Advent

• Advent – four weeks before Christmas

• During Advent we light one candle each Sunday.

• We bake candies and gingerbreads.

Christmas

Christmas Day 24th December

• We eat Christmas cake for the breakfast.

• We decorate Christmas tree with Christmas decorations, angels, bells, sweets, chains and stars.

• We put presents under the tree.

• We cook Christmas dinner. In the Czech republic the typical dinner is potato salad and fried carp.

• During the day we fast. (We don’t eat during Christmas day in order to see the „golden piglet“.)

Christmas Eve

• We eat Christmas dinner.

• We ring bell and we wait for Jesus.

• When we hear the bell ringing we go to the Christmas tree and we unpack presents.

• We sing Christmas carols.• Christians put Nativity

scenes under the Christmas tree and they go to the church for the Midnight Mass.

Christmas customs in the Czech republic

• We float walnut shelves with candles.

• We cut an apple and if we find a star in it, it means a good luck in the new year.

Girls throw slippers, in order to discover if they will marry.

We kiss each other under mistletoe.

25th and 26th December

• We visit all our relatives. We wish Merry Christmas to the whole family and we give them presents.

New Year’s Eve – 31st December

• We bang firecrackers and fireworks.

• We celebrate coming of the New year, we have parties with our friends.

• 1st January – New Year’s day - we have national holiday.