The Christmas they left behind
Czech Christmas Eve in 1948–1989
Fried carp with potato salad became the usual supper, though in many Moravian villages carp was hard to buy even in the 1960s, and families who wanted fish bought frozen fillets. In Moravia, Christmas wafers were still shared. Trees carried glass ornaments and chocolate figures, and Ježíšek, not Russian Grandfather Frost, still brought the gifts.
What they found in America
Most came as refugees and could not go back. Czech-American groups welcomed them, and many built new lives in big cities such as New York, Washington, Cleveland and Chicago.
Other decades
Sources
- Moravian Museum: The story of the Christmas tree (2013)
- Daniela Záveská, National Museum, to TASR (2023)
- Jana Poláková, Moravian Museum, Radio Prague
- Radio Prague: From Ježíšek to the Golden Pig
- Jankovská, Charles University thesis, Institute of Ethnology
- Encyclopedia of the Great Plains: Czechs
- Migration Policy Institute: Czechia
- National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library: oral histories