Christmas in Brno

Christmas decoration

Czech Christmas traditions mix Christian traditions with magical beliefs from pagan times. The Christmas holiday season begins on the first Sunday of Advent. At that time, it is customary to start decorating the house with various handmade decorations, for which dried fruits and evergreens are used because of their color and pleasant smell. The Golden Pig (zlaté prasátko) is also placed on the wall, which is considered a very good omen according to tradition.

Traditional Christmas cookies

Christmas cookies (vánoční cukroví) also start to be baked during this period. Once they are baked and cooled, they are put in boxes and stored in a cool, dry place. They are not served until Christmas Eve. These sweets include vanilla crescents (vanilkové rohlíčky), Linzer cookies (linecké cukroví), gingerbread and Christmas hedgehogs (vánoční ježči).

The St. Nicholas braid (Mikulášský vrkoč) is a creative and decorative element of Czech Christmas. It is a wreath made of leavened, braided dough, into which sticks decorated with small ornaments are inserted. The decorations were most often dried fruits, poppy cocoons, rose hips and small birds made of natural materials. A red apple was placed on top of the wreath. Finally, the decoration was completed with gold/red ribbons and evergreens. The components of the decoration are not only beautiful, but also symbolize health and abundance.

The tradition of St. Nicholas

The tradition of St. Nicholas begins on the evening of December 5th. When a person dressed as St. Nicholas (Mikuláš), an angel (Anděl) and a devil (Čert) asks children if they have behaved well. Good behavior is rewarded with sweets. Tradition holds that bad behavior is punished by giving them coal or potatoes. Of course, there is no example of punishment. However, among adults, good friends sometimes give each other coal as a joke. Children are often reminded when they misbehave to be good, because as tradition tells us, “the devil will take bad children to hell in a sack” and they will not receive sweets on St. Nicholas day.

“I love the excitement, the childlike spirit of innocence and just about everything that goes along with Christmas.”
– Hillary Scott

Food and drinks on Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve morning, it is customary to have Christmas cake (vánočka) for breakfast. This is a sweet braided yeast dough with raisins, which is sprinkled with almonds on top. For dinner, various traditional dishes are prepared, such as fish soup, fried carp, duck with dumplings and cabbage and potato salad. With typical Christmas hot drinks, such as various hot chocolates, punches, mulled wine and grog. Punches are usually boiled fruit drinks with herbs, which are most often non-alcoholic, but some special ones also contain alcohol. Mulled wine is also made in a similar way, but here, of course, red wine is the base of the drink. Grog is a hot, rum-based traditional Christmas drink flavored with lemon and sugar.

Bethlehem and the baby Jesus

Since in Czech tradition the gifts are brought by the little baby Jesus (Ježíšek), the gifts arrive on Christmas Eve. This is why the Bethlehem scene also plays a major role among the Christmas symbols. The Christmas Bethlehem scene is the feast of the Three Kings. In many Czech cities, we can see wooden Bethlehem themed exhibitions during Christmas. The festive atmosphere is made even more intimate with Christmas music.

Christmas mood in town

The city is also in Christmas splendor everywhere. In the shops and on the squares. In the main squares throughout December, a series of concerts and Christmas events await us at the Christmas market. At this time, although the weather is very cold, people are still outside and enjoy each other’s company, the market, the show, while keeping themselves warm with good food and hot drinks. Come and discover the magical Czech Christmas for yourself!