Czechmatediary

A Czech newspaper called Idnes.cz wrote a nice overview article about the Czech St. Nicholas and how does his character varies in other European countries. Bellow are also some nice pictures from this year’s St. Nicholas Day (in the Czech Republic).

ST. NICHOLAS TRADITIONS IN OTHER COUNTRIES

In Netherlands St. Nicholas comes visit various cities and villages on a white horse. He and his helper Zwart Piet are then welcomed by the city mayor. The children are taught to leave their shoes in front of the door and leave their wish letters tucked in the shoes. Very often they also put in few carrots or hay for Nicholas’s horse. For these good deeds they hope St. Nicholas will leave them candy and not coal or a sack of salt.

In Poland, on the other hand, the St. Nicholas (Mikolaj) character is similar to our ‘little Jesus’ (Jezisek). Mikolaj comes to the Polish children one day earlier than to the Czech children. He then re-visits them on Christmas Eve and gives them even more presents. [continue reading…]

Hi folks!

In case you are STILL looking for Christmas presents here is an option :0):

CZ: Ahoj lidicky, jestlize STALE hleadate ten pravy darek pro nekoho k vanocum, tady je napad :0):
[continue reading…]

The good news is that it is the St. Nicholas Day today! Happy St. Nicholas day!!!
The bad news is that the Czechs were defeated by the Spanish at the US Open today. I am affraid they will be getting some coal from the angel today….and if Saint Nicholas is in a really bad mood (of if – Heaven’s forbid – if he is a tennis fan!!!) maybe they will be taken to hell!!!! Let’s hope not ;0)

CZ: Jste pripraveni na Mikulasskou nadilku? Zasobovani uhlim?? No, vite kdo dneska dostane uhli….nasi teniste, kteri dnes bohuzel  prohrali US Open proti Spanelum. No, my se zase otrepeme a pristi rok do toho pujdeme znovu. :0)

Many of you, Czechs and Slovaks out there in a foreign country, voiced their wish for a Czech and Slovak mate. Someone you can speak your mother tongue with at all times and someone to whom you don’t have to explain that carp soup is actually a real thing. So here it is!

Mnozi z vas, Cechu a Slovaku v zahranici, touzi po ceskem/slovenskem druhu/druzce. Tedy po nekom, s kym si muzete povidat ve svem rodnem jazyce 24 hodin denne a nemusite mu vysvetlovat, proc mate vlastne radi tu ‘nevidanou’ kapri polevku nebo co to znamena jist brambory z ohne. Tak tady je nova kategorie v ceskem foru – SEZNAMKA!

The Czech Daily Word wrote yesterday about the famous singing competition – the Czech Idol (Czechs call it Superstar). This time the producers decided to put Slovak and Czech competitors together so there is a lot of talent. And as Peter Boruvka remarked, they are all very good looking! What made my brain hurt (since I am not used to it) is when I was watching the black guy  singing in Czech! How amazing that the Czech Republic has become so multicultural!

CZ: Czech Daily Word se vcera zabyval svetoznamou peveckou soutezi Idol, ktera je uz take v Cechach a na Slovensku. Tento rok se producenti show rozhodli dat ceske a slovenske zpevaky dohromady, takze to bude tezka bitva – talentu je tam tento rok hodne. Co me mile prekvapilo je, ze jeden ze soutezicich je velmi vzhledny cernoch a Cech! Takze mluvi a zpiva perfektne cesky (coz je samozrejme, protoze v Cechach asi vyrostl)! [continue reading…]

My husband was recently telling me about his childhood arrow. When he was about 7 years old he found out that Santa did not exist and that just scared him tremendously. I tried to think of a time when I found out that Jesus does not bring us presents (for those who don’t know, it is Jesus who traditionally brings Christmas presents to the Czech and Slovak children). But I just can’t remember….I remember writing him letters and putting them behind the window so that he sees it when he is flying around and I remember bragging to the kids at school that I had seen Jesus’s feet as he was flying out of our window on Christmas Eve.

Here is a question for you:

CZ:  Pred nedavnem mi manzel vypravoval, jak vlastne zjistil, ze Santa neexistuje. Bylo mu asi 7 let a hrozne ho to zranilo. To me privedlo na myslenky, jak jsem vlasnte  zjistila ja, ze mi Jezisek ve skutecnosti neprinasi darky. Vubec si na tuhle epizodu meho zivota nemuzu vzpomenout; jenom si pamatuju, jak jsem mu psala dopisy a pak jsem je davala za okno, aby je pri jeho litacich pochuzkach videl…..taky si pamatuju, jak jsem se detem ve skole vytahovala, ze jsem na Stedry vecer zahledla jeho nohy zrovna kdyz vyletaval oknem z naseho obyvaku.

Mam tedy pro vas otazku:

[continue reading…]

December is here and with it comes the merriment of Christmas and a New Year…and food…and sweets…and Santa (Mikulas) and Jezisek!!! There are so many St. Nicholas celebrations (I counted 12 of them) out there so there is no excuse for you not meet the ‘real’ angel together with the devil and the holy man – Saint Nicholas.

CZ: Je tu prosinec a s nim take radost Vanoc a Noveho Roku…a dobrutek…a Mikulase…a Jeziska. Na nize uvedenem listu je 12 Mikulasskych besidek (!!), takze zadne vymluvy, damy a panove, jdeme se pozdravit s andelem, certem a Mikulasem :o)

1. Baltimore, MD

What: St. Nicholas Day celebration (Mikulasska)

When: Dec. 6

2. Astoria, NY

What: St. Nicholas Day celebration for children (Mikulas) [continue reading…]

A traditional 66-foot tall Christmas tree was  lit up today at the Old Town Square in Prague. The tree lights are blinking, moving up and down, changing colors….anything imaginable (you can watch it in action in the video below).  This year the tree is actually being guarded by a special security system so that half of the ornaments does not get stolen like it has happened in the past. The Christmas tree celebration also opened up the old-fashioned Christmas market where the visitors can buy home-made candles, wooden toys, svarak (sweetened hot wine with spices) and other traditional Czech goods. The market stands engulf a little podium which will be hosting many bands from all over the world, such as  from Singapore, South Africa or Germany. [continue reading…]

Now that Thanksgiving is out of the way (still have a bellyache by the way) let’s talk CHRISTMAS!!! My Czech friend Martina agreed to some truly delicious guest post…

Ted kdyz je Dikuvzdani jiz za nami (porad mam z neho jeste precpane bricho), muzeme se zacit bavit o VANOCICH!! Moje kamaradka Martina (ceska) nam popisuje sve vanoce…plus vyborny recept.

CZECH COOKIE BAKING AND HOW CHRISTMAS IS THE TIME OF PEACE ;0)

– by Martina

When I think about a Christmas time back in Czech – when I was just a little girl – my mind pictures the classroom environment just before the winter break. The blackboard was written all over with notes for our teacher not to test us anymore since we had to be helping our moms with Christmas baking and had no time for studying. That’s right, we had to help with  baking of the cookies, gluing them together with filling and decorating them. The note would usually sound something like this: “Christmas is the time for peace and not for testing; if we get an ‘F’, your fish will not taste the same’ (it rhymes in Czech)”. And to our surprise, the teachers took the note to their hearts and left us alone. Probably they were really afraid that their carp will not taste that good. It worked every year. [continue reading…]