Christmas Eve

A closed Trdelník stand.  Trdelníks are awesome.

On Christmas Eve, after I got back from my day trip to Kutná Hora, I went out to see what things were like on Christmas Eve around Prague.  I expected it to be extra exciting.  I expected in vain.  In the Czech Republic, Christmas Eve is the big day--that is when everybody gets together with their families.  So, the only folks that are out are tourists.  And there weren't even really many of those.  Most of the Christmas Markets were closed--just long, empty, closed rows of stalls.  Most of the tourists that were there were either American or Chinese.  The majority were American.  I certainly hadn't heard that much English since I got to Prague and, I am fairly certain, I haven't heard that much unaccented, American English since I left America.


I looked for a booth selling the traditional Czech Christmas Eve diner of sauerkraut soup and baked cod.  I could not find a single one.  There were several stands that were advertising "traditional Czech Ham" which was being cooked on giant spits over large pans of coals.  It smelled really good.  But, I am still not convinced that that is really "traditional"--since I've been back I've been looking things up to see if I could find anything about it and I haven't.  I am a little suspicious that this was a transparent attempt to pander to tourists because baked ham sells better than sauerkraut soup.

I was hanging around waiting for a Christmas Mass which they had at the Old Town Square Market.  While I was waiting, and because it was really cold (and because I hadn't gotten to have any sauerkraut soup) I decided to try some Grogg.  It was not nearly as tasty as one might have expected.  It was, actually, really, really disgusting.  The Christmas Mass was really just music--they didn't offer a prayer to start the show off or anything else that seemed remotely religious, although I suppose that the songs could have had some religious significance.  I suppose, though, that this is in keeping with the Czech agnosticism.

I had originally planned on going to the Midnight Mass which was being held at the Strahovský Kláster, which is in the Castle Quarter.  I ended up not going because I couldn't figure out how to get back with the night train schedules and I really didn't want to be stuck walking back from across the river.  Also, it was cold and I was tired, but that wasn't the main reason.  I ended up having to walk most of the way back to the hotel anyways because I still couldn't figure out the night trams but, on the plus side, walking was almost  enough to keep me warm.

Since I couldn't get any traditional Czech Christmas Eve food in Prague, I looked up some recipes once I got back to Rotterdam.  I realize these are Slovak recipes but they look the same and sound the same as the Czech recipes and they were convenient.  So now you can make your very own Czech (or Slovak) Christmas Eve Dinner.
Sauerkraut Soup
Potato Salad
Fried Carp