Customs and traditions in the Czech Republic

Many of festivals are connected with religions.

Christianity:

• Christmas celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ
• Easter celebrate death and resurrection of Jesus Christ
• All Souls’ Day

People’s lives:

• Birthday – all family is together, the honoured person becomes presents and flowers, children often give parties for friends
• Name day – only small celebrations, small gifts or just congratulations
• Wedding anniversary

1^st January – New Year’s Day

14^th  February – St. Valentine’s Day

28^th March – Teacher’s Day

March/April – Easter – Boys have stock whips, water and some sprays and they goes from house to house and hit girls with stock whips, pour water on them and they usually become painted eggs, sweets, chocolates

1^st April – Fool’s Day

1^st May – The Day of Work – The day of Work and workers, they do not go to work, they have holiday. In 1889 Communistic International said that 1^st May is the day of workers and since then it is still celebrated.

5^th May – May’s rising of Czech nation

8^th May – The end of WW II. – The forces of Alliance came in Prague and beat Germany in Czechoslovakia

The Second Sunday in May – Mother’s Day

1^st June – Children’s Day

5^th June – The Day of Constantine and Method

6^th June – The Day of Jan Hus – Jan Hus had been burned in 1415.

28^th October – The Independence of The State of Czechoslovakia – Austria-Hungary had been beaten on 27th October 1981.

17^th November – Day of Students’ fight for freedom

24^th December – Christmas

31^st December – New Year’s Eve – Big celebrations, till the morning, at 24 o’clock New Year’s Toast, fireworks, with family or with friends

Czech Christmas

In the Czech republic Christmas is also the most popular family holiday. People buy Christmas trees, hang various decorations and Christmas sweet on. Some pope prefer an artificial Christmas tree which can be used several time. We have the traditional Christmas dinner on the Christmas Eve, some pope keep the old habit of tasting all day and so that Christmas dinner is very rich but it is different from English one. We have fish soup and mains meal is fried carp and potato salad.

Children except the bell signal from „In fant Jesus“ after the Christmas dinner to unpack their present under the Christmas tree. Many people buy mistletoe like in Britain. But in the Czech Republic the mistletoe is a symbol of happiness. People celebrate the coming of the New Year on 31st of December at midnight.

Easter in the Czech Republic

There are a lot of traditions connected with Easter of the coming of spring. In the Czech Republic some of the oldest traditions are those connected with Easter eggs and Easter „birches“.

For a long time, Czech men and boy have given girls and women an -Easter birching-: a gentle slapping on the arms and shoulders and backs with a decorated bunch of birch sticks.

The right to give a birching begins at midnight on Sunday and continues Monday morning. Young men, later joined by children, go around in groups visiting the houses of neighbours and relatives.

The strength of waking nature is given to Man by these customs. It is also believed that the first „bircher“ brings the home good luck, and so the housewife rewards him very well. Birchers get lots of food – meat, fruit, sweet holiday bread „mazanec“ etc. – sticks of rosemary or sometimes money. However the most usual gift is one of decorated Easter eggs.

In folk culture, the Easter egg was a magical symbol of life and spring. The favourite colourt for eggs was red – the colour of blood and life. Easter egg decorations can thus be understood as a special, intimate, graphic form of Easter love poetry.