How do you prepare this year for the holidays ? Czech Christmas Traditions

How do you prepare this year for the holidays? We would like to share with you the typical Czech Christmas Traditions.

We all know 2020 has been a stressful year, with pandemic, lockdowns, re-learning a new life mode, redesigning our work system, adapting to home offices, and less travel.

And we all wish to just be able to enjoy the coming winter holidays together with our families.

However, preparing for the holidays can be a stressful process. That’s why we would like to give you some tips on how to arrange the holidays and avoid stress.

Especially if you are going thru a fertility treatment, stress is something you must avoid.

Here are simple tips anyone can do:

1. Plan ahead.

2. Develop a budget for the holidays.

3. Shop ahead. Online shopping saves time and hassle. A great way to avoid stress

4. Cook/bake ahead. Freeze and simply thaw when you must bake it.

5. Plan some fun events for yourself and your family. Do not forget what matters, and that is simply enjoying yourself and creating memories with your loved ones.

6. Make personal time and self-care a priority, even during the holiday season. Take care of yourself!

How is Christmas celebrated in the Czech Republic and what are the traditions here?

The 24th of December, Christmas Eve is in fact the main event – the most important day in the season of glad tidings, and indeed of the whole church year – rather than Christmas Day (25th) itself.

Here in the Czech lands, presents are also exchanged and opened on Christmas Eve rather than on Christmas Day or Boxing Day. And children are told that the gifts themselves are brought by the Baby Jesus – Ježíšek – rather than jolly old St. Nick, Father Christmas, or Santa Claus.

Carp and the Golden Pig

The traditional Czech Christmas menu consists of: fried carp and potato salad, and something no one should miss are the typical Christmas cookies ( vánoční cukroví ) which you will find and get from your friends, relatives, or neighbors. You can’t escape them…even if you want to 😉

There are dozens of varieties and every family has slightly different recipes. Many women start baking Christmas cookies as early as the beginning of December. By Christmas, they have to bake a new batch because the first one will have mysteriously disappeared.

The home-bred carp, raised in fishponds in South Bohemia, has an important role in weaving the magic of Czech Christmas. In the run-up to Christmas, it appears in large vats in Czech towns and cities from which it is sold live, to be killed and skinned on request – or taken home to occupy the bathtub until Christmas night to the delight of many children.

You’ll see a flying golden pig in the sky if…

… you don’t eat meat for the whole day! This prohibition could be quite difficult for Czechs who are the real meat lovers. Since the morning of December 24^th, people should not touch a single piece of salami and they expect to see Golden Pig flying in the sky in the evening. It’s a bit weird but very common among Czechs. As a kid I was always so disappointed I haven’t seen any golden pig after the whole day fasting.

Money stays with you

This is rather weird but carrying one scale from the carp in your wallet supposed to ensure you’ll become rich in the coming year! The main Czech Christmas dish is a fish soup and carp with potato salad. People usually buy live carp, put it in their bath-tubs, and on December 24 they kill it. It is meant that one should save a carp’s scale and carry it in the wallet, so the money will stick to the person.

Our patients come from all over the world, and the holidays they celebrate are of different kinds and mean different things. We love the variety and diversity we get to experience in our center.

But we would like to hear from you, our dear followers…

• How do you prepare for the holidays?
• What are the traditions that are most dear to you?

It is a time of sharing and giving. We would love to hear your stories.

Contact us if you would like to share your stories about traditions you respect, your fertility story or simply want to say hello to our team of specialists.