Christmas Message

Slovak Christmas was great for us this year. Last year was tough for me because no one was prepared for my American expectations. This year, however, we all worked together to make it a wonderful holiday.

First things first. We got a real tree this year and we put it up on December 10th. It was the nicest tree I saw all year. We're very proud. Slovak people usually put up their trees on December 23rd. I hate that. I want to enjoy my tree throughout the season. Enough said. New traditions for everyone.

We continued with a day of Christmas cookies on the 20th. The kids came and helped cut and decorate gingerbread cookies. Next year, we're attempting a house. Milan's mom and I also made a wreath together. Wreath making is very common in Slovakia because they make them for all the funerals. She made one, what I refer to as "American Size", and I made a big red bow and picked up some decorations at the hardware store. She also made an Advent wreath. It was so Christmassy at our house!

I'm lucky because Slovak people generally enjoy American traditions. Their traditions begin with dinner at home with your immediate family on Christmas Eve (which for them IS Christmas), a trip to the cemetery where we placed candles on all of our family gravestones, then opening presents (because "Jezizko" visited while we were at the cemetery and brought gifts), then to church. This, personally, was quite a shock. Hearing the priest refer to "Jezizko" (translated that would be "little Jesus") bringing gifts to all the good little girls and boys. It was just a reminder of how weird my life has become. However, in defense of this tradition, Slovakia already has a holiday right before Christmas called Mikulas(h) when the angel, the devil and Mikulas(h) come to give candy and money to all the good girls and boys. If you're bad, you get charcoal in your shoes. Sound familiar? For some reason, I think it might be that they think of St. Mikulas(h) as we think of St. Nicolas and since St.
Mikulas(h)'s name day is December 6th, that's when they should celebrate this tradition. Milan has tried to clarify for me how this happened, but it's a mystery to him too. At any rate, by their rationale, I suppose, "Santa" has already come. He can't come again on Christmas.

Milan also points out that Slovakia is so completely Catholic and traditions have been passed down without history or explaination for so long that most people don't even know about their VERY OBVIOUS Celtic ancestry. All the old women in our neighborhood look like witches with their long skirts and head scarves (no pointy hats, but lots of witch's brew). It's almost like a uniform. The way Milan's mom stores balls of string, feathers, spices and plants is so witch-like that it's kind of cool. The way our chicken coop looks like a vodo torture chamber and the fact that all the women make these bizarre brooms from branches from a special tree that resemble something Harry Potter would ride, all speak to the fact that these people used to have their own set of Slavik Gods and you can bet Christmas trees have been a tradition far longer than our 12th century church has existed. It's funny because this all goes on in spite of the very harsh realty that western Europe has invaded. Woefully, the only furniture you can buy here is ultra-modern, minimal, VERY European furniture - a lot of it black. We're still shopping. (Update - March 2006 - We found some really lovely furniture in March, but we wanted a dresser and all they had was dining room furniture in that style.)

Back to Christmas...
Dinner here includes fish. See, as Catholics we aren't supposed to eat meat on Christmas. Don't tell anyone in the US that we're all going to Hell... Between December 15 and December 22 the grocery stores all have giant fish tanks outside in the parking lots where they have giant fish you can buy. It ocurred to me last year that they stop selling them long before anyone actualy eats them on the 24th. When I asked what these people do with these fish until then, Milan replied, they put them in the bath tub... I suppose people with houses probably put them in the yard in a giant vat of some kind. Then there's Sauerkraut soup (my personal big loser of the season), mushroom soup, potato salad, big round cookie wafers about 1 mm thick that taste like ice cream cones (the cake version, not the sugar). We dipped them in honey. We actually broke tradition this year and Milan's brother, Ivan, and his wife, L'uba, invited us to spend the holiday with them. She's an amazing cook and everything was wonderful. We were so stuffed and happy and drunk by the time we stumbled into Church... Jezizsko... Santa... George Bush... whatever...

Chirstmas Day is for watching fairy tales on TV. They have a million stories that have nothing to do with any of our traditions or Christmas for that matter - like a million versions of The Wizard of Oz (which no one has ever heard of). It's so funny to see grown men sitting around taking about how much they love this fairy tale or that. We made some additions to traditional Slovak Christmas for my sake. I made stockings for Dominika, Rado, Tibor, Milan's mom and Milan. We invited the kids over to open gifts on Christmas morning. Then, Milan, his mom and I sat down to a family dinner which included ham, creamed spinach, mashed potatoes and, of course, sauerkraut soup, fish and potato salad.


Family visits are also traditional for Slovak Christmas Day or sometime there after. We visited family for a glass of champagne and official wishes of happiness, money and health. Upon our arrival at Milan's dad's house, he offered us champagne and goose... okay... We politely declined the goose, but he insisted, went over to the china cupboard in the living room and pulled out a fully cooked goose in all its glorious dark meat. That probably wins the prize for the weirdest thing about Slovak Christmas this year, but he swore up and down that L'uba had given it to him as a Christmas gift... and he'd just stuffed it there for a minute...

We closed the evening with a party at our house for family and friends. It was not a big affair, but we enjoyed ourselves as we always do when we're together.

Hope the Holidays were good to everyone.
You were in our thoughts and prayers.