Text: Pavlína Badurová
Christmas is a symbol of well-being, love and giving to one another. There are few more beautiful moments than seeing the bright eyes of children discovering a longed-for present under the wrapping paper. In today’s modern and hectic times, however, the symbolism of a true Czech Christmas is fading away.
In general, Christmas is one of the most popular holidays of the year. It announces and celebrates the coming of the Saviour, as well as the symbolic arrival of the solstice. People show love, affection, and gratitude to each other by giving gifts during this season. It is a festival of peace, tranquility and serenity. At this time, even the clanging of weapons is silent. The nights are also long and frosty, and that is why so many traditions, superstitions and customs are established at this time. Some of them are still observed today, others have been forgotten over time.
Why do we make an Advent wreath and how to decorate a Christmas tree? Where did the gift-giving to loved ones come from and why did it happen?
Our ancestors prepared thoroughly for Christmas. And not only with Christian humility and thanksgiving. They moved from the pagan welcoming of the sun to welcoming the Redeemer, to accepting the gift of grace in the hope of a more favorable future. The pre-Christmas season was marked by beautifying, cleaning and tidying up the entire dwelling to make it ready to receive the most precious guest. The feast of the birth of Jesus Christ was accompanied by traditional rituals, which later included the decorating of the Christmas tree, the symbol of Christmas.
Christmas also includes all kinds of decorations, which people made with great imagination. The most beautiful ones were handmade from various natural materials, such as wood, wood shavings, straw, dried fruit or even paper.
Advent wreath
A unique symbol announcing Christmas is the Advent wreath, an aid to the symbolic countdown of the four weeks of Advent. The custom of lighting the candles on the Advent wreath gradually came to us from Germany in the second half of the 19th century. The tradition was founded in Hamburg by Johann Hinrich Wichern (1808-1881), who, among other things, founded a school for poor children. Every day in the run-up to Christmas, the children would ask him when Christmas was coming. In 1839, he therefore made the “forerunner” of today’s Advent wreaths from an old wooden wheel, on which he glued 19 small red candles for weekdays and 4 white candles for Sundays. Each day a new candle was lit, a large white one on Sunday and a small red one on the other days.
Over time the changing number of candles more or less settled down to the four or five used today. The traditional colours include purple, symbolising dignity and repentance. All candles are purple, except sometimes the third candle, which is pink and is dedicated to friendship. The candles are lit counterclockwise. Wreaths with a fifth, white candle in the middle, which is lit on Christmas Eve and symbolizes Christ, are also common. Other popular colours include green as a symbol of nature and life, and red as the blood of Christ.
Christmas tree
Perhaps the youngest Christmas custom is the trimming of the tree. The predecessors of the classic spruce, pine and fir trees were probably twigs and sticks decorated with fruit, ribbons and sweets – the so-called shepherd’s gifts – as early as the Roman saturnalia of antiquity.
The classic Christmas tree as we know it today first appeared in 1605 in Strasbourg, Germany, and was decorated with multicoloured paper roses, virgin apples, sweets and gilded chains. In 1816, the tree was already decorating the Austrian Imperial Court. During the last century it began to appear in aristocratic mansions in France, England, Denmark and Norway.
In the Czech Republic, Jan Karel Liebich (1773-1816), director of the Prague Estates Theatre, first erected a Christmas tree for his friends in 1812 at his Šilboch chateau in Libeň. The new custom became domesticated especially in the houses of the richest bourgeoisie and later also of the nobility. At the Christmas markets, ‘artificial trees’ imported from Germany and carved from cardboard or thin boards began to be sold, but buyers were not very interested in them. Live trees, spruce, fir or maypole trees decorated with sweet pastries, gingerbread and above all fruit – apples or pears, almonds or raisins – were more popular. Decorated Christmas trees were even slower to penetrate into country houses. Until the First World War, many households had only a decorated spruce or fir branch.
Gifting
The history of Christmas presents is very remarkable and entertaining, as we can read in Valburga Vavrinova’s Little Encyclopedia of Christmas. Let’s not paint an idyll that once upon a time all you had to give as a gift was an apple and a handful of nuts and people were happy at Christmas. That only now do we live in an age of debauchery, when we think of Christmas presents as the latest electronics, trips to the seaside and jewellery.
In the 17th century, for example, it was quite common for wealthy bourgeois and noblemen to give Christmas presents called ‘halafance’ to people who were more powerful, more influential than they were. Whether it was gold, cloth, partridges or quiches. Bribes, some might say.
