Easter Traditions in Czech Republic

When talking about Czech traditions during Easter, it is important to mention right at the beginning that they can differ from region to region and there are regions where Easter isn’t celebrated in any traditional way at all. That is partly because Easter is not only Christian holiday but also the time of spring-arrival celebration. Taking into awareness that about 70 per cent of Czech people are atheists as well as the fact that there are two days of national holidays during Easter in Czech republic (Friday and Monday), it is kind of understandable that a lot of people in my country are holding more on to the spring-celebrating part and, therefore, use Easter time to go on holidays or to throw parties and don’t bother with many traditions. I am lucky enough to be from one of the few regions where traditions still matter a little and, most importantly, from a village in that region which still raises its children to honor some traditions. However, it is needed to admit that not all of those traditions have religious basis.

Christians’ Easter Day is on Sunday following the first new moon of spring which is usually somewhere in between 23^rd March and 26^th April. Christians have a lot of meanings and traditions that precede and follow Easter Day. However, I am just going to shortly introduce the three days preceding the Easter Day and one day following it. That is mostly because I do not want to bore you here with tons of information you can google yourself as well as because I am no expert in that stuff and don’t want to mystify you by mistake. ;-)

Thursday

For me, personally, Easter starts on Thursday that precedes the Easter Day. That day is called the Green Thursday and it is the day of the last supper of Jesus with his apprentices where he informs them about his unpleasant fate, establishes the Eucharist, washes their feet, prays with them later in the Getsemans garden, and is betrayed by Judas and taken away for crucifixion which takes place the following day, on the Great Friday.

There are no traditions, that I know of, which I could relate to the story of Jesus on Green Thursday. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any traditions connected to that day. The first one, which is not exactly an old tradition but which needs to be mentioned here (as we speak about Czech Republic), is a special green beer that some Czech breweries produce exactly for the occasion of Green Thursday and which can be found in many restaurants and bars around my country during that day.

If you want to be sure to find the green beer somewhere during Easter, there is a good chance they will have it in all bars that are included in a project called “Cesta pivních znalců“ (The way of beer experts), among others. Green colour of those beers is caused by addition of herbs to the process of beer production, not by artificial colouring.  

Going closer to the older traditions that actually have some religious background on Green Thursday, there is a tradition of 'bells flying to Rome for Easter'. They start their flight at Thursday noon, after a Mass service, get blessings from the Pope in Rome, and head back to be ringing to Czech people at Saturday noon again. This trip of bells should bring happiness to the locality the bell is from. During the time the bells are symbolically out of their belfries, children in some villages take their Easter rattles and go with them through the village, making noise, and in that way replacing the bells a few times each day until the bells return (see the video bellow). Some stories say that apart from replacing the bells sound, the rattles should be symbolically chasing Judas away for his betrayal of Jesus as well.

Friday

It is believed that on Great Friday, as the day of Jesus’s sacrifice and crucifixion, people should be fasting in order to honour that sacrifice. Further, they should not be moving with the ground so that Jesus would not be turning in his grave as well as should not wash clothes so that it would not be soaked in Jesus’s blood, among other beliefs...

Saturday

White Saturday is a day full of Mass services and is also called as a Day of Silence. It is the day when Christians mourn at the grave of Jesus and many christenings take place. I think there are no other special traditions for this day or the day after that, the Easter Day which is the reminder of Jesus’s resurrection, except for lighting up fires near to churches which symbolises light of the resurrection. Sometimes, Easter meals are sanctified in churches on the Easter Day as well. Me and my family, we usually use those days for Monday preparations. 

Monday

Monday after the Easter Day is filled with joy, reminding of celebrations that probably followed Jesus’s resurrection (although Monday activities are not based in Christianity and are more bound to the folk customs of spring welcoming). At this day, guys go to visit women they know and symbolically whip them with braided whip made from pussywillow twigs decorated with colourful ribbons. While doing that they also recite some Easter carols. Women reward them for that by coloured and painted boiled eggs and sometimes even with another colourful ribbon and/or a shot of alcohol. 




Are you wondering why on earth would a woman give presents to guys after they whip her? It’s because the youth and life from the young pussywillow in the whip is supposed to bring the woman health, youth, and keep her fertility for the following year. 

