Festivals, traditions, customs and habits in the CR

1. CR
The Czech Republic has other traditions than the UK or the USA, so some festivals are different or they are not celebrated, but nowadays some American traditional feast are celebrated in our country. A few years ago, nobody knew what Halloween was, but today some families celebrate this occasion.
Here is the list of holidays, which are different from those in the UK and the USA and some holidays that are originally Czech.
1.1 New Year’s Eve & New Year’s Day
· celebrated by fireworks and drinking fizz (effervescent wine)[i]
· New Year’s Day is also day of establishment of the Czech Republic in 1993
1.2 Valentine’s day
· some people celebrate this day as in the UK or the USA, but it is not very common
1.3 Lent
· lent was also celebrated in the CR, but today it is not so usual
1.4 Easter
· on Easter we have different traditions than in the UK or the USA - on Easter Monday men beat the women with a stick called “pomlázka” and they get coloured eggs
1.5 May Day
· The 1st May is more a day of the working people than a celebration of the end of winter
1.6 Halloween
· Halloween is one of the traditions, which came from the USA – a majority of people do not celebrate it, but young families are starting to do so
1.7 Guy Fawkes Night
· this is traditional British celebration and is not celebrated in the CR
1.8 Remembrance Sunday
· this is traditional British and American celebration and is not celebrated in the CR
1.9 Christmas
· Christmas are different than in the UK or the USA in our country
· 24th December - Christmas Day, Christmas Eve
· 25th December - second Christmas feast, Boží hod
· 26th December - third Christmas feast
· on the 23rd or 24th December family decorate their Christmas tree with some glass or straw[ii] decorations and electric lights or candles
· in the evening on the 24th December comes “Ježíšek” (Little Baby Jesus) and brings presents
· children find them usually after the traditional dinner which consists of fried carp with potato salad
· 25th December is the time to visit relatives
[i] obojí sekt
[ii] slaměný