Slovakia Holidays and Customs

Christmas in Slovakia

Christmas is a significant holiday in Slovakia and its celebration is accompanied by many regional traditions. Cities, towns, villages, and stores boast in beautiful Christmas decorations, Christmas trees, and Christmas lights weeks before Christmas. Decorated store windows draw customers and invite them to do Christmas shopping. A few days before Christmas, cities and towns hold Christmas markets where you can buy traditional Christmas wafers, drinks such as mead, Christmas ornaments, knickknacks, and various homemade products. Houses and apartments are decorated with real or artificial Christmas trees and Christmas decorations. People can buy real Christmas trees such as fir, spruce, or pine trees at local Christmas markets. People start decorating Christmas trees with sweets, ornaments, and Christmas lights several days before Christmas Eve. Hardly will you find a home without a Christmas tree at this time of the year. Slovaks always celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve, December 24. Throughout the day kitchens are filled with aroma of baked goodies and Christmas dishes, and the last ornaments are being hung on the Christmas tree. In the evening, families gather around the Christmas table for dinner, the hallmark of the day.

At dinnertime, Christian families might say grace or sing carols. Christmas dinner varies according to the region of Slovakia. Typically a thin wafer (oplatka) with honey and sometimes garlic is served as a Christmas appetizer to secure good health of all family members throughout the upcoming year. It is also a custom to cut a piece of fruit, usually an apple, into as many pieces as there are family members. This custom is a symbol of family unity. The next course is soup- split pea soup, sauerkraut soup, mushroom soup, bean soup, lentil soup, or bean and lentil combo, according to the region.  The main course consists of fried or baked fish-usually carp or trout- or fish fillet served with potato salad with mayonnaise. It is a tradition to buy a live carp, which can be purchased at stores only at Christmas time. After the main course opekance or pupaciky are served with poppy seed or farmer’s cheese. After dinner the family members exchange their gifts under the Christmas tree. For children this is the most favorite part of Christmas. Younger children believe it is Baby Jesus who brings them Christmas gifts. When they get older, they learn it is their parents and grandparents who buy them gifts. Nevertheless, you can still see a twinkle in their eyes when they unwrap their gifts. After dinner when all the gifts are open, families enjoy their time together and eat traditional desserts such as fruit, Christmas cookies, and various types of Christmas pastries. A typical Christmas pastry is called stedrak or folded pastry of several toppings: poppy filling, walnut filling, jelly, and farmer’s cheese.

Catholics start religious celebration of Christmas by attending Midnight Mass or they can attend mass the following day, which is called a Christmas Day. In Slovakia Christmas Day is also called the First Day of Christmas. The Second Day of Christmas is St. Stephen’s Day. On the First and the Second Day of Christmas, families relax and enjoy their time together and visit relatives and friends. Students are on Christmas break at this time. Young and old also like watching Christmas shows and movies, especially fairy tales. Many Slovaks spend Christmas and the period between Christmas and New Year’s Day at mountain resorts.

Easter

Easter is the most significant Christian holiday. Because it is a moveable holiday, its date changes every year. Christians begin Easter celebration on Holy Thursday. Good Friday is a state holiday in Slovakia. While many people usually do not go to work, stores and supermarkets are usually open. On Good Friday, the day of abstinence, Christians commemorate the death of Jesus Christ. Then on Easter Sunday then celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ; however, not only Christians celebrate Easter. Easter preparations begin days before Easter. To be ready for the feast, people bake pastries, cookies, and do extensive grocery shopping. Easter dinner menu is always festive: potato salad with mayonnaise, cooked ham, cold cuts, and sandwiches are served on Easter Sunday as well as on Easter Monday.  Cookies and pastries cannot be excluded from the Easter menu.

