The Czech Republic, land of mangers

Czech love Christmas manger scenes, and mangers are a big part of local tradition. You can find them by the hundreds on town and village squares, at Christmas markets, under Christmas trees. Often, Christmas markets will have "living" mangers, complete with a donkey, sheep or goat (children can sometimes ride the donkey). You will also find them on display at churches.

In fact, the Czech Republic has perhaps the largest number of museums dedicated to Christmas mangers. The best known is in Třebechovice pod Orebem. Its collection includes more than 300 mangers made of all kinds of materials. The star of the exhibit is the mechanical manger of Probošt, with more than 2,000 moving elements. Also worth visiting is the paper manger museum in the South Bohemian town of Zábrdí u Husince.And closer to Prague, there is a manger musuem in Karlštejn.

Czech Christmas carols

Christmas in the Czech Republic wouldn't be complete without the music of the season. On December 15 a choir performs songs on the main square in Pilsen. One recent tradition is performances of the Christmas mass written by Jan Jakub Ryba (1765-1815). The Theatre of the Estates in Prague will present Ryba's Mass on December 19, and on December 25 it will be performed by the Prague Symphony Orchestra at the Church of Sts. Simon and Jude in Dušní Street.

Christmas at a castle

For an original way to celebrate Christmas, visit one of the country's castles. One first two weekends of December and from December 26 until the end of the year, Křivoklát Castle will be open to the public, or head to Mnichovo Hradiště on December 18 for a baroque encounter. After Christmas, the castle in Horšovský Týn will entertain visitors from December 26 to 31.

In Western Bohemia, the castle in the beautiful town of Loket will host an artisans' market on December 10 and 11.

And now... Czech holiday customs

Czechs don't eat a Christmas roast or Christmas turkey or goose. Their meal of choice is fried carp. Manty people will buy their carp live and keep them at home in the bathtub or other large tub until it is time to prepare them. In December, the country's streets and market squares are filled will vendors selling fresh (live) carp from the large ponds of Southern Bohemia. If you don't want to kill and gut the fish yourself, the street vendors will do the "dirty work" for you, right then and there.

In December, Czech ovens (and mothers and grandmothers) are working overtime to make traditional Christmas sweets and cookies. Every family ends up with so many cookies that they then give to friends, co-workers, and acquaintances, partially in order to get rid of the large amount of sweet they couldn't possibly eat. (Of course, they end up getting just as many cookies from all their friends, co-workers, and acquaintances, so in the end they wind up where they started).

While many families eat carp, some also celebrate with an even more traditional meal (carp being a relatively "recent" tradition - about 100 years old). One such tradition is to eat lentils for good luck (specifically, financial luck). Another traditional meal is "Kuba" - a baked dish made of cooked barley and mushrooms. Also, some people place a scale from their Christmas carp in their wallet as a good luck token (again, financial luck) for the coming year.

After dinner, it is time to get the presents ready. Parents will often distract the children by watching one of the popular Christmas-time fairy tales on television, while another adult sneaks the Christmas tree and presents into the home. Then, someone rings a bell - Baby Jesus was here! The children emerge to find the Christmas tree lit and the presents in place.

And what about the golden pig? Well in some families, there is a tradition of fasting for the whole day before the Christmas dinner. If you manage to fast all day, so the story goes, you will see a golden pig.

Source: CzechTourism

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See also:

• Pre-Christmas benefit concert 
• Harlem Gospel Singers