Other Easter food/symbols:

Eggs: are used as a common symbol of life, fertility, and resurrection. Some cultures take egg as a symbol of Jesus’s closed grave, and some interpret red painted eggs on Easter as a symbol of his blood.


Apart from eggs, there are other eatable products connected to Easter... 


Baked dough ram: is baked for this time as a reminder of Jesus as a ram who sacrificed himself for all the sins of the world. 





Hare: baked out of dough/cinnamon bread, in chocolate form, etc. belongs to Easter no matter what, but there are many very different stories about the reason why ... some of them even say that hares are the ones bringing eggs during Easter. 




Easter cake: is a sweet yeast cake filled with raisins and sprinkled with almonds.





Stuffing: is salty meal baked in roasting pan made out of bread, meat, and some green stuff (among other things) … as the green stuff, we usually use fresh spring nettles.

Do you have different Easter traditions? 

Share them with the readers. ;-) 

And do not forget to mention the region you are from. ;-)

Czech Numbers

Basic Czech Vocabulary

Krupicová kaše / Semolina mush

Some of you might know this sweet milky dish from semolina which can be served as main dish as well as like a desert. Apart from Czech Republic, I met this dish also in the Mensa while studying my master's studies in Germany but in there, this dish tasted a little different and contained more ingredients.

I really don't think you have much chance to taste this dish somewhere in the restaurant while visiting my country 'cause it's more a home dish for kids from the totalitarian times when there were not many ingredients to cook from in standard families. 

Nowadays, it's a dish that kids love to have for dinner as a sweet end of a day. This might be one of the reasons why I still like considering myself as a child, 'cause I love this dish. And that's why I want to share my home's receipt with you. 

You will need:

• semolina (rather the fine-grained one)
• butter
• sugar
• milk
• sweet cocoa

How to do it?

- First of all, you need to bring milk to boil. I, personally, use the special pot for milk-boiling in order to avoid burning the milk to the bottom of the pot but you can easily use water-bath (putting a pot into bigger one filled with water -> the smaller pot should not touch the bottom of the larger one). Or you can just cook it in a usual pot and then spent more time by cleaning the pot. The amount of milk you use is up to the size of a portion you want to get. I usually put half a litre for two people.

- When the milk starts boiling or your pot for milk-boiling starts to whistle, start adding small amounts of semolina into the pot while constantly stirring. Stirring is very important in the whole process in order to avoid creation of lumps.

- Always put a table spoon full of the semolina and stir for a while... if the mixture does not start to dense, put another table spoon in it.

- Go ahead with the process until it's dense enough. How will you know it's dense enough? Well, it's hard to describe ... the mush shouldn't remind a milk soup but it should stay liquid. You need to find out just the right moment before it stops being liquid and starts to attach to your cooking spoon.

- When you think it's done, divide the mixture into different bowls and add a tea spoon full of butter to each.

- Now, the base of the semolina mush is ready!!!

- I recommend to eat it powdered with sweet cocoa and powder sugar but it tastes great with fruit compote as well.

How do you like the Czech semolina mush?

Rajská omáčka / Tomato sauce with meat balls and macaroni or dumplings

The most common ingredient in Czech cuisine is onion. It is no difference even in this sweet-sour sauce although you would not expect that from its appearance.

This special Czech sauce is called "Rajská omáčka" which means the Tomato sauce and we usually serve it with pork meat balls and macaroni. If you think that macaroni is not a really typical Czech food, you are completely right. The more traditional way of serving this sauce is with the Czech yeast dumplings. 

Yeast dumplings. Author of the picture: Manfred Morgner; Picture Licence

It is also common to replace the pork meat balls with a slice of backed pork or beef meat but my favourite combination is the one you see on the first picture, eating the sauce with macaroni and pork meat balls. 

Would you like to cook this sauce for yourself at home? Why not? It takes just about two hours and the result is really delicious.

Bellow, I share the receipt I am using to cook this sauce with you. Enjoy it and share your results or questions with me. 

