A total of 3 saints are celebrated in the Czech Republic in December. St. Nicholas (or Santa Claus) is known to all - in some countries he is even the main character of
Christmas (in our country, the superstar is baby Jesus). Do you know who St. Barbara and St. Lucy were, tough?
Their fates were also, according to legends, interesting. One of them was decapitated by her father. The other gouged out her eyes. Why? And what do we do these days? You'll find the answers in the article. :)
St. BarboraSt. Barbara's Day is celebrated on December 4. Who was St. Barbara? According to a legend, she was the daughter of a wealthy merchant. She was beautiful and
had a lot of suitors. That's why her father shut her in the tower.
Barbara took a revenge by becoming a Christian in the tower (her father disliked Christians). When her father found out, he wanted to kill her. But she ran away and hid. Unfortunately, however, one shepherd revealed the location of her hiding place. Barbora's father caught her and tortured her. He wanted her to stop being a Christian. Barbara refused to do so, so
her father executed her.
What are the traditions we keep on this day? On St. Barbara's Day, single
girls pluck twigs from cherries (they're called "barborky"), then put them in a vase and wait to see if they bloom.
They have to take care of the twigs and change their water every day. If the twig blooms
by Christmas Eve, it means the girl will get married. If she doesn't bloom, she won't get married. In case the girl has more suitors, she puts more twigs in the vase. He then names each twig after one boy. Her groom would be the boy whose twig blossomed first.
If the woman is married, she can pick up the "barborky", too, and decorate the holiday table with them.
Another way we can use "barborky" is by predicting a happy month. If, for example, the "barborka" blooms on the seventh day after being picked, it means that the seventh month of the following year will be a happy one for us.