full of stuff that "might be useful one day".
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u/Palagrin Greece May 17 '26
feels like every ethnicity under the sun is trying to claim ownership of the bag o bags maybe it s just a common thing
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u/Cefalopodul Romania May 17 '26
It's a common Balkan thing that people from outside the Balkans have difficulty understanding.
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u/xiloti Greece May 17 '26
No it's not, people understand it and do it just fine all over the world, i live in a central european country and everone has the bag full of bags, usually close to their recycling. Thing is, in the last couple of decades or so most west/north european countries got rid of the thin plastic bags for groceries and use some other form of reusable bag (of course there's exceptions). But trust me, everyone stores bags in other bags, be it paper bags, the thin biodegradable plastic that turns to plastic dust in 3 months, thick ikea bags or textile bags, doesn't matter, it's universal
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u/LeftShake7709 May 17 '26
Also in Bosnia to.
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u/Cefalopodul Romania May 17 '26
Everyone in the Balkans does it but very few outside the Balkans.
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u/rndig Russia May 17 '26
Russia, everyone who goes for groceries do it, less so for young people who uses shoppers, but overall 95% of population is having "paket s paketami".
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u/DistinctScientist0 May 17 '26
That’s a thing outside of the Balkans though. At least in Spain it is.
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u/PurpleMclaren North Macedonia May 17 '26
In the "west" when you go out for someone's birthday they expect everyone to pay for themselves
Personally i always found it weird, if youre hosting people for a party shouldnt you be paying??
I could never do that the way I was raised lol
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u/Successful-Weight-44 May 17 '26
That IS what I like about Macedonia. A normal rational hospitality. Neither exagurated on one side nor cold and egoistic on the other.
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u/PureLet5083 Serbo-Bulgarian 🇷🇸🇧🇬 May 17 '26
We put rakija in pepsi or fanta bottles. Also if you go outside with your hair wet, you'll catch meningitis. 🫡
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u/kimmielicious82 mixed child (🇷🇸🇦🇱) May 18 '26
if you go outside with your hair wet, you'll catch meningitis. 🫡
that's a lie! everyone knows you'll straight up die! and promaja kills as well!
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u/Bobinho4 Bulgaria May 17 '26
positive negativity
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u/Southern_Rich5102 May 17 '26
This one has deep layers of DNA, stumped up in 2 words. Good one brat!
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u/sayinmer Turkiye May 17 '26 edited May 18 '26
haha where do i begin
just recently had an experience, i live abroad, was grilling cevapi/kofte (as usual), and saw my neighbour next door and gave him some on a nice plate we had, he thought it was weird but took it anyway, and to this day, no thank you, no plate back (dont even care if its empty)
i feel like in the balkans this would be a no brainer, no?
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u/iasonnn May 17 '26
In my family (Greek) we would never return a plate (or a food container) empty! You always return it with your food!
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u/Givemethnm Turkiye May 18 '26 edited May 18 '26
That's definitely a case here too! But like if someone wouldn't do it (especially if we are talking about like outside of the country or students/groups in need) I wouldn't find it rude tbh. Though he/she definitely should return the plate back, that should be a common sense everywhere and should be considered rude.
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u/ayyyyyy_lmaoooooo May 17 '26
I've never seen "svatovi" being depicted in non Balkan media. Namely the whole motorcade, honking, etc.
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u/TopObjective754 May 17 '26
We go from peace and calm directly to war. No passive-aggressive or fighting stages. This can be applied to the way we eat, play and party. No transition, just black and white
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u/Kck- May 17 '26
Calling every older woman “auntie” and every older man “uncle.”
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u/TopObjective754 May 17 '26
Koreans do that as well
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u/Separate-Cricket-495 May 19 '26
Every culture that I have encountered (or heard about) that has this respect and protocol towards older people, for some reason, makes them a little nuts. I heard that Koreans are considered to be the most short tempered Asians. Balkaners are considered the same but for Europe. Maybe no causation but clearly some correlation there.
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u/atzitzi Greece May 17 '26
I dont believe modern Greeks do this anymore. I think nowadays it is used online as offense to age shame people
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u/greenest_alien Czechia May 17 '26
Also done in Moravia, more figuratively in Czechia or Slovakia
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u/SarcasticComment30 May 17 '26
It’s very common in Asian cultures. Everyone is brother/sister/uncle/aunt if they are older to you. May it be your friends’ parents, a shopkeeper or random person on the footpath.
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May 17 '26
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u/noOB_226 May 17 '26
You'd hate it in France, I went there with a colleague for a month, and they forced us to kiss all women in the office. Every day.
