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Czech & Slovak Easter traditions

By Emma Palova

The Czech and Slovak Easter traditions are deeply embedded in the villages of Moravia and Slovakia, and they are not as prevalent in the big cities such as Prague or Bratislava.

Most families color eggs in dyes or onion skins for the deep brown color and polish the eggs with butter and set them on the Easter table to reward the revelers, along with a bottle of plum brandy, desserts, lamb pound cake, and open-faced sandwiches.

Easter egg artists make “kraslice,” which are decorated empty eggshells after the yolks and whites have been blown out. These pieces of delicate art painted on a fragile shell are the mainstay of Easter sold at markets and gift shops, along with hand-embroidered tablecloths and…

This is our 32nd Christmas living on the North American continent. We have kept most of the Czech Christmas traditions. Let me start with the oldest ones. The no. 1 undisputed Czech holiday tradition is baking. Recipes are passed from one generation to the next, sometimes perfected, sometimes left at their best.

Most women and girls start baking at the beginning of December and the reason is simple; cookies like Linzer and marzipan have to soften over time for the best taste.

I usually bake the third week in December, this year was an exception as I baked with our granddaughter Josephine for the first time ever. So we started early last Saturday before the power went out due to high winds. I passed on the baking tradition to our kids, Emma and Jake, now it’s our grandkids’ turn.

Somewhere in an old shoebox, I have print photos of Jake…

Waffles, “oplátky”, were traditionally made by teachers. They started baking them right after a celebration of St-Lucia. A few days before, pupils would run from home to home, singing a song they learnt at school and asking for the wheat.

Christmas trees started to decorate towns by the end of 18^th century. But in the countryside, it was much later, the end of the 19^th century or the beginning of the 20^th century. This tradition came from Germany.

In the past, the legs of the Christmas table were wrapped in an iron chain. This was supposed to ensure the cohesion of the family.

The hard fondants, “salónky”, that we hang on the Christmas tree originate from Hungary. They came to Slovakia in the 19^th century.

It was men who used to bake Christmas gingerbread cookies in the 16^th century because it…