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. (more…)

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)

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) (more…)

Someone once asked me: “Do you think it’s a good idea to vacation in the Czech Republic during the winter?” Without any hesitation, I said “yes! There is so much to do all year long especially during the winter!” I talked to that person  for a little while longer and then we parted ways. I never actually found out if she even went to Czech that winter or if she just got cold feet and gave up on that whole “crazy” idea. If I were to meet her again I would give her a week-long schedule of things to-do, whether she liked it or not. This is what would the “Nazi” list look like:

CZ: Jednou se me nekdo zeptal, jestli pry je dobry napad stravit v Cechach zimmni prazdniny. Bez rozmysleni jsem vyhrkla “No samozrejmne! V Cechach se da delat tolik veci po cely rok, natoz v zime!” Jeste jsme si spolu chvilku povidaly, a pak ta osoba nekam zmizela, aniz bych se kdy dozvedela, jestli vubec do te krasne ceske zimni krajiny zavitala. Kdybych mela sanci vratit cas a ta dotycna osoba by se me zeptala tu samou otazku znovu, beze slov bych ji podala striktni rozvrh aktivit na cely mesic. Vypadalo by to asi takto: (more…)

Christmas, which translates as Vánoce in Czech, begins with the Den Svatého Mikuláše, St. Nicholas’
day on December 6th. On this day Svatý Mikuláš, Saint Nicholas, who is our very own Father
Christmas or Santa Claus, walks around town accompanied by an andel, angel and a cert, devil.
Saint Nick walks around asking children if they have been good or bad. If they have been good, they
get a present, and if they have been bad the devil terrifies them. The devils are often extremely convincing,
and tend to scare the living daylights out of children.

The real-deal St. Nicholas was born in about 270 A.D. in Lycia (Roman providence of Asia, today Turkey) and died in 343 A.D. on December 6th in Bari, Italy. He had a reputation for secret gift-giving, he even gave away his inheritance when his rich parents died, hence our current Santa Claus. Nicholas was never officially canonized and for that reason Martin Luther decided to replace the festival of St. Nicholas Day which had become connected with Papacy witch “Christ child” celebration on Christmas Eve. (more…)