PragueBuzz!

Bored by the city and looking for something new? A-Tout Prague compiles an interesting list of activities you can do during this holiday.

• Krivokl�t Krivokl�t Castle
  

• Traditional early Christmas celebrations in the courtyard, large craft market, advent concerts and masses, theater and puppet performances, Christmas music, jugglers, dancers, etc. The Krivokl�t Nativity Scene.

• Folk Christmas, exhibition, Ginger Bread decoration, singing and painting

• Jesus is Born In Bethlehem - Christmas exhibition. Showcasing traditionally decorated rustic houses, nativity scenes and various Christmas tree decorations.
• St. Nicholas Caroling and Train Ride
• Christmas Production - cooking and folk crafts program 16 Dec.
• Christmas Eve traditions - feather plucking, spinning wool, baking Christmas cookies, discussions on Christmas

• Christmas in a Miners` Home and Presents in the Prokopska Adit - a 19th century home of a family of miners decorated with Christmas items, nativity scenes carved out of wood, production and decoration of Christmas decorations, pouring hot lead in water, preparation of Christmas meals and caroling; ride the small mine train through the decorated Prokopska Adit, tour to the historical underground spaces, Christmas traditions and customs of miners.

• Open: year-round except Mon. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., in December - daily 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. . Children will have the opportunity to purchase Christmas presents here. 

• The Karlstejn Royal Nativity Scene. The largest Czech puppet nativity scene covering 80 m2. It is composed of 46 wooden puppets dressed in period costumes. Gingerbread nativity scenes. Freshly baked gingerbread nativity scenes.
• Gingerbread tale: Gingerbread fairy tale characters.
• Permanent exhibition: 50 nativity scenes, some of them over 200 years old. Most of them are carved from wood, but some are made out of bread, sugar or paper. Included are also unique miniatures - small nativity scenes in hazelnut, walnut and coconut shells.
• V�clav Havel`s presidential nativity scene

[AToutPrague]

Czechs do take their beer seriously; they even cook up a special kind of beer for this holiday and organize Christmas Beer Markets.

Occasionally called sv�te?n� piva (holiday beers), Christmas beers are brewed at higher gravities than standard Czech lagers, generally starting at 13� and heading north fast, resulting in slightly (or much) higher alcohol than normal. (It�s cold here, people � we need something to get the blood going.) Unfortunately, these are almost always limited editions and can be very difficult to find, either on tap or in bottles.

[PragueMonitor]

Christmas is approaching. Wooden cribs with baby Jesus inside proudly present in many Catholic churches and public stages. Czechs readily and delightfully tell tales about their baby Jesus. Locals and expats flock to the markets and street shopping for natural and artificial Christmas trees. Cathedrals and chapels readily flaunt their splendor. Angels, Saints and crosses take over local craft stores. Prague’s ubiquitous religious symbols might have tricked a newbie to think that he has entered a serious place for believers.

On the contrary, Christmas is merely a joyful event celebrated with great enthusiasm in one of the most atheistic country in the world.

Historically, Czechs came to regard the Catholic Church as a proxy for the Austrian Hapsburgs who crushed their rebellions. When the Hapsburg Empire collapsed after World War I, an anti-Catholic backlash swept the nation, though this was eventually overshadowed by World War II and 40 years of Soviet domination. “After all that history,” said Jirina Siklova, a sociologist and former dissident, “the Czechs are in the midst of a spiritual and moral hangover.”

Being a black sheep among her more pious neighbors: Poles, Slovaks, Germans and Austrians, Czechs claim that they do find contentment in a secular life. One Czech puts it like this: “I don’t need a church for God. I believe in bits and pieces of different religions. I believe in reincarnation, Christmas and nature. It’s more liberalized.”


[Theage.com.au]