1st January
On the 1st January, we celebrate ... (2 things)
We celebrate the New Year and the Restoration (=obnovení) Day of the Independent Czech State
What is commemorated (=připomínáno) on Easter?
the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ
What is celebrated on 1st May?
Labour Day (Svátek práce). May Day = a day of love.
What is 28th October called ?
Independent Czechoslovak State Day
What is celebrated on 5th July?
Saints Cyril and Methodius Day
What is traditionally served on New Year's Day? And what does it represent?
Lentils. It represents money.
What do girls and boys prepare for Easter?
The girls paint eggs to give them to the boys. Boys prepare whips (=bič - tzn. pomlázka).
What is celebrated on 8th May and what is this day called?
Victory Day (Den vítězství). The end of World War II on the European continent.
Where you can find the statue of the person celebrated on the 28th September?
Statue of Saint Wenceslas on Wenceslas Square
What is celebrated on 6th July and why?
This day is dedicated to Mister Jan Hus. He was a Roman Catholic priest, a Czech medieval religious thinker, a university teacher, a reformer and a preacher.
The Church called him a heretic = kacíř. He was condemned (=odsouzený) as a heretic and burned alive on 6 July 1415, after he refused to renounce (=zříci se) his teachings.
When did the Czech Republic become an independent (=nezávislý) state?
Czechoslovakia stopped to exist on midnight of 31 December 1992, and so the independent Czech Republic was founded on 1 January 1993.
What symbolizes the custom of whipping the girls on Easter Monday?
This custom originates from pagan rituals and provides women with health and fertility.
How do people celebrate 1st May? In what is the origin of this tradition?
Czechs celebrate the first of May as a day of those in love, as a day of rest that should be spent with a loved one, finding a blooming tree to get a kiss underneath.
Karel Hynek Mácha's poem May
Late evening, on the first of May—
The twilit May—the time of love.
What is called 28th September and why is it celebrated?
Czech Statehood Day = Den české státnosti or St. Wenceslas's Day.
Wenceslas was murdered, and soon after his death he became the patron of the Czech lands and honoured as a Catholic saint.
Why is 5th July important (from the historical point of view)?
The brothers came to the area of today’s Czech Republic (in 863) to spread Christianity among the pagan Slavs. They translated parts of the Bible into the old Slavonic language, they invented a special alphabet tailored to the needs of the old Slavonic language, and they founded schools.