15 minute read
Czech Christmas Traditions
from Vestnik 2021.12.13
by SPJST
sources: Radio Praha www.radio.cz/en/ and www.myczechrepublic.com
Traditional Czech Christmas
Czechs begin preparing for Christmas early - usually, by the middle of November. It was once the custom for Czechs to fast for the whole day on Christmas Eve, for only those who did not eat until Christmas Eve dinner would be able to see the golden pig - a symbol of prosperity on the wall that evening! That morning the Christmas tree would have been decorated - mostly with red apples, walnuts, gingerbread, and other sweets, and on the tip of the tree the star of Bethlehem was set. It was also customary for the tree to be mostly decorated by the children because the mother had too many other things to do. Candles were fastened to the tree branches, to be lit in the evening and give Christmas Eve an even greater sense of magic. The whole family would be finishing up their final preparations before the Christmas feasts, which were just beginning on Christmas Eve at nightfall.
Old Holiday Customs and Traditions ◆ No lights should be lit in the house before the first star comes out. After it does, dinner is served. ◆ The table should be set for an even number of guests. An odd number brings bad luck or death. ◆ An extra plate can be used to even out the number of guests. An extra plate should also be prepared in case an unexpected guest or a person in need comes by the house at dinner time.
Lodge 142, Houston honors veterans
“On Veterans Day . . . and every day . . . we are grateful for our military service personnel who bravely served our country. We thank you!” Lodge 142, Houston recognized Veterans at its November meeting. Pictured are, left to right, District Five Director Bradley Stavinoha - US Army, Steve Roznovsky - US Army, Caleb Ngo - US Army, Jack Manchack - US Air Force, and Jack Dowling - US Navy. ◆ The legs of the table can be tied with a rope to protect the house from thieves and burglars in the coming year. ◆ No one should sit with their back to the door. ◆ Christmas dinner should consist of nine courses including soup, bread with honey, carp, potato salad, fruit (dried, fresh or canned), dessert (apple strudel or vanocka - Christmas bread), and other foods. ◆ No alcohol should be served on Christmas Eve. ◆ No one should ever get up from the Christmas table before dinner is finished. Doing so brings bad luck and death in the family. ◆ Everyone should finish their dinner and leave nothing on the plate. ◆ The first person to leave the table after dinner will be the first one to die in the coming year. That is why everyone should get up from the table at the same time. ◆ Any leftovers from dinner (crumbs, fishbones, etc.) should be buried around the trees to ensure they will bear lots of fruit. ◆ All household animals should be fed after dinner so that no one goes hungry on Christmas Eve. The Power of Foods and Plants
Certain plants, spices and foods are said to have special qualities and have been an important part of Czech Christmas celebrations throughout history. Here are some of them:
◆ Garlic - An essential part of Christmas that should not be missing at any Christmas dinner. It is believed to provide strength and protection. A bowl of garlic can be placed under the dinner table. ◆ Honey is believed to guard against evil. A pot of honey can be placed on the dinner table. ◆ Mushrooms give health and strength. A traditional meal called kuba, prepared from dried mushrooms, barley, garlic, onions, and spices, used to be served as the main meal in the past. Mushroom soup can be served before dinner. ◆ Sheaf of Grain - A bundle of grain dipped in holy water can be used to sprinkle the house to prevent it from burning down in the next year. ◆ Poppyseed, Peas, Wheat, Barley - If given to the hens on Christmas Eve, lots of eggs will be laid in the coming year. ◆ Vanocka (Christmas Bread) - Feeding a piece of vanocka to the cows on Christmas Eve will ensure that there will be lots of milk all year. Putting a few vanocka crumbs in front of the beehive will make sure that the bees will produce enough honey next year. Throwing a piece of vanocka into the well will ensure good quality of the water. ◆ Apple - If the goats are given apples on Christmas Eve, their milk will be sweet.
The 2022 SPJST Lodge 155, Austin officers are, front, left to right, Treasurer Jean Motl, Vice President Marianna Wood, and Secretary Ginny Prasatik. BACK: Reporter Amy Eskew and President/FAC Albert Klinkovsky.
The 2022 SPJST Lodge 160, San Angelo officers are, second from left to right, President Sandra Jansa, Vice President Betty Schwartz, Secretary Charlene Dusek, Treasurer Sharon Hohmann, Fraternal Activities Coordinator Brenda Holik, and Youth Leader Ryan Jansa. They are pictured with District Four Director Bobby Davis, far left.
Foretelling the Future
The foretelling of the future and predicting the well-being of the family in the coming year is connected with many popular Christmas customs -- some of which are still practiced today.
◆ The Floating of Walnut Shells - Little boats are made out of empty walnut shells and each family member places a little burning candle into a shell. Everyone's shells are then floated on a bowl of water. If the shell makes it across the bowl, its owner will live a long and healthy life. A shell that sinks brings bad luck to its owner. ◆ The Cutting of the Apple - After Christmas dinner, every person present at the table cuts an apple in half (crosswise, from the stem down). Both halves are shown to everyone around the table. If the core is shaped as a star, it means that everyone will get together next year in happiness and health. A four-pointed cross is a bad omen and means that someone at the table will fall ill or die within a year.