What you need for the sauce:

• 1 tbsp.              butter
• 2 - 3 pieces       onions
• 6 - 8 balls          allspices
• 6 - 8 balls          black pepper
• 2 - 3 pieces        bay leaf
• 1 pinch              thyme
• 4 pieces             cloves
• 2 - 3 tbsp.          granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp.              cinnamon
• 2 cans                tomato puree (circa 300 grams)
•                           hot watter/broth
• 3 tbsp.               sweet tomato ketchup
• 1 pinch              salt
• 4 tbsp.               smooth flour
• 1 pot                  cold water

How to prepare the sauce:

- Cut the onion into pieces (can be bigger). 

- Take a deep pot and melt the butter in it.

- Fry the cut onion on the butter (until it's gold).

- Add the spices (allspices, black pepper, bay leaf, thyme, cloves) and suggar and fry for a while. (The suggar should start caramelize a little)

- Add cinnamon and fry again for a while.

- Add the tomato puree and stir the whole content of the pot.

- Add hot water or better a broth (beef broth for example) until you have the amount of sauce that you would like to have (I usually put around 3 contents of my small jug kettle in it which makes my pot filled into 3/4).

- Add ketchup and salt and stir.

- Mix the smooth flour with cold water in a bowl and stir until there are no lumps.

- Add the flour-water mix into the boiling sauce until its a little more dense. !!Don't forget to stir the sauce the whole time in order to prevent the flour from creating lumps!!! In case this happen with the whole mixture, just make another flour-water mix and try the process again. You will get rid o the lumps latter.

- Now, leave the sauce boil for another 20 minutes. It should become even denser.

- When it's done, taste the sauce and flavour it according to your taste. You can add more sugar, salt or ketchup. I usually need to add more sugar and ketchup 'cause the sauce should be sweet (but not too much) and a little sour in the background of the taste.

- Stir the sauce properly again.

- Strain the sauce to another pot in order to get rid of the spices, onion and the flour lumps.

- Throw the content of the strain away.

- It's done!!! Eat it warm!!!

What you need for the meat balls:

• a bit                  cold water
• 0,5 kg               ground meat (pork/beef)
•                          salt
• 1 pinch             chili spice
• 1 - 2 pieces       eggs
•                           soya sauce
• 1 pinch              sweet pepper spice
• 1 piece              onion
•                           breadcrumbs

How to create the meat balls:

- Put the meat with water, salt, chili spice, eggs, soya sauce and sweet pepper spice into a larger bowl. 

- Cut the onion into really small pieces and add it to the mixture. 

- Mix the content of the bowl properly.

- Add breadcrumbs until the mixture holds together.

- Your mixture is done!!!

- Now, in order to taste if I put enough salt, soya sauce and other spices, I usually put a really small amount of the mixture (nail amount) into a hot pan until its fried and taste.

- Add some spices if your mixture needs it.

- Now, take a higher baking sheet and put a little bit of cold water inside (the whole bottom should be covered).

- Create small balls (size of golf balls) from the meat mixture and place them on the baking sheet.

- When you are done, bake the balls on 200 degrees Celsius until they are done inside (It should become dark brown on the top).

- You are done with the balls!! Eat them warm with the sauce or just with bread.

What you need for the macaroni:

• macaroni
• salt
• water

How to prepare the macaroni:

- Put the macaroni into a salted cold watter and cook according to the instructions on the wrapping.

Would you like to have dumplings instead of macaroni? No problem!

What you need for the yeast dumplings:

• 30 dcg          coarse flour
• 1 tsp              salt
• 21g                fresh yeast
• 150 ml           milk
• 1 piece           egg

How to prepare the yeast dumplings:

- Put lukewarm milk with sugar into medium bowl.

- Crumble the yeast into it.

- Cover the bowl and let the mixture come (in some warmer place). The mixture should increase its amount twice!!

- Put flour, salt and egg into a large bowl and add the yeast mixture.

- Stir it all properly with your hands or cooking spoon.

- Cover the dough with dish towel and let it come on a warm place again. It should increase its amount twice again. Be patient, it takes some time!!!

- Separate the dough into 2 - 3 pieces.

- Roll out each piece separately with your hands on a surface covered with smooth flour. You should try to create an oval shape (circa 30 x 9 x 5 cm).

- When it's done, leave the dumplings rise again for another 15 minutes.

- Then, cook in steam for 20 minutes!!!

- After that, do not forget to pierce the dumplings a few times in order to let the steam go out of the dumpling.

