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Štědrý večer · the Generous Evening

Czech Christmas Eve, hour by hour

Czech Christmas happens on the 24th — Štědrý večer (SHTYED-ree VEH-cher), the Generous Evening. Here is the shape of it, the way you can keep it at home, wherever home is now.

  1. Morning

    Decorate the tree. Fast — or at least eat lightly. Tell the children that whoever holds out until dinner will see the golden piglet (zlaté prasátko) dancing on the wall.

  2. Midday

    A meatless lunch: in many Bohemian homes kuba (KOO-bah) — barley baked with dried mushrooms, garlic and caraway.

  3. First star

    Dinner begins when the first star appears. Set one extra plate for an unexpected guest. Slip a carp scale (or a coin) under each plate — keep it in your wallet all year for money.

  4. Dinner

    Fish or mushroom soup, then fried carp or schnitzel with potato salad. Nobody leaves the table until everyone has finished — it keeps the family together for the year.

  5. The bell

    Someone slips away and rings a small bell: Ježíšek (YEH-zhee-shek), the Christ Child, has been. Presents are under the tree — no chimney, no reindeer, no one ever sees him.

  6. After gifts

    Cut an apple across the middle: a star inside means health, a cross means trouble. Float walnut-shell candles in a bowl of water — whose boat sails farthest will travel; whose goes out first, stays home. Pour melted wax into cold water and read the shapes.

  7. Late

    Cukroví (TSOOK-ro-vee) — the little Christmas biscuits baked for weeks — carols, and for some, midnight mass.

Christmas Eve in Bohemia

In Bohemia the 24th was a fasting day well into the twentieth century, so the old table was simple and meatless. At midday came kuba — barley and dried mushrooms baked with garlic — and in the evening soups, peas, and muzika: a dark compote of dried plums, pears and apple rings, with nuts, raisins or spices where the house could afford them. The name muzika is used around Klatovy and in the Říp country; other villages had their own words for it.

Carp came late. Burgher families in the towns ate it in the nineteenth century, but in the villages it only spread after the First World War — first boiled “blue” or in a sweet black sauce of plum butter and gingerbread. Fried carp with potato salad, the dinner every Czech family knows today, became the standard only after the Second World War.

The tree came late too: Prague burgher families began to put them up in the 1840s, and village cottages followed over the next decades.

Try it at home

Make kuba for lunch on the 24th: cook pearl barley, mix with soaked dried mushrooms, fried onion, garlic, caraway and marjoram, and bake until the top is crisp.

Christmas Eve in Moravia

In many Moravian homes — and in Wallachia to this day — the evening began with a thin Christmas wafer (oplatek) spread with honey, shared around the table. It echoed the communion host and was meant to keep the family loving and together.

In poor, hilly Wallachia the dinner could run to nine courses, but small ones: nothing was bought, everything came from the farm. Grain in a basket, onion, garlic, dried fruit, honey, eggs, and above all bread and salt stood on the table — every crop the household grew had to be there, so that it would grow again next year. Dinner opened with mushroom or pea soup, or ščedračka, a soup of whatever the larder held: peas, dried plums, mushrooms, potatoes.

The dried-fruit compote that Bohemians call muzika was known in Moravia as chamula. In the north, around Ostrava, the legs of the Christmas table were tied with rope or a chain so the family would stay together, and apples, carrots and nuts were hung on trees in the forest for the animals.

Try it at home

Start dinner the Moravian way: break a Christmas wafer, spread a little honey on each piece, and pass it round before the soup.

Christmas Eve in Czech Silesia

Czech Silesia sits on the border of three cultures, and its Christmas shows it. The Hlučín region belonged to Prussia until 1920, and its kitchens kept their own Christmas: braided vánočka, gingerbread, and a dark, sweet-sour Christmas sauce made with gingerbread and dried fruit, served with the fish.

Around Ostrava the day was a strict fast, the legs of the Christmas table were tied with rope or a chain so the family would stay together, and apples, carrots and nuts were hung on trees in the forest for the animals.

Try it at home

Tie a ribbon round the legs of your Christmas table before dinner — so that everyone sitting at it stays together for another year.

Christmas Eve region by region

Bohemia

Moravia

Czech Silesia

The Christmas they left behind

Czech Christmas in America

Questions

When do Czechs celebrate Christmas?

On 24 December: Štědrý večer, the Generous Evening. Dinner begins when the first star appears, and the presents come after dinner.

What do Czechs eat on Christmas Eve?

Dinner is fish or mushroom soup, then fried carp or schnitzel with potato salad. At midday many Bohemian homes eat kuba (KOO-bah): barley baked with dried mushrooms, garlic and caraway.

Who brings the presents in Czechia?

Ježíšek (YEH-zhee-shek), the Christ Child. Someone slips away and rings a small bell, and the presents are under the tree: no chimney, no reindeer, no one ever sees him.

What is the golden piglet?

The golden piglet (zlaté prasátko) is the Christmas Eve promise to children: whoever fasts until dinner will see it dancing on the wall.

When did carp become the Czech Christmas dinner?

Carp came late. Burgher families in the towns ate it in the nineteenth century, but in the villages it only spread after the First World War — first boiled “blue” or in a sweet black sauce of plum butter and gingerbread. Fried carp with potato salad, the dinner every Czech family knows today, became the standard only after the Second World War.

Sources

  1. Štědrý den — Wikipedie (cs)
  2. Vánoční zvyky a pověry — Wikipedie (cs)
  3. Kuba (jídlo) — Wikipedie (cs)
  4. Muzika (pokrm) — Wikipedie (cs)
  5. Vánoční kapr — Wikipedie (cs)
  6. Valašská štědrovečerní večeře měla devět chodů, ale skromných — Novinky.cz
  7. Na Štědrý den se lidé na severu Moravy postili — e15.cz
  8. Město Kravaře — Hlučínsko Christmas cookbook notes (PDF)