The first tangible sign of Christmas was our (the kids) letter to Jesus. Yes, that’s right, in the Czech Republic Jesus brings the presents while Santa is on vacation ( I also remember bragging to my fellow classmates at school when I was about 7 years old that I saw Jesus’ feet just as he was flying out of our apartment window). When my brother and I were really little and didn’t know how to write yet, we would draw out the list of things we wanted for Christmas and put it behind the window so that Jesus could get a better look at it. My list always looked something like this:
1) dog
2) cat
3) Barbie
…..And I would usually end up getting a bunch of clothes that were 2 to 3 sizes bigger so that I could wear it for the next 8 years.
Second, getting the Christmas tree. I don’t remember much about that. The only thing I remember is how frustrated my parents would get trying to fit the stem into the tree stand. They kept trimming the stem down but somehow it never seemed to fit! But that is probably just a universal law….
Third, getting the carp. That event I remember quite vividly. Since I am a big animal lover, going out and buying a carp was a stressful day for me. I remember feeling so sorry for those fish at the seller’s stand, how stuffed they all were in this one tiny bucket with about 6 ounces of water in it and no room to breathe. Once we picked the “lucky” one we took it home and put it in the bath tub. I kept going back into the bathroom, checking on that poor guy who was just helplessly swimming in there, not knowing what was about to happen. The big question of that day was who was actually going to kill the fish??? And honestly I repressed that “lucky winner” out of my memory.Was it usually my mum? Or my dad? Or my grandma??? Maybe THAT’S what Santa did- he killed the carps!!!
Forth. Getting the presents. The gift exchange in the Czech Republic happens on Christmas Eve, which I prefer doing up to this day. It just feels right. What actually happens is that “Jesus” arranges the presents under the tree while everyone is gone, waiting in their rooms until he rings a bell. Once that happens, it gets crazy. Kids run out of their rooms and feverishly start opening up their presents. Mind you, back in my days we would get about 3 presents each, none of this crazy 100 presents-per-person mania like it is in the US (and now probably in the Czech republic as well). After we unpacked our precious presents we had our traditional festive Christmas dinner: the Carp soup and a fried carp with a traditional potato salad (my mom makes the best one). And for a desert we had a variety of Christmas cookies.
A lot of us “experienced Czechs” still remember the good old communist stores: Tuzex and Eso. They weren’t just some regular stores. They were the SUPER-SPECIAL stores. They were so special that they had their own currency called bony! Tuzex had toys/things from the ‘evil’ capitalist empire of Western Europe such as the true barbies or walkmans. The Eso store sold food items imported from the traitor’s land such as Wrigley’s chewing gums, peanut butter or Coca-Colas – great stuff!!!
Anyhow, my grandma’s Christmas treat for us was to spend a big part of her retirement money and exchange them for bony in order to buy us each a can of Coca-Cola in Eso. So at the end of the already awesome Christmas Eve I would go to our fridge, opened it and there it was – a chilled can of Coke….I was in heaven!! Even to this day when I drink MY OWN CAN OF COKE (!!!) I feel like a queen…
Loading ...
Sounds very familiar. Except for the cola though 😉
Cau Jano / Hi Jana
taky jsi psala Jeziskovi?? Neni to zajimavy,ze v Cechach skoro nikdo neveri v Boha/Jezise, ale on jim stejne prinasi darky??
Isn’t it interesting that almost nobody in Czech believes in Jesus (as their savior) but he still brings them presents?
It is not “Jesus” who “brings presents”. It is baby Jesus – Jezisek. Traditionaly 24 dec. is night on which he was born and three kings brought the gifts to him. Please do not confuse it with anything else. It is not clearly religious tradition at all and survived not as religious expression, but as family tradition just like in other countries St. Lucie, Deda Mraz – granpa Frost (Soviet Union tradition)and Santa Claus.
I am impressed with your website! It’s interesting that as a child, I thought Santa was like God. I truly believed in Santa, and since I wasn’t raised in a Christian home and my parents were basically agnostic, I really put a lot of faith into Santa. For now, we have incorporated Santa into our childrens’ fantasy world, but in a much lower key fashion. I want them to know and to love Jesus and to truly understand what Christmas symbolizes. I know what you mean about the mass presents on Christmas. We are trying to change this tradition with our parents with respect to our own children, and it’s no easy task:)
I am a American, dedecek of Czech decent both of my grand parents emigrated from Southern Bohemia to the U.S.in the late 1800’s. As a family we celebrated two holidays during the month of December, Svetec Micholash ( St. Nicholas) on December 6th. When young children received small gifts like candy, fruit and nuts or small toys such as a ball or doll.
