In the Christmas spirit

There is a complete lack of snow here in Prague; apparently Jack Frost is holed up with the Grinch somewhere. So we've been striking up Christmas spirit on our own, and trying to do it in a more Czech manner than we have in the past. 

The flat is bedecked in spangly things, mostly left by our dear Australian friends who moved back home this past Summer. It's been lovely not only having our abode extra-cheery, but also having a constant reminder of our pals. It's not pictured, but this year we hung a fat bunch of Czech mistletoe; it's sold on every corner right now in Prague. It doesn't have the connotation with kissing that it does in the U.S., though.

My excellent Czech teacher Š. recently taught me the Czech Christmas carol "Veselé Vánoční Hody," which means "Happy Christmas Feast." There is a lot of antiquated Czech language in it, though, so it was a challenge to translate.

Of course we've been doing the Christmas market circuit in Prague, which is sizeable. Old Town Square is of course merry, but choked with tourists.

My personal favourite is the one at Náměstí Míru in Prague 2, which we saw at night.

However, we attended a new one this year, which was only on for one weekend - the Charity Advent Market at the Maltese Palace in Prague 1. 

We haven't watched it yet, but this year we're going to view the whole Tři oříšky pro Popelku, a famous Czech Christmas movie about a princess - and here it is on Youtube with English subtitles.

And finally, we've done a lot of Christmas-y celebrating, from attending a Duchess and the Kittens concert where a band of roving Santas collecting money for charity showed up, to helping friends pick out a tree at the farmer's market, to attending my staff holiday party, where I had kids write notes to teachers and then made them into a paper chain and strung them around the room.

 

For information about Czech Christmas customs, click HERE. I don't think I'll be sprinkling fish scales around the house, though...