Giving each other small gifts under a lit tree is not an ancient Christmas custom. The first references to deliberate gift-giving appear in ancient Rome. However, this ritual was linked to the celebration of the New Year and became an expression of affection, friendship and love.
Giving each other small gifts under a lit tree is not an ancient Christmas custom. The first references to deliberate gift-giving appear in ancient Rome. However, this ritual was linked to the celebration of the New Year and became an expression of affection, friendship and love.
It was not until the nineteenth century that gifts became an integral part of Christmas. In earlier times, gifts were given to servants in the form of clothing, food and small sums of money in addition to a year’s wages. Gifts were also given to vagrants and homeless beggars who came to the wealthiest households on a Christian holiday to congratulate them on the birth of Jesus Christ.
Interestingly, although this is a custom associated with a Christian holiday, we don’t read very clearly in the Bible about the meaning of gifts. In the New Testament, the word gift is used to describe the three kings bringing incense, gold and myrrh to the newborn Jesus. As the Christmas Encyclopedia notes, this is where historians most often see the beginning of the custom of giving gifts at Christmas as signifying friendship and love.
Since the 19th century, it was common in the Czech lands to give gifts at Christmas not only to poor people, but especially to children. Thus, it became common that even the poorest people began to associate Christmas with giving presents to children, a custom that has survived to this day.
At first, the gifts were modest and mostly practical. Mostly, only small things were given among family and friends, and people usually made them themselves. In this way people strengthened their relationships and individual bonds with each other. People took the symbolism of gift-giving very personally. With every gift, even the smallest one, they gave a piece of themselves to the other.
Young people were most often gifted with ripe red apples to symbolize health, strength, longevity and toughness, or nuts to represent wisdom and personal maturity. Often it was gingerbread expressing lightheartedness and joie de vivre. Girls from wealthier families received lavish ornaments in the form of bracelets with turquoise, amethyst or other semi-precious stones, or white pearls symbolizing purity, innocence and humility towards parents and partner. However, gold or gold-plated chains or bracelets were no exception. Adults gave each other a bottle of homemade brandy or their own wine and fruit to symbolize sweet life. Scented ointments and various scents symbolizing fame and fortune were also popular gifts.
Under the tree, the henchman most often found a snuff box or a new pipe, braces or slippers. A cloth for a dress. The girl, a kanaf and tablecloths for her outfit. Boys, trousers or tin soldiers. Books were gifted as rarely as southern fruit, which appeared only on the Christmas Eve table of wealthy families. Gradually, however, books became a very common gift. It has been reported that in the late 19th century, adventure books, such as Robinson Crusoe, were the most commonly given.
Twelve-year-old children were given an extra gift. This custom is completely forgotten nowadays, but its symbolism and meaning is very magical. For many centuries, it has been a tradition to present a child over the age of twelve with a gold or silver coin. If it remained in the hand for the rest of the evening, it was said to ensure a long, happy and, above all, rich life. Otherwise, poverty, hardship and disease were to be feared.
It wasn’t until the twentieth century that trends in gift-giving began to emerge, with gifts becoming increasingly valuable. As people grew richer, they gave themselves not only practical things, but also items purely for pleasure.
During the First World War, for example, a loaf of bread, a bit of coffee beans or a woollen cloth for a dress were elevated to the status of a valued Christmas present. Only later did the essence of the Christmas present as a love gift slowly disappear. It was replaced by a desire to impress loved ones with the price, quality and quantity of gifts.
It was a tradition to unwrap presents only when the first star came out. This was to symbolise the star that shone over Bethlehem, where the baby Jesus was born. Historical sources no longer tell us what happened when the sky was cloudy…
Christmas should be a holiday of peace, comfort and joy for all people around the world. Only in this way will it fulfill its meaning. It is up to us to make it so.
A little reflection in conclusion: we all know what a great Christmas present a book is. Do you know what makes an even better Christmas present? More books!
Pavlína Badurová
I was born in Český Těšín and studied history at the Silesian University in Opava. Since 2002 I have been working at the Museum of Těšín Region, initially as a historian and curator of collections, and currently as the head of the Historical Building of the Museum of Těšín Region in Český Těšín.
My parents worked in a printing house. I am sure it stems from them – love and respect for books, fascination with the process of book production. As children, my brothers and I were very lucky and sometimes we were able to look “under the hood” of the printing house. I still remember it – the impressions, the sounds, the smells.
Through my studies and employment, I got into regional history. Prochaska’s printery is simply a heartbreaker!