Foretelling Marriage
There are lots of Christmas customs that help young girls in the family find out if they will get married in the year to come:
◆ Cherry Tree Twigs (Barborky) - On December 4, St. Barbora’s Day, an unmarried girl is supposed to cut a twig off of a cherry tree and put it in water. If the twig blooms by Christmas Eve, the girl will marry within a year. ◆ The Throwing of the Shoe - An unmarried girl is supposed to throw a shoe over her shoulder and towards the door. If the shoe lands with the toe pointing towards the door, the girl will marry within a year. ◆ The Shaking of the Elder Tree - An unmarried girl is supposed to shake an elder tree and if a dog barks, she will marry a man who lives in the direction from which the dog bark came. ◆ Money and Wealth - Although Czech Christmas has traditionally been focused on spirituality and family rather than on material possessions, there are a few customs relating to money and wealth. ◆ Fish Scales - Fish scales should be placed under Christmas dinner plates or under the tablecloth to bring wealth to the house. Carrying a fish scale in a wallet all year will ensure that money will not run out.
Midnight Mass
Christmas Eve ended with Midnight Mass, which was held in every church. In some regions, Christmas plays were also part of the Mass, which was followed in any case with caroling. On Christmas Eve and God's Feast — December 25 — people wouldn’t play cards, go to the pub or visit relatives. This had to wait until St. Stephen’s Day, December 26, when the dancing parties and the period of merrymaking and caroling began.
Carols and Caroling
Caroling is an old Czech custom, where carolers go from house to house in a group, singing songs and collecting presents in each house. The main period of caroling runs from Christmas Eve to the Day of the Three Kings, thus from December 24 to January 6. Most often, people went caroling on Christmas Eve, St. Stephen’s Day (December 26), and on New Year’s. Another period of caroling was during the Easter holidays.
Through their carols the people wished for prosperity in the future, and this wish for success in agriculture and in their personal life (love and health) had a deeper meaning than the later New Year's good wishes. For this reason, carolers were warmly welcomed into homes and their carols were of good tidings and delivered with a merry feeling. Carolers would often go dressed in costumes and caroling would take on a racier nature.
The medieval Church frowned on carolers for the spectacle that they would sometimes make of themselves, including masquerading themselves as animals! Consequently, the Church ended up forbidding people’s caroling and began introducing priests to the caroling trips. Through this the Church hoped to replace the old caroling, and so in the 14th century popular caroling was replaced by Church Christmas songs about the birth of Christ, first in Latin, later in the national tongues.
The best known of the czech carols today are Narodil se Kristus Pan - Christ the Lord was Born from the 15th century, Nesem Vam Noviny - Bringing Good News to You from the end of the 19th century or Ticha Noc - Silent Night. Though Austrian by origin, this last song was soon adopted here.
Czech Christmas Today
Preparations for the Christmas holidays mostly get underway for Czechs with a good house-cleaning. The whole house is cleaned from top to bottom: the carpets are washed, the furniture polished, and everywhere vacuumed, even under the beds and cupboards. In recent times, Czechs have begun placing other objects that symbolize Christmas in these nice, clean windows — lit Christmas stars bought in the shops or artificial wreaths.
After cleaning their home completely, people begin slowly bringing in supplies and gifts for Christmas. They hide them in their cupboards and other hiding-places, so their family members don’t accidentally find them and ruin the surprise on Christmas Eve. This is when parents ask their children to write a letter to Jezisek (Baby Jesus), to tell him everything they want to find under the tree on Christmas Eve.
Betty Schwartz presents a Lodge 160, San Angelo scholarship to her grandson, Davis Schwartz, which he was received at Lodge 160’s annual meeting on Sunday, November 21, 2021. Other scholarship winners, not pictured, were Allison Halfmann and Trey Schwartz.
Christmas Sweets
From the beginning of December, the attractive aromas of Christmas confectionery begin emanating from Czech kitchens. Even if more and more Czechs lack the courage to bake a vanocka Christmas loaf, baking Christmas sweets at home remains a Czech speciality.
The more types of sweets on the table during Christmas, the better. The custom was that the children would help their mothers. The custom was also that the children, along with their fathers, would steal the sweets before Christmas from the box where their mothers had put them for safe-keeping. Another rule was also that housewives and grandmothers would bake even more kinds of sweets to get a headstart on them. The results of all these actions can be seen in extra weight around the middle after the holidays.
Towards the end of November, Christmas markets begin to appear in the squares in towns, filling them with smells of pine, from all the large Christmas trees, constantly reminding passers-by that Christmas is near.
Shopping
Neither the house-cleaning nor the cooking compares with the suffering endured in all the lines in the department stores and other shops. People from the countryside come into larger cities or Prague, along with people from the larger cities and towns. The most common spot for Christmas shopping is still the Prague department stores Kotva, Bila Labut, and Tesco.