Then another celebration was held on December 24th. Everyone, attending mid-night mass and afterwards a large family dinner was served with Kapr (Carp) if we could get it, but most likely, we had a roasted Kachna (Duck) with zele and knedlik.
After dinner then some real celebrating started with lots of pivo drinking, then gifts were exchanged between all the family members. My father family was large with six adult siblings in addition to their wife’s and husbands plus, 12 children ranging in ages from infants to 12 year olds. This was usually the time when the large gifts were exchanged. I can remember receiving my first bicycle then. This was during the time of World War II, when gas, food, and critical metals were rationed so getting a bicycle during that time was a major accomplishment.
Vesele’ Va’noce!
Just to add, Baby Jesus is definitely more efficient than Santa, because it makes it to all kids during the Christmas dinner, while Santa takes all night and also needs a chimney! 🙂
Jen dodavam, ze Jezisek je zcela urcite efektivnejsi, nebot rozda vsechny darky behem stedrovecerni vecere, zato Santovi to trva celou noc a jeste k tomu potrebuje komin! 🙂
Yes! And not only that, he also flies without any “crutches” (i.e. sledge)! See, if Santa looses his sledge and/or deers he is pretty much screwed and there are no presents. Bu baby Jesus?? He doesn’t need anything but himself to deliver the goodies…
Mag. Does it really matter if you say Baby Jesus or Jesus. Jesus is no longer a baby and he brings gifts to everyone who believes in him. Cut Tanja some slack. She is doing all of this so Czech/Slovak people can feel at home even though they are abroad. If it wasn’t for her great idea with the blog we wouldn’t have anything fun to read or anything to remind us of home. Tanja you are doing a great job!!!
Jooo, tak to je presny….uplne jsi me vratila do “stary” doby. U nas taky bylo desny drama dat stromecek do stojanku. Nasi spolu pak aspon pul dne nemluvili jak na sebe byli nastvany. Tak stastny a vesely!
Tanja,
Thank you for this beautiful website. My parents were born in the Czech Republic (Teplice and Prague) and came to the U.S. in the late 70’s. I was the first in my family born in the U.S. I am fluent in Czech and LOVE many Czech foods. Reading a lot of things that you write means a lot to me because even though I grew up in the U.S. – I was raised in a household of Czech speaking and strong Czech culture. I am studying opera singing and it is definitely due to the Czech upbringing of the importance of arts…all of my siblings are in arts, one way or the other! Thank you for posting recipes and beautiful stories. It means so much to me!
Vesely Vanoce! This is the first year I will make Rohlicky on my own! I am excited!
~Verunka
Hi Verunka!
Yes, opera singin! Most Czechs love opera – me and my family. I am so glad that your family is keeping it up here in the US!! You should let me know when you perform next and I will put it on the calendar of Czech activities 🙂
Good luck with Vanilkove rohlicky – I love to make them! They are the easiest and the best-tasting 🙂
Thank you Tanja. I will let you know about future performances…:) I have decided on trying the poppyseed kolace as well. Those were always my favorite. I would always take them to class as a child to add to my Czech Republic reports and the American children always wanted the apricot kolace but I would tell my mother to make more poppyseed for me…because I had more leftover. I am surprised that so many teachers let me write reports on the Czech Republic every year- must have been the kolace. Pretty funny! Thank you again!
Ahoj Tanjo a vsichni!
Nezapomente na zlate prasatko! Ja si vzpominam ze jako mala holka jsem hladovela cely den 24 aby se mi to zlaty prasatko zjevilo. Vi nekdo odkud tahle tradice prysla? … Ivo, nasi taky blaznily 24. Proto mi jsme zacaly novou tradicy…going out for sushi 24.
Ahoj Lenko!
My jsme Zlaty prasatko vubec nedelali! Ted se za to uplne stydim 🙁
Hmmmmmm mozna me to mamka jen namluvila. Ja nevim. Musim se ji zeptat.
