Christmas is perceived as beautiful and loving feasting families. Somewhere in the subconscious, they bring us cold, needles, mum's kitchen, generous material and spirituality, and the sweet smile of each one of us. In the past, the holidays were not built on the glimpses of gifts and exaggerations in their originality. They were characterized by their annual habits, aimed at economic prosperity, protection for evil forces, magic, indulgence, but also games and entertainment.

Short days and long evenings did not allow much work outdoors, most of the activities took place inside. People in the village met during winter collec- tive work in the home - spinning, feathering, weaving, tooling, and woodworking tools. In order for their work to go out of their hands, they were singing together, telling various stories of life, fairy tales and fairy tales.

From Catherine to Solstice

Christmas tradition began in traditional folk culture at the end of November in Carthage and lasted until Solstice. Our ancestors assumed during the long dark nights the increased activity of the unfriendly forces and tried to eliminate them or at least mitigate them with different lines and habits with positive and negative effects. Over time, this idea has been reduced to the stories of the harmful activities of the allies. That's why they called the day of the day, and they were set up by Katarina (25. 11.), Ondrej (30. 11.), Barbora (4. 12.), Mikuláš (6. 12.), Luciu (13.12.) And Tomáš 21. 12.). Periods ended until Christmas holidays.

The habits of Catherine

In Swinoujn there was a persecution that the house was the first visitor to be a woman all the year will be broken by the dishes. In the past, this was the last day of entertainment because it started advent, there was a mess and a preparation for the birth of Jesus.

In some villages in Povoi, the yachts were starting this day, and the catarin entertainment merged with the celebration of the beginning of this seasonal female work. Although it did not arrive on the first day, the girls brought the cakes and the young wine, together, then in a good mood during the singing and dancing they survived the first evening night. In Selca, it was said that Katarína is playing the violin music. This day also served to predict the weather on the upcoming holidays: "Katarína na blate, Christmas on Ice" or vice versa.

Ondrej - the first polar day

Ondrej was in Selc according to Frantisek Zovinca the first polar day. This is a prohibition when they did not have to come to visit the first woman because the chains would be ripped, the pots and the bowls beaten. The girls on the eve of Ondrej screamed the fences and said, "Plot, fly the trail, Saint Ondrej, please, let me know this night with whom I will stand by the altar." After this action, they rushed silently home to keep their dream. Many were falling asleep, especially the most pervasive. Those who dreamed of it, should have been elected to them. On the second day the girl's face revealed the dream that drew them. Some were smiling, others in despair, when their dream did not bring the expected message.

In the Lent, the girl could learn the name of her future husband by sleeping in the night before Ondrej on male boots to get his name signed.

On the outskirts of Trencin the girls were praying before bed: Ondrejko, mejko, tejko, svätý Ondrejko! Think of me, who will be my beloved, whom I shall keep in my life and in death, and what shall she wear. Then they put a ring under their heads, which they used to marry before marrying, expecting them to dream of the next man. According to the prayers in the Sworn "snow that attacked Ondrej, it is long gone, only on Gregor (12 March) runs into the stream". Another is dedicated to the weather on Ondrej, because it will also be during the winter: "Ondrejski snow is burning bread."

Virgin Barbora

In the evening, they walked in Svinna where they liked, usually four women and girls dressed in their dresses, with a white dress across their faces. One was in the hand of a brush or broom, the other a wing of the poultry, and two other boars that beat the young men.

In Selca, the young men and girls were dressed as a virgin, in their hands they had a brush or a wing of a goose, they came to the cottage, flooded and said, "Holy Mother Barborka stood in the morning in the hail of the hill she saw, the holy observation, she gave them, Our Lady, to protect us in our deaths, when we are going to celebrate the Christmas days / the current 13 umjerati, amen. "From the home, they got dried fruits and went on a tram.

At Barbora, a lousy hawk was going on the upper Nitra - they were cherry cans, which were placed in a bowl of water and had to be vented in Christmas. If the balls on the hoods have grown nicely, the family should enjoy joy and abundance in the next year. If the flowers were little and tortured, much joy was not expected by the family.

Lucius is the peak of the day

He did not invade Lucius or embroider, because the garment worked on that day would bring illness. Lucia was the most prominent day of the day, according to the habit of Svinny Jozef Páleník. "The straw snapped in the door, and the scream, which wanted to get the bottom, had to count all the straws in the morning until the cock did not jerk. Lucie's day was also used for a variety of veils, and they also went to a white-haired Lucie, who usually swept the wings of the wings and cleaned the interior of the house and its inhabitants to cleanse it from evil forces. Lucie walked in the village in the sixties and seventies of the last century, then the tradition vanished. "

Jozef Ľudovít The pigeons recorded the beginning of the 20th century in the Bošáčka valley the habit of walking Lucius, when the dirty girls walked in the houses to scare the children and received small gifts for them. From Lucie to the birth of God, the people watch the weather every day to fit the weather for 12 months next year. For example, if winter is cold, January will be frosty, if it rains, it will be rainy. Likewise, they have seen different crops and crops.

There are various things, such as the name of the groom. In Soblah's girls, 13 men named the 13 best men, and Lucia burned one ticket each morning, of course, without reading the name. On Wednesdays, she burned every 12th card and waited impatiently for the evening. On Christmas Eve, she unpacked her last ticket reading the name of her "expectant". In other villages, they wrote only twelve tickets and burned them in the evening. Whoever wanted to know the bosorcs in the village, had to build a wooden table without the use of nails from Lucie to Christmas Day. He should do it every day. Then he took him to a half-mascha, stood up (in some villages he sat down), and then he knew which women and girls were bosorky. He saw them flying around the altar. Eventually, he could go to the crossroad for the village, and there, at midnight on Christmas Eve, sit on this chair, then he saw them dancing. But he had to carry a bag of poppies and needles that he had sprawled on his way home, for the well-known bosor had chased him and wanted to destroy him. They had to crawl through their needles and grain the poppies to grab what they had left behind. When he heard the whirlwind behind him, he had his bosons again, and it was necessary to sink ... So it did, until he crossed the threshold of his own house, where the bosor had no power, and the lifter was saved. If his poppy and needle quickly passed and he was not home yet, the bosorcs caught up with him and had to dance with them. They usually dug him to death and tear. It was only the pure and faithful love of the girl that could have been sought by him at that time.

In the past, in the past, joint work has been an opportunity to meet neighbors, relatives, relatives, and acquaintances. In addition to working together, they were able to seize together, to disengage from common worries, which is in our often virtual world for some of the already unfulfilled dream. And it has become an archaic recipe for old stuff ...

text: Leo Kužela

photo by Radovan Stoklas