PragueBuzz!

I saw the “PF” abbreviation in my boss’ happy-new-year email to us but as unsure about the meaning. Few days later, I read another happy-new-year article and again saw “PF.” So exactly what does it mean?

According to Czechfiles, “FF” stands for “pour feliciter,” a French expression using in the 17 and 18th century greeting cards to congratulate during events, not necessarily new year.

Somehow the “coolness” of French world and sound enables “PF” stick to this present day.

[Czechfiles]

Do you know what New Year represents and how it is celebrated in different cultures around the world?

Italians from some villages discard old sofas, chairs, clothes to rid of old items before the New Year. Viennese tries to touch pigs for luck. Greekthrow pomegranates wrapped in silver foil on the threshold to spread seeds of good luck for an abundant year.

Americans spend the night with their love ones and kiss them at midnight hoping that the relationship will go on strong. South Americans dine on cornbread, cabbage and black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day as peas symbolize good luck. Ecuadorians make dummies, stuffed with straw, to represent the events of the past year and burned them at midnight, ridding of the past. People from Rio de Janeiro gather on the beaches on December 31st to honor Yemanja, the fortune god Yoruban ‘Mother of the Sea’

Vietnamese, Chinese and Japanese stuff money in red decorative envelops to give to youngsters after exchanging wishes for prosperity and good-luck. Vietnamese and Chinese decorate their houses with bright colors especially red. Vietnamese do not clean their house for the first three day of the New Year fearing they will get rid of stuffs and fortune inside their houses. Red watermelons, watermelon seeds and rice cakes are typical New Year food for the Vietnamese.

[Source]

Nice article to read about Czech Christmas Tradition

For one thing, part of the attraction of a Czech Christmas is that some of the clichés pictured on Christmas cards actually do bear a resemblance to reality. Snow is a possibility, and even at the rather fake Olde Worlde market in Old Town Square, the heart of Prague’s tourist mayhem, the scene is enough to make even the most heartless cynic get a little sentimental. As in other countries, Christmas in the Czech Republic happens in two distinct stages: the first part coming at the beginning of December, around St. Nicholas Eve, and the second on December 24th, when families get together to celebrate the main Christmas event.

[Prague.tv]

Remember when you were kids and you tended little golden fish in a little tank. Adult Czechs sacrifice their hygiene for a few days to save their half-full bathtub for cute little carbs which will end up on crunchy Christmas dinner plates.

[Radio.cz - Story of the carp]