This hits way too close to home. Maybe it is because I just finished our potato salad for tomorrow, finished decorating some of the christmas cookies and am about done with wrapping gifts. Was the christmas tree stand fiasco in every family in Czech. Because that seem to be universal over there. Oh, good old communist stands. We actually opened gifts after dinner. Everybody had to (well still do) sit throu our dad’s having seconds and thirds and fourth helping of his favorite carp. Now we laugh but as kids we thought it would never end. We all swore to see Jezisek one time or another, and I still believe I saw him. Not sure if that is pathetic since I am 33 years old, but who cares. I think it is cute. This was one of a few times a year we actually had a REAL cola with dinner too. I can still taste it, and for some reason cola never tastes better then on Christmas Eve. I carry this tradition with my kids, who are not allowed sodas otherwise and they love it. We actually celebrate both Christmas Eve with Jezisek – just couple of gifts. My husband says Jezisek is cheap since he only brings couple of gifts for the kids, unlike Santa that goes all out the next day. But then again, as you said, Santa has the help and Jezisek just his hands and bare back.
We spend two Christmas in Czech and I think my daughter’s favorite memory is the carp. We miss that here. Of course it is always interesting to explain this tradition to a bunch of kindergarteners here in the states. Hey, how many of you actually ended up taking a bath with the carp, to your parents horror? The golden pig is great. Who would not see golden pig – really was it a golden pig or just a stars from starving all day long after having to smell all the wonderful food? We actually have a small chocolate pig wrapped in gold wrapper with red bow that my mom takes out every Christmas Eve. That thing is probably as old as I am. So we all saw a golden pig before dinner.
As Christmas Eve day is here and I am getting ready for our tradition, I miss the carp swimming in the tub, pulling the tree out today and decorating and smelling all the goodies we took for granted as children.
Vesele Vanoce a stastny Novy rok.
Tanya, thank you so much for doing this. You do a great job. This is the first blog site, really the only one I go on and I am so glad to have found you.
Sorry, I meant to write Tanja. Have a Russian friend who spells her name Tanya. Have a wonderful day today and keep up the great job.
Ahoj Lenko,
(Thank you! I am so very flattered that this is the one blog you come to visit – still blushing about it.)
That was such a great comment! I love to hear other people stories – they are all so similar!! It really just feels good to reminisce about the old times….The beauty of it is that if we still lived there and Czech was still communist we would have hated it SO much! But since we just have those memories they kind get this pink haze and it all sounds so good! My husband always says – after he reads one of these posts – “be careful so people don’t actually think that you MISS communism!”:)
PS: jo a mne je to jedno, jestli me nazyvas Tanja nebo Tanya :)) Ja jsem vlastne Tatana (Tana) ale to je v Americe nepouzitelne..
PS: and by the way, Kimmie, thank you for sticking up for me!!
Me se vice libi ceska tradice Jeziska….. Americane oteviraji darky 25-teho rano. My travime vestsinou vanoce u rodicu meho manzela. Pamatuji si, ze kdyz moji synovci byli maly, prijeli k babicce a dedovi a ja jsem tam byla s manzelem pres noc taky. Vetsina z nas jsou cesi, ale svagrova je americanka, tak to bylo po americku, otevirani darku rano 25-teho. Kluci nas vsechny vzbudili asi v 5 rano, protoze jim tatinek rekl, ze nemuzou otevrit darky, dokud VSICHNI nebudou u stromecku. Tak jsme se tam dobelhali v pyzamech, ja kazdy vlas na jinou stranu ;o) a oteviralo se a delali se fotky ;o)
Ceska tradice je mhohem vic promyslenejsi….. Deti otevrou darky 24-teho vecer, kazdy je nastrojeny, udelaji si krasne fotky, a pak jdou deti spat. A rano uz nechaji dospelaky spat dele, protoze si sami hrajou s novymi hrackami!!!!!
Hahaha— ja vim, ty fotky rano me opravdu dostavaji! Proto se taky fotime na stedry vecer! Je to neco jako beauty make-over…ale obracenym smerem 😉
Hi Tanja,
you made me laugh and cry at the same time. What a lovely description of our ‘good old times’. 🙂 Very well written. It has touched my heart. Tuzex, bony, my first jeans bought in Tuzex – nothing can match up to that special feeling :-). The older I get the more I appreciate the lovely times we had when we were children. Thanks for sharing your memories. Big hug from Wales. Mája