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CZECH CHRISTMAS
Just as in most European countries, as well as
countries located on other continents, Christmas celebrated in the Czech
Republic is one of the greatest and most popular of all holidays. For centuries
the Czech nation turned Christmas into such a significant holiday that the title
"Czech Christmas" has a specific cultural meaning. It includes a great
many folk customs, ceremonies and other folk traditions connected with them.
Originally dating back to the time of the Middle Ages, Christmas motifs still
appear in current paintings and in the works of important figures of Czech
literature. Last, but not least, carols, pastoral songs and other musical
compositions inspired by Christmas have an important place in the history of
Czech music. Christmas belongs to the historical and cultural conscience
of the Czech nation.
How do people celebrate Christmas today?
The first sign of Christmas, especially for children, is the so-called "Mikulas".
On the eve of this holiday Saint Nicholas walks around a town accompanied by a
Devil and an Angel. He visits children and gives them gifts. But first, he asks
them whether they have been good. If not, the children must promise that they
will be better during the next year. Unlike England, the U.S.A., Sweden
and some other countries, Central Europe has not associated the figure of St.
Nicholas (or Santa Claus) with Christmas gifts.
The "Nicholas tradition" has its origin in the legend about
St. Nicholas - a bishop having lived in the 4th century in Asia Minor who became
famous thanks to his holy life and charity. The tradition of St. Nicholas giving
gifts is retained in all Slavonic countries and has become very popular. The
figure of St. Nicholas, clothed in a long robe and holding a staff, has always
been accompanied by a Devil and an Angel symbolizing the opposition of good and
evil.
The true Christmas atmosphere starts to make itself felt in
the beginning of Advent, roughly four weeks before Christmas. Up until
that time there has been a very lively, ancient pre-Christmas custom, when on
the Day of St. Barbara (December 4), people trim little branches from cherry
trees, morello trees or golden rods. They then put the branches in a warm place
so that they may start to blossom before Christmas.
Every town is decorated in a festive way by that time: shops'
windows glow from Christmas decorations; and many places show their Christmas
trees, which symbolize the upcoming holiday. The biggest Christmas trees are
traditionally placed at Old Town Square and at Prague Castle, where both amateur
and professional artists sing their carols and folk songs during the entire
Advent and Christmas time. You can usually see piggy banks under Christmas trees
where people can put money, and thus support charities. Christmas fairs take
place in historical places of the town: in Old Town Square; in Wenceslas Square;
in Republic Square; in the walking zone downtown; but also in the outlying areas
of town. In any of these places you can buy typical Christmas goods -
decorations, candles, firecrackers, Nativity scenes, Advent wreaths, ceramics,
Christmas cards, toys, sweets, mistletoe, chocolate boxes, pastries from
Vizovice and the like. It is also possible to see some of the traditional folk
arts and crafts here - blacksmiths, glass-makers, engraver or decoration makers.
The Christmas theme cannot exist without cultural events
around town. Exhibitions, concerts (in both Prague churches and concert halls),
festivals of Advent music, benefit concerts and special programs for children
demonstrate that the alternatives are many and, literally, everyone may make
his/her own choice. For most people Christmas is inseparably connected with
Christmas masses and the pastoral folk features of the musical composition
called Hej mistre, vstan bystre (Hey Maestro, Stand Up Brightly) written by the
Czech teacher and composer Jakub Jan Ryba (1765-1815). During Advent this
piece is often played, especially in churches.
Nevertheless, during Advent people do not only go to
exhibitions and concerts. From ancient times, the tradition has been to clean
and decorate our houses before Christmas. We buy gifts for those close to us
and, for our relative, we send Christmas and New Year cards. We bake Christmas
cakes from risen dough and Christmas sweets (vanilla sweets, decorated sweets),
and the more kinds of sweets you make, the better. In preparation we buy a
Christmas tree, usually a spruce or a pine tree, and carp, which is the typical
Christmas Eve dinner. Around December 20, tubs with fish begin to appear in the
streets of the town where you can buy this very tasty fresh water fish. This
fish is bred on a large scale for the purpose of this Christmas dinner.
Everything is now in readiness for Christmas Eve.
On Christmas Eve (24. 12.), in some families even earlier, Christmas
trees are decorated and a Nativity scene is built. A Nativity scene is a
model of the birthplace of Christ. Gifts have already been wrapped and
everything is prepared for Christmas dinner. Today a typical Christmas dinner
includes fish soup, fried carp and potato salad. There is a whole range of
recipes for this festive menu and they differ according to family and regional
customs. The most typical and most widespread one is fried carp. First you salt
the individual pieces and place them into flour, mixed eggs and breadcrumbs.
