CZECH vs. USA CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS: Santa vs. Ježíšek and much more!

Gor the longest time i tought santa was just a renamed mikuláš. It felt so obvious that everyone had ježíšek.

Kapra nejím 😅 filety z aljašské tresky místo kapra a pak klasika kuřízek ( kuřecí řízek)☺️
Bramborový salát někdo dělá i se salámem a cibuli. O kopru slyším poprvé 😅

the thiing is, that fish represent a christianity which took a celebration to be christian instead of what it is – celebration of winter solstice which is reborn of sun god. and his animal is pig. so schnitzel. most people even do not know these details. so some families use carp (it was salmon in centuries before since it was fish to feed poor ones which is definitely the case now. nowadays cheap fish is carp) and some eat pork schnitzel. than there are some remnants of differente deities and habits from past centuries but one thing is persistent. and this is to feast with your close ones and to share the hope for brighter days. it's just me and few others who really celebrate longest night. and than the day is becoming longer again… dough..

lodičky male skořápky a vněm jsou svíčky když ti spadne tak máš smulu na rok a když plave tak máš štěstí

My son wants to install a camera trap to record Jezisek. So our family will be the first ones to actually see him!

V mem detstvi to byl dead Mraz tak jako v USA Santa 🎅

I am from the Czech Republic and we eat schnitzel with potato salad at Christmas. every year (:

U nás zdobíme stromek společně

A czech tradition is that you cut an apple and if there is a star you are lucky and if there is no star you die within a week.

Hi! Here is another tradition – you can throw a shoe and if it point at a door you will get married the next year.

Most people I know love the traditional food and look forward to it for weeks. Some families develop their own habits, which partially or completely differ. This includes me: I don't eat fried carp on Christmas Eve, because I don't like the bones. It's quite tasty and I occasionally do eat it when I want to, but I need to take a longer time to eat it carefully (just as with any other fish), which I simply don't like doing on Christmas Eve. I also only started eating potato salad as an adult, because I once got sick after eating it as a little kid. It probably had nothing to do with the salad, but it took me a long time to give it another try. I don't know any adult that would eat the traditional food out of habit, despite hating it.

I always participated in decorating the Christmas tree, but I was banned from entering the living room roughly since the afternoon. My parents argued that I could scare the Ježíšek, but always found some excuse so that they could go there. While I was in the other room, they somehow secretly arranged the presents there. Then after the dinner, my dad said that he would go to check if Ježíšek already visited us. He fired the sparkles and rang the bell. Then we came in nicely dressed, usually took a picture under the tree and then proceeded to distribute the gifts among ourselves and only then started unpacking it.

As I perceive it, Ježíšek is actually a metaphore. Kids are told that it's an actual being, some sort of creature that somehow flies around and brings expensive gifts to people, but he's very mysterious and only very little is known about him. As you grow older, you eventually realize that it's not some external entity, but people around you who've been giving you the gifts all along. Even adults keep saying "this is from Ježíšek" when giving a gift to someone. When you think about it, it's basically a way of "giving up the credit" and creating a sort of anonymous atmosphere, even though it's usually pretty obvious who gifted a particular gift in adult setting.

I live in Czech Repaplik