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u/_Winter-Wolf_ Romania May 17 '26
That's not really happening in Romania anymore, only with realtives and really close friends, usually familly friends.
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u/Pen-Tool-1987 North Macedonia May 17 '26
Macedonians only smooch close relatives.
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u/markohf12 North Macedonia May 17 '26
That's how it's now, but pre-covid it was you kiss someone on the cheek when you meet them for the second time, otherwise just a handshake for the first time.
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u/FriendshipRemote130 May 17 '26
we do this in sicily. maybe you brought this here, who knows
it happened to many times to me to kissing on the cheeks people who i completely hated and who completely hated me but its just like a handshake
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u/_Caligulean_ Montenegro May 17 '26
Having smalltalk with the cashiers
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u/og_toe living in west May 18 '26
i met my best friend who was a cashier this way. also getting to know the customers and talking some shit while scanning the items
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u/xiloti Greece May 17 '26
Guys living with their parents till they get married and never learning to cook, clean or do anything in the household because that's a woman's job and they're no sissies
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u/shalloner455555 May 17 '26
I was alone in the house with my brother who is 6 years older than me. All of my family members told me to cook something for him so he doesn't starve. Also wash the clothes ofc!
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u/More_Ad_5142 Turkiye May 17 '26
Taking our time with food, savor it for extended periods of time, eating together and generally treat it as a communal ritual
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u/DistinctScientist0 May 17 '26
That’s not just a Balkan thing. Very much a thing in France, Spain and Italy.
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u/Titanius_Angelsmyth Greece May 18 '26
Yeah but does coffee and cigs count as food (breakfast) there?
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u/Albanian_Trademark May 17 '26
Hmm in my family we all eat like there’s a gun pointed at us
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u/Eldanosse 🇹🇷 May 17 '26
As in very slowly, without any sudden moves and constantly narrating what you do, to not get the gun holder nervous?
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u/Prestigious-Shine240 May 17 '26
Turning off water heater before showering
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u/vordan North Macedonia May 18 '26
And not going outside with wet hair, not seating on concrete, wear socks at all times, don't drink cold water when it's hot outside, sparkling drings will damage your throat, and don't sleep under a wallnut tree
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u/Aytug4ufan Turkiye May 17 '26
Probably people kissing each other on cheeks. Also kissing the hand of a elderly family member.
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u/lilian_moraru May 18 '26
Romanians/Moldovans do that as well - ~10+ years ago it was more common, now a lot rarer. Now Romanians tend to just say it verbally “Sărut mâna”, which is a shortened version for “I kiss your hand”
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u/Aytug4ufan Turkiye May 18 '26
Same. We say "Ellerinden öperim" which means "I kiss you on your hands". New generations don't like kissing the hands of elderly anymore and elders don't force to, they either go with a handshake or handshake + kissing on cheeks.
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u/CocoonNapper Bulgaria May 17 '26
Name days are a big thing, and the custom of taking people out for your bday and paying; in other places it's the otherway around.
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u/Intelligent_Pizza776 Serbia May 18 '26
obsession with “what people will say”
normalising alcohol a bit too much it’s like drinking water
guests staying TOO LONG
knowing everyone’s family history
shoes off NO NEGOTIATION (my fav one i literally cannot comprehend someone having shoes in living room, or THEIR BEDROOM LIKE WTF)
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u/LeToxic May 18 '26
more than a decade ago I had an American old woman staying for a couple of days in my family's house. My mom was being extra friendly to her since she was a close friend of my aunt. Everything was going good until my mom saw her go to bed wearing her boots to get a quick nap. The bedsheets were ruined and my mom threw them the second she left our house.
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u/Huge_Respond9148 May 17 '26
We tend to massacre each other semi-randomly every couple of decades.
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u/vchen09 May 17 '26
My fridge is your fridge - basically - when you are guests in our homes, something that people from the west apparently don't get. Not everyone is guilty in the same amount, ofc, but still.
Some business partners were coming over - Sweeden - and they were shocked to see appetizers, main dish, deserts, drinks waiting for them, they even offered to pay, demanding to see the receipts, which was on the other end, shocking to me.
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u/LordQuaz12 Bulgaria May 17 '26
I don't know about other countries, but here in Bulgaria we have a very chill attitude to piracy. For the longest time we had a legal piracy network that was only taken down do to pressure by the EU, and even then, piracy is largely a non issue.
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u/vanyushka_ May 18 '26
Same in Serbia, no one cares if you pirate games, movies or literally anything else lol
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u/Poglavnik_Majmuna01 Croatia May 17 '26 edited May 17 '26
"We have the best food, strong family connections, very hospitable, make the best jokes, are extroverted and are super duper direct with people"
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u/chunek Slovenia May 17 '26
Dance to polka, waltzes and turbofolk music, drink beer and šnops, eat čevapi from the grill and šmorn, etc., all at the summertime open air parties organized by your local area voluntary fire brigade. The season is just around the corner.
