Festivals and Holidays in the Czech Republic

The specific part of maturita topic 3 (Everyday life and daily routine), at B2 level. The traditional meals mentioned here are also useful for topic 16, where you compare Czech festive food with the food of English-speaking countries – see Festivals and Holidays in English-Speaking Countries.

Public holidays

On public holidays most people have a day off and many shops are closed, especially at Christmas and Easter. Some holidays are religious, others remind us of important moments of Czech history.

Christmas

Christmas is the most important family holiday of the year. The four Sundays before it form Advent, when people decorate their homes, light candles on an Advent wreath and visit Christmas markets.

On 5 December, on the eve of St Nicholas Day, children meet St Nicholas (Mikuláš), an angel and a devil in the streets. Good children get sweets and fruit, while naughty ones are – jokingly – threatened by the devil and get a lump of coal or a potato.

The main day is Christmas Eve (24 December). Some people fast all day, because, according to tradition, they will see a golden piglet in the evening. The traditional dinner consists of fish soup and fried carp with potato salad; the carp is often bought alive a few days before and kept in the bathtub. After dinner the family finds presents under the Christmas tree – they are brought by Baby Jesus (Ježíšek), not by Father Christmas. People also bake many kinds of Christmas biscuits, and there are old customs that are supposed to tell the future: cutting an apple in half (a star in the middle means health), floating walnut shells with candles in water, or girls throwing a shoe over their shoulder to find out whether they will get married. Many people go to midnight mass.

Easter

Easter is a spring festival with Christian as well as pagan roots. Its symbols are painted eggs (kraslice), lambs baked from sweet dough and spring flowers. On Easter Monday boys and men go from house to house with a pomlázka, a whip plaited from willow twigs, and gently whip girls and women, which is supposed to keep them healthy and young. In return they get painted eggs, sweets or a shot of alcohol. In some parts of Moravia girls pour cold water on the boys the next day. Today many people, especially in cities, see this custom as outdated.

Other traditions

• Masopust – the Czech carnival before Lent, with masks, parades and pig slaughters (zabijačka) in villages.
• Burning of the witches (pálení čarodějnic) on 30 April – people make bonfires and burn a straw witch to celebrate the end of winter.
• 1 May – it is a tradition for couples to kiss under a blossoming cherry tree, and young people visit the statue of the Romantic poet Karel Hynek Mácha in Prague.
• Name days (svátky) – almost every day of the year belongs to a name, and Czechs celebrate their name day almost like a second birthday.
• All Souls’ Day (2 November) – people visit cemeteries and light candles on the graves of their relatives.
• New Year’s Eve (Silvestr) – parties, fireworks at midnight and lentil soup on New Year’s Day, which is supposed to bring money.

Festivals and events

Apart from traditional holidays, there are many modern festivals: the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, the Prague Spring music festival, open-air music festivals such as Rock for People or Colours of Ostrava, folklore festivals in Moravia, wine festivals in autumn and Christmas markets in every town.

Key vocabulary

Useful phrases

• The most important holiday for my family is…, because…
• It is a tradition / It is customary to…
• According to tradition, …
• We usually spend Christmas Eve…
• What I like most about it is…
• Unlike in Britain, Czech children get their presents…
• Some people think this custom is outdated, but…

Questions the examiner may ask

Try to answer each question in two or three sentences, then click on the hint to compare.