I grew up with the belief that Jezicek brought the gifts. I remember so well the meal my mother made: fish chowder made from carp my father caught, fried carp (again some that dad caught), potato salad and apple strudel for dessert. I repeat this meal for my family each Christmas Eve, except there is no carp - usually a mild, less bony fish - actually boneless fillets. When I was a child, after dinner, my father would take us for a ride to visit churches in the area and see their decorations. That gave mother time to clean up the dinner dishes and prepare for Jezisek. When we arrived back home, mother was still in the kitchen, just finishing the clean up and miracously there were all these gifts under the tree. We carried on this tradition to some extent when my newphews and nieces came over after Christmas Eve Dinner but it was not the same. I married a woman raised in the "Santa Claus" tradition, so we have Christmas presents on the morning of the 25th. But, as I said, I keep the fast on Christmas Eve and the traditional meal.
You can get fresh carp at the fish market next to the 14th St Bridge on the 24th. We have the same meal but snitzel is also included and naturally Czech Pivo to help with the digestion :wink: Do you go with the lentels, pork, sour kraut, and dumplings on New Years?
How's it taste? Is it farm grown? Some of the Czechs I know won't eat Carp from the States. They say it taste awful. See most Americans don't eat carp so when it's caught, it's thrown back into the lake, giving the Carp plenty of years to grow large - eating the scum on the bottom of the lake (thus the name "bottom feeders"), developing a slimy, disgusting taste.
I have to take a guess that it is farm grown due to the selection and availability. It doesn't taste bad but as all carp.....it is extremely boney. On a side note, I still push for carp, while everyone else in the family pushes for other types of fish.
Yes, I finally had enough of carp, and started making salmon instead, usually some kind of fancy teriyaki or ginger & garlic salmon. My sister-in-law still makes a big plate of carp, and my mother-in-law still does as well, but less and less eagerly each year I do like the soup, though...
Oh Jen, not salmon also.....you sound like everyone else in my family..... :cry: Please don't tell us that you now favor Moravian wine over beer. I draw the line on soups, my wife and mother-in-law make some amazingly good soups but, I'm not a soup person. Oh and the ultimate sin, my brother-in-law infiltrated Heinekin into the garage refrigerator :evil:
Honey, I live in Velke Popovice - ain't no WAY I'm going for Moravian wine over the local brew I prefer a nice Italian red anyway I gave carp a good 10 or so years before I had enough...I always do eat a small piece, just to be properly Czech, but I can't make a meal of it....
Ah, a breath of fresh air, no Moravian Wine. Nooooooooooo!!!!!!! You have lost your way, the appropriate answer is beer, not wine. Since you are an ex-pat, I can't technically call you the bad phrase, but since you have been there so long.........I will call you the bad phrase that I use on the Czech members of my family... You're a yucko (CZ sp?) Czech :twisted:
Halloween in the UK is about witchcraft who were thoght to be trying to make the winter last forever, this was stopped by a night of revelry followed the next day by all souls day which cleansed the soul. What you equate to halloween does not look like it has anything to do with witchcraft. In england we also have guy falkes night. This is about a group of people the leader of which was guy falkes who tried to blow up the houses of parliament. The plot was foiled and the he and his fellow conspirators were tortured for treason in the tower of london until they confessed and were subsequently hung, drawn and quartered. The day is remembered on the fifth of november when an effigy of guy falkes is burnt atop a bonfire. Fireworks are part of the celebration as is roasting potatoes on the bonfire and getting drunk. Do czechs have any similar event to celebrate?
"Pálení čarodějnic" - The Burning of Witches - or Walpurgis Night or Beltine - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walpurgis_Night It's celebrated at night from April 30 to May 1
