Christmas in Prague

Christmas season is upon us and, in addition to showing my students "A Charlie Brown Christmas", I've been doing some research while teaching my classes, trying to discover how the Czechs celebrate Christmas. As you might expect, there is a lot in common with the U.S. Christmas, but there are also some major differences.

The differences start with when Christmas is celebrated, Christmas Eve for the Czechs. The night has carols and, for those who attend church, a Christmas service. The similarities end there; for dinner, the traditional Christmas meal is served, carp and potato salad. After dinner, its time to open presents. In the Czech Republic, there is no Santa Claus; none other than baby Jesus brings presents to children who have been good. Does baby Jesus come down the chimny? Of course not, the Czechs tell me. He comes through the window. I suppose that makes more sense than a chimney anyway.

Some other interesting Christmas traditions including melting lead into water, to see your future, putting a candle in a walnut floating in a bowl of water which, if it falls over, indicates bad news in the future, and not eating till dinner on Christmas Day. Why? Because if you fast until dinner, you get to see a golden pig, which seems to have no significance other than the novelty of seeing a golden pig.

One tradition that is particularly fun is St. Nicolas Day, which is on the first Saturday in December. As the story goes, St. Nicolas descends from heaven accompanied by an angel and a demon. Children who have been well behaved have to opportunity to recite a song or poem to the angel, who then gives a small present or candy to the child. For children who haven't been well behaved, the demon attempts to scare them into good behavior and gives the child coal and potatoes.

The effects of the legend are in full force on St. Nicolas Evening. Many people dress in costumes, boys as devils, girls as angels or devils, and some people dress as St. Nicolas, who looks like a sort of Catholic Priest version of Moses. The city center is extremely crowded; it was so crowded, in fact, that I couldn't even take pictures, which is a shame. I would have liked to take a picture of the guy dressed as a devil playing the violin to "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", with the lyrics sung in Czech.

Enjoy a few pics of the St. Nicolas Day festivities!