Angels, devils and poems

This is indeed a wonderful, festive time of year. In the United States, people are gathering to buy presents, sing carols, and, in the spirit of goodwill and even better taste, lay off a dozen employees three weeks before Christmas.

Here in the Czech Republic, traditional Christmas markets have popped up at some of the city's main sites -- Old Town Square, Wenceslas Square, Namesti Miru and Vysehrad to name four.

The market at Old Town Square.

The markets obviously are a tourist draw, but they lure a fair share of locals as well, particularly to the ones that aren't at Old Town or Wenceslas squares. But Old Town was the place to be on Monday night, which was the eve of St. Mikuláš (Nicholas) Day. There, I was joined by the Special Assistant to the Blogger, who helped me understand the Czech tradition of the evening. People dressed as St. Nicholas (apparently the precursor to Santa Claus), an angel and a devil would approach children and ask them to either sing a song or recite a poem. Successful kids received candy. Unsuccessful kids would be stuffed into a bag carried by the devil. The latter did not happen, at least while we were looking.

The markets have been open since the end of November. They sell a lot of stuff that people can buy in souvenir shops year-round, but every now and then there's a stall that sells Christmas ornaments, or candles,  or candle holders, or other things that, were I to go into detail over, would ruin the surprise for my mom, sister and nieces.

Christmas market at Namesti Miru.

I would be remiss if I did not also mention the Thanksgiving holiday. You probably know this already, but the Czechs, having neither stolen land from nor bludgeoned the natives, don't celebrate the holiday, so my Thursday meal was pork chops and leftover roasted potatoes. (At least I watched some of the NFL games, courtesy ESPN America.) The following Saturday more than made up for it. Thanks to our hosts Jaime and her son Jake in one apartment, and Mason and Zach in the one across the hall, about 20 of our teachers enjoyed a feast of turkey, potatoes, chili, Shepherd's Pie, salads, cranberry sauce, vegetables, pumpkin pie, brownies, pecan (pronounced PEE-can, pe-KAHN, or apparently PEEK-in) pie, and other stuff I ate but have long since forgotten about, it was just like spending the holiday at home, especially since the Lions lost.

The holiday season continues with a trip to one of Europe's largest markets in Dresden this Saturday. (I sure have fond memories of Dresden.) Stay tuned.