My Czech Republic Blog » Holidays & Traditions

Happy 2009!

Dana — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 22:06:04 +0000

We would like to thank all of you who followed our blog last year and we wish you a very happy and healthy 2009! We hope you continue to read our posts and leave your comments.

Šťastný nový rok!
Jeff and Dana

It’s Mikuláš Night Again!

Dana — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 22:59:29 +0000

Today is December 5th, the eve of St. Nicholas Day or Mikuláš in Czech. We have written about our experience spending a fun Mikuláš evening on Prague’s Old Town Square. This year, we decided to visit a smaller Prague square away from the center. We went to Náměstí Míru in Prague 2. You rarely run into foreign tourists here and the area has quite a local feel. The Christmas market that is put up on the square every year is a small, rather intimate affair and you’ll mostly find Czechs here, shopping for Christmas gifts on their way from work, showing their kids the lights or enjoying a cup of mulled wine and a klobása purchased at one of the stands. Before we headed out this evening, we had expected some commotion on the square, some families with kids and a few Mikuláš-Devil-Angel groups. We got there a little after five and were surprised to find the square literally packed with people. So packed you could hardly move amidst the crowd. People dodged each other, looked for each other, stood in lines to buy sweets, beer, hot dogs… They carried their children in their arms and on their shoulders, or tried to make their way through the crowd pushing strollers. A number of Mikuláš and Devil characters clad in elaborate costumes handed out candy and tangerines to well behaved children. People had fun.

Jeff took some pictures as usual.

Christmas Markets and Winter Weather Arrive in Prague

Jeff — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:01:11 +0000

The Christmas Market on Peace Square (Náměstí Míru) in Prague opened up last weekend just as some winter weather moved in. We had our first snow on Saturday. It was only fitting since last week, while the Christmas Market was being set up, the last remnants of fall were being blown aside and swept up.

The Christmas markets on Old Town Square (Staroměstské náměstí) and Wenceslas Square (Václavské náměstí) will begin tomorrow.

We updated our Prague Christmas section with the dates and hours of many Christmas markets in Prague.

May First at Petřín

Dana — Thu, 01 May 2008 21:58:42 +0000

Prague’s Petřín Park is considered by many to be one of the most romantic places in the city. It is especially true on May 1st when Czechs commemorate their own equivalent of Valentine’s Day. We write briefly about May First, the Time of Love on My Czech Republic.

Below are two pictures taken today at Petřín.

Prague Easter Market – Painted Eggs and Pomlázkas

Jeff — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 22:41:28 +0000

I visited the Easter Market on Old Town Square today. We had some rain on and off, but the market was still busy.

If you want to read about Easter in the Czech Republic and the tradition of the pomlázka, visit our Czech Easter section on My Czech Republic.

The Day of Three Kings

Dana — Sun, 06 Jan 2008 16:33:02 +0000

Today is the Day of Three Kings. Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar (in Czech Kašpar, Melichar and Baltazar) were the Biblical gift bearers but I think of them as the “light bearers”. The Czech saying Na Tři krále o krok dále means that on Three Kings Day, we’re one step further on our way to longer days. Which is definitely a welcome trend after the two dark months of November and December.

I just read somewhere that the Day of Three Kings marks the end of Christmas. I did not know that. But the truth is, my parents always keep their Christmas tree up until around January 6 and we just took ours down today.

Happy 2008!

Dana — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 11:58:15 +0000

We would like to wish all our regular, occasional and accidental readers a very Happy New Year! We hope it is a good one for all of us!

Dana and Jeff

Gifts, Tree, Carp

Dana — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 13:11:20 +0000

It’s Christmas and we’re spending a nice, relaxing time at home. The gifts were all given last night, on Christmas Eve, as is customary in the Czech Republic. As every year, some people were still gift shopping yesterday. I’m glad we were not among them. We kept busy doing some last-minute cleaning, wrapping gifts, making potato salad and frying carp for dinner.

I bought our Christmas tree on Náměstí Míru last Wednesday. It is 1.3 meters tall and came to 400 Kč. It was shedding needles as I was decorating it yesterday and it is already turning a rusty color. I wonder how long ago it was actually cut.

Getting the carp was a bit more dramatic. In the Czech Republic, you can either buy carp live and keep it in your bathtub until it’s time for you to kill it (!!), or you can have it killed and cleaned by the vendor right in front of you. Neither is a pleasant experience for an animal lover like me, so I had Jeff go out and bring back some carp fillets. He came back with a bloodied bag and ”very fresh” carp, which had supposedly already been floating dead in the tub before he bought it. I tried to believe him…

Here are some pictures of the season:

Christmas market on Náměstí Míru, ended yesterday

Christmas market on Old Town Square, open till January 1

A Christmas tree vendor – choose your tree and take it away, or have it wrapped for an additional 20 Kč

A carp vendor on Národní třída

P. S. I had carp and potato salad for breakfast.

Prague Christmas Markets 2007

Dana — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 22:43:25 +0000

This year’s largest Prague Christmas markets will run from December 1, 2007 to January 1, 2008 on Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square. No matrioshkas and army hats will be on offer, says Taiko, a company that has organized the markets for several years.

You can read more about Prague Christmas markets on our site at www.myczechrepublic.com/prague/christmas-markets.html

I can’t believe Christmas time is coming up again!

Our Long Holiday Weekend

Dana — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 17:06:05 +0000

The work week is over! Our neighborhood is quiet, people are gone enjoying a four-day weekend. July 5th and 6th are public holidays in the Czech Republic and they fall on Thursday and Friday this year. How perfect! Now what are these holidays all about?

July 5th is the Day of Slavic Missionaries Cyril and Methodius. These two Byzantine Greek brothers brought Christianity to the Great Moravian Empire in the year 863. They also created the lithurgical Slavonic language and alphabet called hlaholice (the Glagolitic alphabet). They translated the Bible and contributed to the spread of Christianity and the Old Slavonic Language (staroslověnština) throughout Great Moravia.
Read more about the Great Moravian Empire on My Czech Republic

July 6th is the anniversary of the execution of Jan Hus (John Huss), the Czech religious reformer who was burned at the stake in 1415. His death sparked the Hussite wars of the 15th century.
Read more about John Huss and the Hussite era on My Czech Republic