Christmas is perhaps the most important family holiday of the year for Czechs. With the same enthusiasm and scale with which we celebrate the New Year, Czechs celebrate Christmas with their parents and friends at a large table and all kinds of treats. Christmas in Czech is called Vánoce.
Decorations around the city begin to hang from mid-November – Czechs are impatient people in this regard, they want to feel the spirit of Christmas as early as possible! And this is quite understandable, because November itself is not a very colorful month, and with Christmas decorations Prague looks like a real magical country. From the end of November to the beginning of December, Christmas fairs begin to appear in the city, where you can buy beautiful Christmas tree decorations, various handicrafts and, of course, national Czech dishes – svarzak (hot wine with spices), baked potatoes with pork rinds, trdelnik and the famous dumplings with gravy. The citizens of Prague love Christmas markets and always come to them with the whole family to plunge into the atmosphere of the holiday to the fullest!
As we noted above, Christmas is traditionally a home holiday, and celebrating it involves a large number of dishes on the table, gifts under the tree, watching your favorite Czech films (such as Three Nuts for Cinderella, for example). Since Christmas in the Czech Republic is celebrated more splendidly than New Year, the tree disappears here much earlier, and by January 6, the tree is usually disposed of. It should be noted that the life span of the most festive tree in the world in the Czech Republic is not too long.
On the table, Czechs usually put baked carp and brambor salad, which is very reminiscent of our Olivie, and, of course, various types of meat, because as you know, the Czechs are a nation that cannot imagine their life without meat! In general, we can safely say that Christmas for Czechs is the most important holiday of the year and if you manage to attend a real Christmas family evening, you will get a truly unforgettable experience.