The Christmas they left behind
Czech Christmas Eve before 1918
In Bohemia
Christmas Eve was a fasting day, so supper had no meat. Village tables held peas, mushroom kuba made with barley, sweet yeast breads, honey, dried fruit and nuts. A full table promised a good year ahead. Carp was mostly a town dish for those who could afford it. In many villages a decorated tree was still new.
In Moravia and Silesia
Christmas Eve was a fasting day, so supper had no meat. Many families shared thin Christmas wafers, plain or with honey or garlic, alongside cabbage soup, kasha or sweet yeast buns, peas and dried fruit. Fish was rarely seen in villages. In eastern Moravia, a tree was often hung from the ceiling beam, tip down.
What they found in America
Some took up farms on the Great Plains, above all in Nebraska and Texas. Many found work in Chicago, Cleveland and New York, and built Sokol halls, churches and benevolent societies.
Other decades
Sources
- Moravian Museum: The story of the Christmas tree (2013)
- South Bohemian Museum: Ó, svatá dobo vánoční (2019)
- Daniela Záveská, National Museum, to TASR (2023)
- Martin Franc, food historian, to Seznam Zprávy
- Martin Šimša, National Institute of Folk Culture, Radio Prague (2022)
- Vavřinová, Charles University thesis (2018), citing Langhammerová (2008) and Koura & Kourová (2010)
- Jankovská, Charles University thesis, Institute of Ethnology
- Encyclopedia of the Great Plains: Czechs
- Encyclopedia of Cleveland History: Czechs
- Jana Poláková, Moravian Museum, Radio Prague
- Jaroslav Štika, Lidová strava na Valašsku, via Novinky (2009)
- Kristián Gebauer, chronicler of Petřkovice, to e15