Otázka: Festive Days and Holidays in CR
Jazyk: Angličtina
Přidal(a): Vdoleček
There are 12 public holidays in the Czech Republic.
January 1, besides being New Year’s Day
and it is also the date the independent Czech Republic was founded in 1993, after the break-up of Czechoslovakia.
Easter
is celebrated in either March or April, and is full of traditions. Popular folk customs include hand-painting eggs and lashing girls with pussy-willow sticks.
There are two holidays in May:
May 1 is Labour Day (May Day),
which is also celebrated in many other countries. It commemorates an 1886 strike by workers in Chicago who demanded an eight-hour workday.
May 8 is Liberation Day
and recalls the end of World War II.
In July there are two public holidays:
On July 5, we remember Saints Cyril and Methodius,
who brought Christianity to Great Moravia in the 9th century.
July 6 is Jan Hus Day.
This is the day the church reformer Jan Hus was burned at the stake in 1415.
St. Wenceslas Day is celebrated on September 28 (the day when St. Wenceslas was murdered)
and is also called Czech Statehood Day.
One month later:
On October 28, Is Independent Czechoslovak State Day.
We remember the day Czechoslovakia was created in 1918.
November 17 is the Struggle for Freedom and Democracy Day.
This commemorates the student protests against the Nazis in 1938 and the demonstration in 1989 that started the Velvet Revolution.
In December, the holidays are all about Christmas:
We have a nice dinner on December 24 with our families and friends. We usually eat carp and potato salad. In the evening open we gifts.
December 25 and 26 are two other Christmas holidays.
There are also some holidays we observe that aren’t public holidays:
We celebrate St. Nicholas on December 5
in the evening before his feast day. Children get sweets from a person dressed like St. Nicholas, who is often accompanied by a devil and an angel.
On May 5 we remember the date of the Czech uprising against the Germans in 1945
