Television the other night showed pictures of carp being taken from stock ponds and put into barrels. These are the barrels we have heard about that will be appearing around the city center. We were watching intently in order to grasp what they may be saying by just the picture on the TV. The guy reaches in, plucks a big ol’ carp out , and lays it on a square wood table. He’s talking away, picks up a piece of two by four and precedes to whap the carp over the head. GROSS! The guy just keeps talking apparently it’s no big deal. He reaches in for another carp – we changed the channel.
The following are three articles from the Prague Post about Czech holiday traditions.
· Until the last century, it wasn’t traditional to eat carp – or any meat at Christmas. The day was celebrated mainly as a religious observance, in preparation for which people were required to fast. This period of prayer and fasting, called Advent, began on November 22nd. On November 21st people usually gathered in pubs to dance, drink and eat as much as possible before the long fast began. Advent was also a time for cleaning the house, baking symbolic pastries, and carving wooden nativity scenes. All that work was repaid on December 24th, when the fast ended with a traditional meatless meal. Legend held that anyone who fasted until the end of Advent would see a golden piglet on Christmas Eve – a tradition that has its echoes in the pig-shaped chocolates wrapped in gold paper that are sold this time of the year.
The tradition of eating carp for Christmas first appeared in the 19th century, when the upper classes, perhaps from boredom, rejected the traditionally meatless Christmas dinner and enriched their meal with fish, turkey, deer, and even snails. Those who were less well-off endeavored to keep up with the trend, but the only food they could afford was carp, creating a customer that has persisted even today.
Most of the carp sold in the streets at Christmas time have been raised in ponds in south Bohemia. The carp are often purchased live and carried home in plastic bags. I remember as a child that the biggest fun comes when the carp are released into your own bathtub to swim around until Christmas Eve. I was delighted because I didn’t have to take a bath for two or three days.
· All day December 24th is spent in the family circle. Children are busy decorating the Christmas tree and parents are busy with the final preparations in the kitchen. Even though everyone is already stuffed from munching on Christmas pastries, something small is prepared for lunch. Fortunately, a lot of the old, traditional meatless meals have been kept in grandmothers’ and mothers’ recipe books: cerny kuba, made of peeled barley and dry mushrooms; oat pancakes; fish soup; strudel-apple roll; or vanocka, made of sweet bread with raisins. Vanocka is the name of which comes from the Czech name for Christmas, Vanoce. The main Christmas dinner of fried carp and potato salad comes later in the evening, after everyone has opened the gifts left to them by the Baby Jesus under the soft glow of a light-bedecked Christmas tree.
The custom of decorating the Christmas tree is also fairly recent to the Czech lands. The tradition came to our country from Germany, where trimming a Christmas tree had been common since the 17th century. It became so popular that by the 19th century the rest of Europe had adopted the practice.
The first pine tree was decorated in Prague on Christmas Eve 1812. The director of the Stavovske Theater invited some friends and actors to his villa and amazed them with a Christmas tree that lit up his whole drawing room. The actors then received their Christmas presents – their salaries – around the tree.
· My earliest memory of Mikulas (St. Nicholas Day) goers back to when I was about four. I was home with my parents when the bell rang and there, at the door, I saw him for the first time. His most distinctive feature was his long white bard. Of course, I didn’t notice at the time that it was made of cotton wool. What did puzzle me was that he had my father’s slippers on.
The first description of Mikulas in Czech literature dates back to the end of the 14th century. The name Mikulas itself comes from the Greek Nyke-laos, which means “the one who helps people to victory”.
St Nicholas Day, known in some countries as “little Christmas” occurs on December 6th, which is also the Czech name day for Mikulas (in this country, not only do you have a birthday, but you also have a name day). The modern-day Mikulas tradition, according to Czech ethnographer and art historian Ladislav Buzek, has its origins in the Middle Ages.
These days, the St Nicholas Day procession is usually composed of three people; Mikulas, a devil, and an angel. Apart from his long white beard, Mikulas wears a cap, also long and white, usually made of paper, and holds a crosier, or staff, in his hand. The devil sports a long tail, wears a mask on his face (or blackens his cheeks with shoe polish) and rattles a chain, while the angel should be dressed all in white with paper wings.
The procession, which usually occurs on the evening of December 5th, rather than on the actual St. Nicholas Day, rarely appears in the streets before dark. People know the trio is coming because the angel rings a little bell to announce their approach. Buzek points out that St. Nicholas should hand his gifts, such as apples and oranges, to the angel, who then gives them to the children they visist. The devil carries a sack over his shoulder filled with potatoes or coal, which be presents to children who have been naughty.
In addition to visits of Mikulas, the devil and the angel, another St. Nicholas Day tradition, which is now somewhat disappearing is for children to leave a stocking in various places, such as in the window or under a pillow, during the night of December 5-6. In the morning, the children should find the stocking filled with sweets, fruit, and nuts – if they have been good of course.
We know from what we have read and hear is that Christmas is a three day event. Christmas Eve, as told above, is with the immediate household decorating the tree. Christmas day is spent with parents (grandparents), brothers (uncles), sisters(aunts), nieces and nephews (cousins). The day after Christmas is “boxing day”, the day to visit friends and more distant relatives. Boxing day in Victorian England was when affluent and middle-class families gave their servants Christmas boxes filled with tips and gifts – along with the day off so they could visit their families. Charitable Victorians would also distribute boxes filled with food and money to the poor of their parish.
Three Kings
January 6th is the day everyone takes their Xmas trees down. It is the 12th day of Christmas and the day of The Three Kings. It is the day that the three Kings arrived with gifts for the baby Jesus.
It is also the day that the initials of the Kings, K.(C.in English) M. & B. and the year are put above the doors of churches in chalk to protect the church again this year from the dangers of fire and water.
---------------------
Czech has been “westernized”, which probably isn’t good in many ways. There are now fake Christmas trees for sale. I have seen a few Poinsettias, mostly fake.
Christmas decorations go up around town the last week of November. There are decorations in some windows of homes. Mike said a couple of weeks before Christmas there will be more and more tress in homes. On TV last night was a home with all sorts of lighted decorations outside - similar to a “Home Improvement” Christmas contest episode where everything is overdone. I kept listening for the work “Americka” or Anglicky” (English) I doubt it was a local person’s home. I’d be embarrassed if I were the homeowner, much less the neighbors.
We have been busy. Haven’t done much tourist type things. There are a lot of little items we need for the apartment so that has been taking up most of our time. We did make it to Old Town Square to walk around the craft stands. Found some hand painted Christmas bulbs, but other than that, most of the items for sale really weren’t what I would describe as craft items. They also weren’t at prices one would expect from a simple stand. However, this is the center of the tourist traffic. It was an enjoyable afternoon none the less.
Mike taped a football game so we are going over to the old apartment to watch it with Mike and Marek. The post office is also over there so…. We probably won’t get another letter out before the first of the year. I want this letter to arrive before Christmas.
No comments:
Post a Comment