- In order to cut dumpling in slices, you can use a thread when it's still warm or wait until it's cold and use wet knife.

Enjoy!!! and don't forget to send me picture with your success!

Czech Republic - "The Golden Country"

When travelling through Czech Republic in May, this is really the definition of Czech Republic that will come up to your mind. 

Since we joined the European Union everything started to change according to the plans of the Union, including the national agriculture. Earlier, we were quite varied agriculture country ... from my childhood I remember the fields around my village full with different plants like potatoes, corn, grain, poppy seeds, sunflowers, camomile and many fruit orchads like apple, pear, cherry, plum or walnut ... but since the European Union started to order what we need to do to be part of it, the fields are mostly filled with rape plants.

On one hand, I don't like this change because now we need to import many of the food stuff we planted before from abroad which increases the prices of the food and decreases the quality thanks to all the chemicals and preservatives presented in the food in order to last longer. And to be honest, this plant does not have the best smell in the world either. :-(

But, on the other hand, I love the view from the car, bus, train or plain window or from top of a mountain or observation tower in May when mostly all you can see apart of cities, towns, villages and forests is yellowish and looking royal!!! 

The royal appearance of my country in May brings me to another reason why you could call it "The Golden Country". And that is its royal history and gold Czech crown jewels.

These jewels served for coronation of Czech kings and their wives from 14th till 19th century. Although the jewels were used 19 times in total from their creation in 1347, there is ONE coronation that everyone should remember and be appreciative of. This one happened in 1723 and it was the coronation of Charles the Fourth, the king that made sure that Prague and Czech Republic will keep royal for many other centuries. Most of the touristic places you are going to Prague for were build by fiat of this very king. 

(Later on, you can expect an article bringing the Czech crown jewels and Charles the Fourth closer to you. As soon as it's done, you will find a link in here.) 

When writing about the gold of Czech Republic, we can't leave the success of Czech sportsmen on championships and the Olympics out. Naturally, I would be happier writing this paragraph if the Czech ice hockey team would win the 2015 Ice Hockey World Championship in Prague a few weeks ago, but the home environment obviously did not agree with the players and they ended up on the fourth place. However, this slight failure is definitely not a reason for removing Czech ice hockey from the list of Czech golden sports' activities. Apart from ice-hockey, Czech sportsmen are often winning gold medals on important sport events, for example, in biathlon, speed skating or javelin throwing.

(More articles about sports which Czech people can do the best will be published in the future.)

Who are the MASCOTS of the 2015 Ice Hockey World Championship?

Are you ice hockey fan? Do you watch the 2015 Ice Hockey World Championship and think about this year's characters of the games? Who are they? Are they mice, rabbits, weird sperms? Believe it or not, these creatures are kind of Czech national heroes and touch the heart of every single citizen of Czech Republic no matter the age generation.

Back in my childhood, in every evening of a working day at 7 p.m., every child in Czech Republic was waiting in front of the TV, often even accompanied by his/her parents, waiting for the popular bedtime story called "Bob and Bobek, the rabbits from the magic hat". The importance of those two rabbits for Czech citizens is clearly confirmed by their usage as mascots of the 2015 Ice Hockey World Championship.

Till now I remember the impatience before this seven minutes' bedtime stories begun, the very common song in the beginning and the traditional story which started almost every episode when Bobek never wants to wake up in the morning and start a day with some training. 

Unfortunately not with subtitles :-( 

The tale about new experiences of Bob and Bobek was the last thing we were allowed to watch before going to bed in our childhoods and now, the organizers of the championship decided to bring them back to us and share them with the world, this time in ice hockey uniforms.

Followed, you can watch a video from one of the promotions of Bob and Bobek for the 2015 Ice Hockey World Championship in Prague's O2 arena. In the video, you clearly see the typical difference between the two rabbits, Bob who is always the first one awake and starting the day with some exercise, and Bobek who is always lazy to wake up and learn new things. This is also the reason why Bobek is still on shoes and not on ice-skates as Bob is.

The "Bob and Bobek" bedtime stories started to be illustrated in 1978 by Vladimír Jiránek. In the end, there were created eight series with 91 episodes in total and they are played as bedtime stories till the present.

Thanks for reading.