Our third advent story
Veselé Vánoce
In the Czech Republic, Christmas is one thing above all: magical. Alena van Bömmel, postdoc in the Hoffmann research group at the Leibniz Institute on Aging - Fritz Lipmann Institute, describes lots of Christmas traditions from her home country. Some are only known to a few, some have survived to this day. But they all have a certain magic in common. Would you like an excerpt?
- whoever is the first to switch on the lights on Christmas Eve can expect great misfortune in the coming year. "So it's always dark for a long time on Christmas Eve, especially in the villages. Nobody really dares," says Alena.
- an apple cut open crosswise heralds death or health. A cross means bad luck, a star means "all is well". The test run for the photo with Alena worked - the inside of her apple revealed a star-shaped core. ????
- you shouldn't eat anything until the evening on Christmas Eve. If you stick to this rule, you should see a golden pig in the evening. Speaking of food: The Czechs keep it absolutely traditional - with breaded carp and potato salad.
Incidentally, things get particularly exciting in the Czech Republic on the evening before St. Nicholas. This is when children get a visit from St. Nicholas accompanied by angels and devils. Depending on how the year has gone for the kids, they receive small gifts and sweets. For minor offenses, there's a piece of coal or a potato. For supposedly hopeless cases, an abduction to hell is sometimes staged. To reassure them, Alena remarks with a smile: "So far, everyone has always come back safe and sometimes even reformed.”
Alena spends the Advent season at the FLI. But she only has one destination for the holidays: her family in the Czech Republic. Because the Czechs have one thing in common with all nations: Christmas is always and everywhere a celebration of family.
With this in mind, Alena wishes you: Veselé Vánoce - Merry Christmas!