Then you fry them in warm oil until they are done. Even tourists who come to
Prague in large numbers at this time can enjoy this atmosphere. Therefore, most
restaurants and hotels prepare a traditional Christmas Eve menu for their
guests.
The history of decorating a Christmas tree is not very
long in the Czech Republic. It is said that the first Christmas tree in Prague
was put up in 1812 in Libensky zamecek by the director of Stavovske divadlo J.
K. Liebich for his Christmas guests. Soon afterwards, Christmas trees began to
appear in the homes of Czech nobility, and the town representatives turned them
into a natural part of Christmas in the 1840`s and the 50`s. Christmas trees
were decorated with sweets, folk products made of wood, gingerbread, or pastry.
Today, they are mostly decorated with glowing ornaments made of blown glass and
colorful Christmas chains.
Christmas is a family holiday and none should stay home
alone. Christmas Eve brings together the whole family and, if someone is alone,
he or she is usually invited by neighbors or acquaintances to join their
families. The festive dinner is followed by the most anticipated moment: that
which children especially look forward to the entire year. Why? Gifts are being
unwrapped which "Baby Jesus" has put under lit Christmas trees, so secretly that
actually nobody has ever seen him do that, and nobody ever will. He then
secretly disappears, even before the Christmas bells stop ringing...
People continue to sing Christmas carols by a
Christmas tree. Some of the best-known and the most popular still are Ticha noc
(Silent Night; originally an Austrian carol written in 1818, which has been
adopted in the Czech Republic); Narodil se Kristut Pan (Christ the Lord Was
Born, 15th century); Chtit aby spal (Wanting Him to Sleep, 17 th century);
Vesele vynocni hody (Merry Christmas Fairs, 17 th century); Nesem vam noviny (We
Are Bringing News to You, 1847). People will usually go to church for Midnight
Mass.
In the days of strictly kept traditions of Catholicism
Christmas Eve was a fasting day, accompanied by a series of folk customs ranging
from various superstitions to poetic habits. Parents would promise their
children that they would see a golden pig on a wall in the evening, if they keep
the fast. People also believed that the number of people around a Christmas
table could not be an odd number, and they would have invited guests beforehand
to avoid the odd-number danger. The dinner was always rich and usually consisted
of a few courses. A typical meal was "kuba" (hulled grains of barley and
mushrooms), pea or lentil soup, and "hubnik" (a mushroom meal). Sometimes fish
was eaten as well, but this was not very popular because fish was used as a
fasting meal. Carp became a Christmas meal only in the 19th century.
According to folk superstition, Christmas Eve used to be the
most suitable day of the year for telling the future. In the morning people went
to wash themselves in a river, or in a well, in order to keep healthy for the
rest of the year. After dinner they would cut apples and, according to what they
saw in the inside of the apple, they would guess their fate. If the inside
looked like a cross, it means either a sickness or even a death; a star brought
good luck and property etc. People used to pour hot lead from a spoon into water
and the newly created form prophesied what would happen. Some families keep this
custom even today.
Christmas and Easter are two main holidays of the
Christmas Church Year. The former is the Biblical story of the birth of Jesus
Christ the Savior, and the latter is a commemoration of his Death. The Czech
title "Vanoce" indicates a larger number of sacred nights. However, people
subconsciously connect only three days with this holiday - Christmas Eve
(December 24) which we have already mentioned, Bozi hod vanocni (December 25)
and St. Stephen`s Day (December 26).
Both December 25 and December 26 are, again, very festive days which
symbolize family visits, festive lunches and dinners. Usually families enjoy a
typical Czech meal, which consists of a baked goose, cabbage and dumplings;
sometimes there is a substitution of duck or turkey. There is also a custom to
visit a church at that time because of the Nativity, some of which are really
atypical and are worth seeing :the Church of St. Matthew has a gingerbread
Nativity each year; the Church of Mary the Angel Virgin in Hradcany has a
larger-than-life Nativity. You tlinecan see a Nativity in most churches in the
historical parts of the town including St. Vitus' Cathedral at Prague Castle,
the Church of St. Jacob, the Church of St. Mary, the Church of St. Peter and
Paul in Vysehrad, and the Church of St. Ludmila.
After Christmas we celebrate Silvester (December 31), the end of the old
and the beginning of the new year. Unlike Christmas, which is a very festive
time where families gather and contemplate, Silvester is usually very rowdy and
little resembles celebrations in other countries. New Year`s Eve is mostly spent
with friends and acquaintances in restaurants or just in the streets of the
town; the older generation prefers to watch TV at home. New Year's Day is the
last festive day of this period. People usually eat lentils as a part of their
New Year lunch in order (as a superstition says) to have lots of money in the
upcoming year. However, you should not eat poultry, otherwise you will not have
good fortune.
copied from internet
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