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., Sweeden 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, morrello 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 Advenst 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, entravers 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 Chrismas 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 polupar still are Ticha noc (Silent Night; originally an Austrian carol written in 1818, which has been adopted in the Czech Republic); Narodil se Kristus Pan (Christ the Lord Was Born, 15th century); Chtic aby spal (Wanting Him to Sleep, 17 th century); Vesele vanocni 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 beforhand 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 mashroom meal). Sometimes fish was eaten as well, but this was not very polupar because fish was used as a fasting meal. Carp became a Chistmas 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 nimber of sacred nights. However, people subconsciously connect only three days with this holiday - Christmas Eve (December 24) which we have alerady 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 can see a Nativity in most churchers 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 nad 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.
It is the Prague Information Service which traditionally comes with a complete offer of Christmas programs available in town. The monthly Book of Prague Cultural Events has detailed information on individual concerts, exhibitions, festivals, masses, Nativities, dates and places where street fairs take place, New Year’s Eve programs and the like. Thanks to Internet this information can be found all over the world.
If a foreign visitor would like to experience Christmas atmosphere, he or she can visit The Museum of Nativities.