Mikulas
In the midst of these holiday preparations, the parents of small children have the holiday of Mikulas (St. Nicholas Day) to look forward to. It’s celebrated on the eve of the day in his honor, thus on the
Lodge 187, Round Rock member earns “Brand Associate of the Month” honor
Congratulations to Lodge 187, Round Rock member Alexandria Johnson! She has been employed at Old Navy in Bastrop for three months and was named “Brand Associate of the Month” for going above and beyond her duties.
Lodge 200 Bruceville-Eddy supports seniors
Lodge 200, Bruceville-Eddy President James R. Hosch presents a donation to Taylor Hall representative Jessica Stengel for its senior citizens activities. The funds were raised from the lodge’s Veterans Day pancake supper. fifth of December, and one of the only old Czech advent holidays that is still being celebrated. Every year on this night, the streets are filled with devils rattling chains, St. Nicholases with white cotton beards, long white robes and bishop’s staves, and angels with paper wings, coming to see small children to give them a scare before giving them sweets, and then drinking a toast with their parents. Advent also brings with it advent concerts, which are often connected with collections for a charitable cause.
Christmas Wishes
During the holiday season, Czechs think of all their friends and relatives and send their Christmas greetings to them. The design of these Christmas cards varies every year, but among them are always cards featuring the Czech artist Josef Lada. These are typical Czech Christmas greetings and people send plenty of them, even with the Czech Post continually raising its prices. The Czech Post does think of its customers, however, and tries to soften the blow by issuing brand new postage stamps every year at Christmas with holiday motifs.
The Christmas Tree
The closer Christmas gets, the more everyone realizes what they still haven’t gotten done: Mailing Christmas cards, buying that gift for Auntie, making those special rum balls and picking out the Christmas tree. Christmas trees can be bought in most town squares and other open spaces, and every year they get more expensive. The most expensive are fir trees, followed by pine and then spruce trees. The newest trend is the artificial Christmas tree. Most Czech families keep their trees out on the balcony, where it remains until Christmas Eve.
Christmas Carp and Other Preparations
Once the house is clean, the sweets are all baked, the gifts bought, the Christmas cards sent out and the Christmas tree out on the balcony, it’s time to arrange Christmas visits with friends and relatives, to organize the Christmas decorations, to prepare for the Christmas party at work, to get all the right ingredients for the potato salad and buy the Christmas carp. Carp is only a recent addition to the Czech table, and according to studies, is part of Christmas Eve dinner in three quarters of Czech households, while the remainder prefer fried fish or filets.
The carp-sellers are a common sight on the streets in the wintry weather prior to Christmas, pulling carp out of the tanks of icy water, and even killing and gutting them there if the customer desires. Some people take them home, however, and put them in the bathtub. There are two things to remember concerning the keeping of the Christmas carp in the bathtub: 1) Don’t feed it! (so it doesn't have full intestines when Dad guts it after killing it), and 2) Don’t give it a name under any circumstances! This is so that the kids or their parents won’t feel sorry for it and run out on Christmas Eve to return it to the Vltava River!
The most important day of the Czech Christmas celebration, the 24th of December is naturally as idyllic for adults as it is for children, who have a day full of traditional Christmas fare to enjoy.
The Christmas television schedule is more or less the same every year. Fairy tales - old ones such as Pysna princezna (The Proud Princess), Princezna se zlatou hvezdou na cele (The Princess with the Golden Star on her Brow), Obusku z pytle ven (Take the Club from the Sack), and then the newer ones like Silene smutna princezna (The Terribly Sad Princess), or Tri orisky pro Popelku (Three Nuts for Cinderella). There’s also no shortage of old Czech and foreign comedies, such as the film Babicka (Grandmother) or the musicals My Fair Lady and Mary Poppins. One Christmas hit is missing from the schedule, however, the Soviet fairy tale Mrazik (Frost), which will be engraved in the hearts of the children of the 1970s and 80s and their parents forever.
In the afternoon, the Christmas tree is decorated, with whatever ornaments are in fashion at the moment. Recently the preferred decorations have become natural ornaments — red apples, walnuts, gingerbread, straw or wooden figures and classical candles.
Christmas Day
In the Czech Republic, just as here, December 25 is an official national holiday. Everyone gets to sleep in! It is also customary at this time of the year to publicly forgive those you have quarreled with during the year. Traditionally the main meal at noon on Christmas Day would be: giblet soup with homemade noodles, roast goose with bread dumplings and sauerkraut. After this huge meal, they eat fresh kolaches, fruits, nuts, and drink coffee. —SPJST—
The 2022 SPJST Lodge 246, Morgan’s Point officers are, left to right, Vice President/Fraternal Activities Coordinator Susan Hutton, President Ingrid Petrik, and Secretary/Treasurer David Nauert.
Lodge 200, Bruceville-Eddy Honors Veterans with Pancake Supper on Veterans Day
