Slovak Christmas T raditions

Slovak Christmas Traditions

Christmas Eve in Slovakia

We celebrate Christmas on 24th of December. Christmas Eve is preceded by four advent Sundays. At Christmas Eve we keep a lot of traditions. Ježiško brings us presents after Christmas dinner. Slovak Christmas are full of symbols. Most people in Slovakia are Christians, therefore we have a lot of Christian traditions.

Preparations for Christmas Eve

We decorate Christmas tree with our parents, we use figures made of gingerbreads, walnuts and sparklers. It is really funny.

All homes must be clean and sweet-smelling.

Moms with their daughters bake a lot of cakes and they cook Christmas dinner.

Fairy tales are typical for Christmas time. The most popular among children are: Mrázik, Perinbaba, Vianočné oblátky, Rysavá jalovica, Tri oriešky pre Popolušku.

Traditional Dishes

Our Christmas dinner is the best of the year. We usually pray before Christmas dinner. Dinner starts with wafers. Every family member should eat one wafer with honey or garlic. Wafer is the symbol of the body of Jesus. Next we eat kapustnica (it is cabbage soup) and fish with potato salad. Then we eat opekance with ground poppy seeds and lots of Christmas sweets and cakes.

Christmas Traditions

A burning candle is a symbol of Christmas.We cut an apple for every member of our family for luck.Nobody must leave the table during dinner! We put an extra plate on the table for our close relatives who died. We put money under the tablecloth. It means a lot of money for all next year. We keep a scale of a carp for luck.

Traditional Carols

Tichá noc Poďme bratia do Betlema Každý deň budú vraj Vianoce