Good old Saint Nicholas

Tonight my little town switched on its Christmas tree lights! Today is the 5th December which means it's Saint Nicholas' day, or Saint Mikuláš here in Czech.

In the run up to today there are angel, demon and Saint Nicholas figures around - including special sweets and breads baked into their shapes. As I drove back from my Czech teacher's home this morning I saw the trio walking outside a primary school. The bad photo above has the trio and a little kid singing.

Why an angel, devil and Saint Nicholas? Why singing?

Well, you should watch this short video to find out! It was shared by the wonderful Petra and it will tell you about these traditions. Tip: it involves threatening little children that they might be dragged off to hell. 

Josef's Terror: St. Nicholas Day in the Czech Republic from Amy Hadley on Vimeo.

Funnily enough there was a nativity set up on the main square today too. It's just accepted as part of the fairy tales surrounding Christmas. 

One of the stalls on the main square had a "Jesus postbox" - a postbox for you to post your letter to Jesus in, because it's baby Jesus who brings the presents on 24th December.

I'm glad the Christmas lights have been switched on, and it was a lot of fun to spend time with the Thomason family tonight, and I'm praying that this Christmas many in this country would come to know the true joy of Immanuel, God with us. 

Freedom

November is probably my favourite month of the year, and not just because it holds my birthday. The nights get dark early and there are more cups of tea. And it's also a month that remembers and celebrates freedom.

On November 9th 1989 the Berlin Wall fell.

On November 11th we remember the sacrifice of those who served (and serve) their countries in conflict and allow us to know freedom.

And today, November 17th, is a national holiday in the Czech Republic. On November 17th 1989 the Velvet Revolution began.

Twenty-five years ago students marched in Prague to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of students being killed by Nazis in 1939. And on that day they started something that led to the end of communism just ten days later.

It's called the Velvet Revolution because no one died. And four years later it was followed by the Velvet Divorce as Czech and Slovakia became two countries.

You can read more about the day here on the BBC. It's sobering reading. Just 30% of under 30s know why this day is a national holiday. And a sixth of the country long to return to communism.

But the fall of communism is what opened this country, and many in central and eastern Europe, for the Gospel. Churches can exist, you aren't imprisoned for your faith, and the Gospel can be proclaimed.

I am so thankful for freedom. For the freedom to live in safety in this country and share Christ. I'm praying that, just as this country has known freedom from communism, many in Czech would know true freedom in knowing Christ as their Saviour. 

What your home says about culture: the front door

Have you ever thought about how your home reflects culture? 

The above photo shows my porch/front doorway area. 

The front door of my flat is just outside the photo on the right. The door you see is for the toilet, and I'm taking the photo from the bathroom (well, sink, shower and washing machine room). Just outside the left of the photo is the doorway to the kitchen. 

Now you're situated, can you spot what's cultural about this photo?

Here are some closeups to help you out. (And, yes, I really need to put my birkenstock sandals and other summer shoes away!)

My (fixed!) front door (And I will soon have some actual winter coats hanging here).

Any guesses?

Well, the first thing you do when you arrive in a Czech home is take off your shoes because shoes are not worn inside homes. So all (in season) shoes live in the hallway and you only put them on when you are on your way out the door.

This rule applies whether it's your home or you're a guest in the home. 

And in my home I have my own slippers that I happily wear around my flat. But what about guests? That's why there's a little box filled with various pairs of slippers in different sizes. 

Sometimes when I am about to head out the door I realise I've forgotten something I need. If I have my shoes on I battle taking them off or not. If I'm running late normally they don't get taken off - but I then feel horribly guilty, and tip-toe across my kitchen floor to get whatever I need.

When I first started coming to the Czech Republic we were told about this rule and it seemed rather strange. But now? Now I feel rude when I'm in someone's home in the UK or US and have my shoes on. And taking my shoes off as I enter someone's home has become automatic.

It makes a lot of sense too - it keeps dirt off hard floors and out of carpets. And anything that helps reduce the amount of cleaning that has to be done sounds like a wonderful idea!

I love this little rule in Czech, and, if one day I find myself living somewhere else, I imagine it's a rule I'll carry with me to future homes.

How do you know it's October?

One of the weird things about moving to a new culture is you lose cues for dates and months and important things. The seasons are a little different in Czech than they were in Northern Ireland. The seasons are... deeper. They are more extreme here. Already it is down around zero some days (all day) and soon zero degrees will be a high in a day.

My birthday is in early November and in the UK my cue for my approaching birthday is poppies people are wearing for Remembrance Day. Here there is no such cue.

But there is a definite cue that it's October. I've taken all these photos, in various locations over the past month or so. Can you see what is in all of these?

One grocery shop.

The local home/diy store (in Poland)

Tesco!

The cart in front of me as I bought me food for the week.

The flier I read from Tesco today.

What you see above, whole aisles of them, whole pages of adverts for them, are graveyard candles. They are candles people put on the graves of their relatives. Some places say it is to help them to remember to pray for their dead relatives, and other places say it is to give the dead light while they journey through purgatory. 

In some places there are also a tradition of baking food for the dead, to appease any souls that might be roaming the earth on All Souls Night. 

What I think is crazy is the sheer number of candles available for sale! In the diy store there are pallets and pallets of them, stretching the length of the photo. Or the man in front of me who had twenty-one in his trolley. 

It'll be interesting to see what the town looks like on the night of November 1st.

Creme Eggs and Culture

I think one of the things I've found strange in moving to a new culture is how you lose cultural cues you are used to. Back in November I couldn't believe it was my birthday because I hadn't seen people wearing poppies everywhere for the few weeks' prior.

It was easier for Christmas because there were Christmas-y things around in the shops. Although, they were different cues than I'd had before and there were brand new traditions. Plus, I don't watch Czech TV so I didn't feel inundated with advertisements for Christmas gifts.

And now it's Easter Monday and in a way I can't believe Easter is over. We celebrated at church of course; it was beautiful to celebrate the resurrection together. But never seeing a Creme Egg in a store (thankfully my parents brought me some so I have had two) or going to a dawn service just makes it feel strange.

Of course, instead of the traditions I'm familiar with, there are new traditions to learn about. So, while there were no Creme Eggs Tesco did have whips to signify it was Easter. Why whips? Well, on Easter Monday here boys and men can go around and visit women and whip them. In return, the women give the men a painted egg or something to eat. You can read more about the tradition here. 

As I walked around my town this morning I did encounter men and boys with whips walking around. Thankfully I was not a target! 

I'm excited to continue to learn more about this new culture I live in and the new traditions. And hopefully as I learn about these cultural cues seasons will no longer shock me and take me by surprise!

Lessons from Wellie Boots

I bought these wellie boots one rainy afternoon in Cardiff and I remember trudging to lectures in snow in them and, last winter, wearing them as I flew down hills on plastic bin liners…

It seemed like a good idea to bring them here with me but I didn’t clean them before I shoved them in a box for shipping. And then I wore them a lot at the rainy Fall Conference.

So now, as they sit in my entryway, they have both Northern Irish mud and Czech mud on them.

And maybe I should clean them and restore them to their original purple but for now they seem like a good analogy of my life – bits of Northern Ireland (and Cardiff) and bits of Czech all mixed together. Memories and experiences from various places all making me who I am.