Christmas celebrations in the Czech Republic are based on a long-standing tradition that has been formed over the last few centuries, especially in the countryside, which has always maintained more of its national identity compared to the urban environment, which was traditionally more German, since the Bohmian Kingdom was part of the Austrian Empire from the 16th century and later Austria-Hungary. Gifts are brought in the Czechia by Baby Jesus and earlier than in other countries, already in the early evening of December 24 which is called Generous Day. It's a day for festive traditions – tree decorating, carols, presents, fairytales for the kids, and our favorite part: preparing and eating the traditional Czech Christmas food!
During the Christmas dinner people half the apples and according to the shape of the seeds they read a prophecy of how healthy they will be in the coming year. If a star appears then the person will be well and healthy. If the cross appears, don’t expect anything good. The same could be done with walnuts – if the inside nut is healthy and fresh, it’s a good sign. If it’s black, guess what could happen to the person in the coming year. Another fateful tradition that is practiced during Christmas Eve (while the parents prepare dinner) is to send boats made of walnut shells and candles in the sink. When the boats stick together, the family will also stick together, if some boats sail away, it means some way for the "owner of the boat"... and so on. And another one: people used to pour the hot molten lead into the water and according to the resulting shape, they would predict events for the coming year.
In today's series of pictures and backgrounds, we present to you what such a Christmas celebration looked like at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries in country estates, on village squares, or in small village churches. Enjoy this long lost pure spirit of old christmas celebrations.
What is included:
Backgrounds:
14 backgrounds 9000x6000 pixels
Backgrounds 9kx6k, suitable for closeups renders, printing or whaetever else, Unpacked Size: 185 MB.
suitable for animations. Original Design/Historical Reconstruction.
Requirements: any program that opens jpg