“Oblievacka” (water pouring) is a typical Easter Monday custom in Slovakia. The character of oblievacka slightly varies from region to region. On this day men visit their female relatives and friends and pour water on them or spray them with perfume, and whip them gently with special whips made of braided willow rods. According to tradition, pouring water on women will guarantee their beauty and good health throughout the year. Recently oblievacka and sibacka (whipping) have not been as intense as they used to be in the past decades. In many regions, water buckets have been replaced with perfumes, a small syringe filled with water, a water cup, or a water pistol. However, in some villages you may still see young men, sometimes riding on the horses or dressed in traditional folk costumes, who come with rattles and braided whips decorated with colorful ribbons. They may take females out of the houses and douse them with a bucket or buckets filled with cold water. During this tradition men may sing songs and play the accordion. After oblievacka and sibacka, women reward men with sweets, fruit, money, or painted Easter eggs. Easter eggs or kraslice are quite popular in Slovak tradition. Kraslice are painted, dyed, or otherwise decorated blown eggs. Many decorate kraslice at home or buy them at market or at the craft store. While it is not required to give Easter eggs to visiting males on Easter Monday, only a few men will leave the house without a drink or small refreshment. 

St. Nicholas Day

December 6 is marked in the Slovak calendar as the feast day of St. Nicholas. St. Nicholas was a bishop in Myra, a city located in today’s Turkey. Legend has it he threw a piece of gold wrapped in a cloth three times into the house of a rich man who went bankrupt and supposedly wanted his daughters to become prostitutes. With St. Nick’s gold, the young women were able to continue living a moral life and eventually got married. St. Nicholas is believed to have performed several miracles; for example, he is believed to have saved three falsely accused men from death row and three sailors from the heavy storm. On St. Nicholas Day volunteers dress up in a red or white bishop’s robe similar to the one of Santa Claus and give the goody bags to children in schools, cultural centers, or in churches. At night parents stuff their children’s shoes and boots with goodybags filled with sweets or just give it to them and tell them the treats came from St. Nicholas. On this day, children in Pre-schools, Kindergartens, and elementary schools participate in song singing and poetry recitals.

St. Lucy’s Day

Saint Lucy lived in Syracuse in Sicily in the 3rd century at the time of Christian persecutions under the rule of Caesar Diocletian. As a Christian and a servant of the poor, Lucy was a dedicated believer who promised God she would remain a virgin for the rest of her life. Despite Lucy’s protest, her mother wanted her to get married. Finally, her fiancé accused her of Christianity before the ruler Paschasius. Feast of St.Lucy is traditionally celebrated on the eve of December 13, the day of her execution. Because of her faith in God, she died after an executor cut her throat with a sword.  On St. Lucy’s Day the girls in Slovakia used to dress in white sheets, walk around the houses with the lit candles, and brush the houses with a feather brush. They wished abundance or remained silent, received treats, fruit, or small change.

New Year’s Eve (Silvester) and New Year’s Day

The last day of December is called Silvester in Slovak calendar. It is because this day is the name day of those men named Silvester. Slovaks like to celebrate the New Year’s Eve usually in a hotel, in the mountains, or at home with their relatives or friends and by watching TV shows. They also attend Silvester dances or go and welcome a New Year by watching fireworks and making a toast to the New Year in the city or town squares. Slovakia follows the Gregorian calendar with January 1 as the first official day of the new calendar year.

Children’s Day

On June 1 Slovaks celebrate the Children’s Day. Regular classes are typically not held for students; instead, the schools entertain children with contests, theater shows, or sport activities, and reward them with treats. Cities, villages, shopping centers, and parks also organize various activities for children on this day.

Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of May. Towns and villages host cultural events with the shows performed by children or different artists.

All Souls Day

In Slovakia All Souls Day is celebrated on November 2.Many people remember their deceased relatives and friends by visiting cemeteries and lighting candles or votives on the graves, beautifully decorated with flowers and wreaths.

Fasiangy

Fasiangy is the period of balls, dances, and parades that lasts from the end of Christmas season to the beginning of Lent, 40 days before Easter. At this time cities, towns, villages, schools, and other institutions hold masquerade balls. On Fat Tuesday, the day before Ash Wednesday, it is a tradition to burry a contrabass. This ceremony symbolizes the end of festivities. Dances, weddings, and other festivities will resume after Easter.