PragueBuzz!

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]

From Monday 24 to Monday 31st of December, public transportation follows different schedule.

If you understand Czech or can guess, please use this page from Prague Public Transit.

For English, check out AbcPrague’s short but useful post about operating hours for metro, tram and buses.

On Christmas Eve the metro will go until 19:00 according to timetables for Saturday. From 19:00 it will run in intervals of 20 minutes. The number of trams will be cut down from 16:30, between 18:00 and 19:00 the trams will start to follow timetables at night (until 7:00 the next day). On 25th and 26th December the public transport will follow timetables for Sunday. From 27th to 29th December the metro and trams will follow timetables for holidays. On New Year�s Eve metro will go according to the timetables for Saturday, trams and buses for Sunday. Some buses will end between 20:00 and 21:00. From 20:00 to 01:30 the metro will run in intervals of 20 minutes.

[AbcPrague]

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]