Slovak Christmas - traditional and new

A chain around the table legs and waiting for a golden pig. Some old Christmas traditions survive to this day and others have disappeared.

(Source: TASR)

The same old Christmas songs on the radio, the markets in the city, buying gifts for one’s beloved, cooking and baking and many lights. This is how the majority of people prepare for the holidays these days.

SkryťTurn off ads
Article continues after video advertisement
SkryťTurn off ads
Article continues after video advertisement

In Slovakia, 95 percent of inhabitants say they celebrate Christmas, based on research by the GfK company and published in 2016. Some of the ancient traditions that have been part of Christmas in Slovakia for generations survive to this day. Others have been transformed or adjusted to the 21st century lifestyle or replaced by new ones, often imported from other cultures.

SkryťTurn off ads

Family first

“Slovakia still sees Christmas as a time for the family to be together,” explains an ethnologist from Comenius University, Zita Škovierová.

The importance of family might be even more prominent than in the past, when people would live together in one house or one village. Nowadays, people travel long distances just to enjoy a family atmosphere, she explained.

The rest of this article is premium content at Spectator.sk
Subscribe now for full access

I already have subscription - Sign in

Subscription provides you with:
  • Immediate access to all locked articles (premium content) on Spectator.sk
  • Special weekly news summary + an audio recording with a weekly news summary to listen to at your convenience (received on a weekly basis directly to your e-mail)
  • PDF version of the latest issue of our newspaper, The Slovak Spectator, emailed directly to you
  • Access to all premium content on Sme.sk and Korzar.sk

Top stories

Two bear incidents over weekend, an effort to revive Bratislava calvary, and storks in Trnava.


Píšem or pišám?

"Do ľava," (to the left) I yelled, "Nie, do prava" (no, to the right), I gasped. "Dolšie," I screamed. "Nie, nie, horšie..." My Slovak girlfriend collapsed in laughter. Was it something I said?


Matthew J. Reynolds
Czech biochemist Jan Konvalinka.

Jan Konvalinka was expecting a pandemic before Covid-19 came along.


SkryťClose ad