Every December, I love asking people about the traditions in their own families. And every year I discover something new. When you think about Christmas dinner, what do you picture? A turkey and roast potatoes covered generously in gravy? Mince pies, Christmas pudding, or maybe a slice of pumpkin pie? Let’s take a look at Christmas traditions in Slovakia.
Does cabbage soup and carp fish sound Christmas-y to you? Many people in Central Europe will smile in nostalgia and drift into warm memories of their childhood. They might even wince and cringe at the idea of a turkey-based Christmas dinner. Let me take you to a Christmas dinner in Slovakia.
(Photo by Elena Seroshtan)
Slovakian Families Gather on December 24
It is the late evening of December 24. Everyone in the family is hungry. Adults have been fasting all day, and children were promised they would see a golden piglet if they don’t eat before dinner. The lights are dim; only warm candles and blue Christmas TV flicker softly. In the middle of the living room, or perhaps the kitchen, stands a table with a very unusual Christmas meal.
(Photo by Dominika Giglerová )
The aromas fills the entire room: cabbage soup (kapustnica) or lentil soup with prunes and mushrooms, carp, cold potato salad with mayonnaise and boiled eggs, honey gingerbread (baked two weeks in advance so it can soften before the Christmas dinner) and of course wafers (oblatky) eaten with honey and garlic (honey – for sweet life, garlic – for good health).
The fish was in the bathtub a night or two earlier, still alive and kicking. The children spent a couple of days playing with it, naming it, feeding it. Until one Christmas Eve, when the father would take an ax and slaughter the fish, teaching the kids the concept of death and how food actually gets on the table. Some people end up with childhood trauma; others with funny childhood memories and stories to tell.
(Photo by Silvia S.)
On the Christmas Eve Table
Practically no one cooks meat on Christmas Eve—it is considered bad luck. In wealthier regions of Slovakia, people don’t have any problems with meat and don’t believe that superstition. Except for January 1. On that day your dinner must not have wings or legs, otherwise your luck will fly or run away.
But let’s return to our dinner table. In the middle of the table, you may find a couple of bottles of fine Slovak wine (which is pretty good, to be honest) and a bottle of TatraTea. But don’t be naïve. This “tea” is 52% alcohol. It has a lovely tea aroma and goes down easily. But be careful when you stand up – the room may start spinning.
Sour cabbage for kapustnica (Photo by Elena Seroshtan)
Slovakian Christmas Traditions: St. Mikulaš
In the corner of the room stands a Christmas tree, and underneath it are presents for everyone. Baby Jesus (Ježiško) brings them. It is quite sweet of him to give presents to everyone on his own birthday. And three weeks earlier, on December 6, children receive chocolate from St. Mikulaš (St. Nicholas) if they behaved well or coal and an onion – if they were naughty. Two rounds of presents in December. Not bad.
(Photo by Sylvia S.)
More Slovakian Christmas Traditions
When the food at a Slovakian Christmas is over–and if you aren’t too full to breathe–it’s time for some traditional superstitions. The head of the family cuts the apple and if the seeds are arranged in the shape of a star, everyone will stay healthy, if not – someone will die. And the family will spend the rest of the year trying to guess who. If it is not enough, then it is time to light up the candle. If the flame is straight, you are good; if it tilts toward you… well, I would double-check it with my doctor.
But that’s only the beginning. You crack a walnut next. A fresh one means good health, a rotten or bad one means illness.
Quite dark traditions, if you ask me. But my favorite after-dinner entertainment is the candle race. You put tea candles of different colors into a basin with water and see who will have a longer life. If your candle sinks first – you will die first. Merry Christmas everyone!
(Photo by Dominika Giglerová)
When I first heard about these traditions, it struck me as an odd desire to predict death, as if the family wanted to know the funeral schedule for the next year. I still wonder why.
But to balance all the darkness and take your mind away from possible death, people place coins under the plates for wealth and put fish scales into wallets to ensure money next year. And to be on the safe side, they toss some walnuts into the corners for luck.
I have been living in Slovakia for four years, but still can’t get used to the sight of stacks of extremely thin wafers in every shop, or shelves filled to the ceiling with jars of sour cabbage for kapustnica, and I am still getting used to the excitement over the carp on discounts, or the disappearance of all chocolate Santas from the shops after St. Mikulaš Day (parents buy them only for December 6, rarely after).
(Photo by Elena Seroshtan )
A Fishy Christmas in Slovakia
As said, every December, I love asking people about the traditions in their own families, and discovering something new. These traditions are often mixture of Christianity and paganism, changing from region to region, from family to family. Some people replace carp with salmon; some avoid fish entirely. Some reject the dark fortune-telling and keep only the cheerful one about wealth and luck. Yet almost every home, on Christmas Eve, will have the aroma of cabbage soup and garlic – a scent people look forward to.
(Photo by Elena Seroshtan)
Christmas Traditions in Slovakia: We Are All Surprisingly Different … and Not
We are all surprisingly different, but we rarely think about these differences until we bump into one hard enough to realize that it is not just something you read in a travel guide for entertainment – it is actually someone’s real life. I am still learning to accept all these differences and stop myself from judging. But every December 22, I pack my suitcase and fly to the place where Christmas will smell familiar.
(Photo by Elena Seroshtan)
For More:
- Slovakia Travel, official tourism site
- Slovakian tourism
- On our site: Considering travel to Europe? Take a look at all the many articles we have!
-All photos as credited. Cover photo by Elena Seroshtan.
