In a South Slavic Christmas custom, people eat sparrows. This custom brings together three important Slavic regions: South Slavic, Polesia, and Kashubia. In Rivne Polesia, people catch, roast, and eat these birds during the Christmas season. In Kashubia, sparrows feature in customs at Christmas and Easter, where people speak to them as they do to wild birds. In addition, the sparrow plays a role in marriage symbolism, recalling the hare.

The sparrow is also associated with beliefs about the form taken by the soul. If one beats against a window, it foretells the death of a close relative (Ukraine, Transnistria). Widows believe that three months after their husband's death, a sparrow-soul comes flying to them. Unbaptized souls also flit about in the form of sparrows.

— Gura. Animal Symbolism in Slavic Folk Tradition, p. 598