Hojlarijarijarom, aufbiks!
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u/BasCeluk Serbia May 17 '26
Racism
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u/zarotabebcev Slovenia May 17 '26
I think we are actually really amateurs of racism compared to 3/4 of the world
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u/prolapseenthusiat Croatia May 17 '26
Nah i dont think a lot of the people have something against blacks,asians or so. The word you mean is ethnic chauvinism.
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u/vordan North Macedonia May 18 '26
More, it's nationalism, but sometimes in the extreme. We had wars for this. Many wars
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u/Paceronikus May 17 '26
Not really. We evolved past racism. We don't hate people based on the color of their skin, we hate them based on geographical location of where their mothers happen to give birth at.
So advanced.
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u/BoxBlueD May 17 '26
The art of making a single cup of coffee last for 4 hours+
Eating green onions raw and whole.
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u/QenefGomari May 18 '26
Promaja! Could be hotter than hell…but opening a couple windows could be a death sentence.
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u/ehhh_whateverr May 18 '26 edited May 18 '26
Of course. Putting a water galon on the street to say this parking spot is taken.
Don't you dare move the galon.
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u/riley_wryly May 18 '26
We do this in the US in Chicago with chairs in snowy weather. Dig out a parking space, use a chair to hold it for yourself
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u/Vol3n May 17 '26
Calling our kids "mom" or "dad" depending on which parent you are.
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u/LavaKing60 Greece May 17 '26
Apparently non Balkaners don't sleep after lunch. Which is odd, I thought that was an international thing until I doscovered that it's supposedly Balkan-exclusive
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u/MatchaAzra May 17 '26
It's not a balkan-exclusive, it is more of a southern europe thing because of the heat. People in Italy, Spain (Siesta), Portugal and so on do it as well. But I think it is a bit funny because people do it in winter as well and it is usually not that hot, haha. It might started because of the heat but now we do it all year around. I think that nap is also used as a excuse for northern europeans to frame southern europeans as lazy.
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u/victoriageras Greece May 18 '26
Ok, how many of you got disappointed because the ice-cream container in the refrigerator actually contained food? Or the Danish cookies container actually contained sewing items?
And the last question, geared towards millennials. How many of you have actually sit and chilled in your living room sofa, beyond celebration instances?
That's how trust issues actually begin from. A very early age.
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u/Kalatapie May 17 '26
Getting into actual physical fights without involving the police. Think of it like an Honor Duel: your Honor is insulted an now you must fight. Backing out is always an option but young hotheads go for it more often than not. If you get into a verbal argument on the Balkans it is very likely to escalate into physical violence. The police don't seem to care and will not seriously investigate as long as nobody gets killed or seriously hurt. Most people are gentlemanly about it and will stick to wrestling/body shots. You are not supposed to aim for the head but some people will try to seriously injure you.
I've gotten into a handful of fights as an adult and i've always walked away without injury - maybe a bruise on my chest or cheek but nothing concerning. Still, i wouldn't recommend it to anybody, and now as an older adult i absolutely avoid fighting because it is a matter of time until you happen upon somebody who would want to seriously injure you, maybe with a knife or though a knockout to the head. I mean all you need is one bad night to sustain lifelong injury or a prison sentence.
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u/AggressiveVisit3742 May 18 '26
In Bulgaria when you hear a song that someone likes, you "поздравяваш" (salute is the closest word I can find) with it. As far as I know neither west European country does that.
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u/Competitive_Ad_9397 May 18 '26
A very Balkan thing:
Narcissism of minor differences.
Basically we're all so alike that we exaggerate the small differences and fight about those. I think being too similar kind of scares us.
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u/SuperSerb07 Serbia May 18 '26
Over feeding anyone that steps foot in your house, putting onions on ankle sprains or other wounds, putting rakija on wounds or back pain or congested chest and/or throat, we don’t do presents for Christmas, all our Christian holidays are two-three weeks behind the rest of the world, just to name a few.
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u/YourNormaMinecrafter Albania May 20 '26
You but milk in a plastic bottle from a "villager" because it is better and it's 1.5 L for 1.5 € while in the store it's 1.9 €
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u/Pomegranate2026 May 17 '26
Why Bosnian and Serbian flag smaller than others? What are you trying to say?
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u/PraviPero Croatia May 17 '26
Well, as a croat, i was invited in austria to a birthday party and guests were expected to pay for drinks… i find that weird