The season begins in conjunction with the beginning of Advent in the church calendar and starts with a gentle reminder of the reason behind the season, preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus. In our case, we had a service of lessons and carols at the Bratislava International Church and got to sing a variety of songs from many of the different cultures in our community, including a Chinese piece and one from the Caribbean.
Shortly after this, we celebrated St. Nikolas Day on December 6. This is a celebration of Bishop Nikolas of Myra in modern Turkey who showed generosity to poor young girls in his parish by anonymously providing them with bags of gold to serve as their dowries. He achieved this by throwing the bags down the chimney where they landed in the girls stockings that were drying next to the fireplace. This is celebrated here by giving gifts on (or about) December 6. St. Nikolas is accompanied on his rounds by "helpers" in the forms of angels and devils. Good girls and boys get a treat from an angel while bad ones get a piece of coal or a potato from the devil. Somehow, Phil was identified as having the right "body type" to play St. Nikolas at the Lyceum on Monday following December 6, so he went around to classes with his helpers dispersing treats or punishment (in the form of black marks for bad students) and leading the singing of Jingle Bells. 
This holiday also explains the lighted red horns and blue horns we saw on 
kids during the 
early days of the Bratislava Christmas Market. We had thought that these kids were just confused about Halloween, but see now how it relates to the season. Christmas Markets are a great tradition in Europe. They consist of covered wooden booths that are set up on the town squares, where a variety of holiday crafts, gifts, and foods are sold. The universal constant seems to be hot punch and mulled wine, sold by the cup and consumed on the spot. Each city has its own signature foods and gifts, but the general feeling is one of conviviality and good cheer. We visited the markets in Bratislava (several times), Prague, and Vienna.
Bratislava's Christmas Market is the smallest. It winds around two squares and spills out onto a third and the theme here seems to be an opportunity for family and friends to meet and share holiday cheer as a group. In addition to the ubiquitous punch and hot wine, Bratislava also offers sandwiches of grilled meat (chicken or pork) on a soft roll with grilled peppers, onions and mustard. Another favorite is lokše, a pancake filled with fruit, nuts, or meats. The stands here offer hand-made crafts as well as slightly more commercial fare. There is a stage where local musical groups perform - sometimes even in the same key. There are also roving street musicians, including an accordionist who leads singing of holiday 
songs and the one-man band who you may remember from the coronation film earlier in the Fall. The general atmosphere is that of a party rather than a major commercial venture. Every time we’ve been to the Bratislava Market, we’ve seen large groups of folks standing around eating, drinking, and just enjoying the atmosphere.
We took a trip to Prague two weekends ago since Phil was giving a presentation to the math department at the Institute of Chemical
Technology at the Prague Technical University. In addition to visiting the Christmas Market, we also saw the Museum of Communism and attended a choral concert in a church near the main square. The Museum of Communism was a stark reminder of the way that those governments destroyed people’s humanity. The Christmas concert consisted of several choral works with two larger pieces accompanied by organ and orchestra. The most interesting piece was the “Czech Christmas Mass” of Jakub Ryba that locates the Christmas story in rural Bohemia and sets it to folk music of the late 18th century. Prague’s Christmas Market was commercial with a nice mix of hand-made and machine produced items. There was a lot to look at and purchase and the food was interesting – ham roasted on a spit over a wood fire and pastries (called Tredlnik) that are baked over an open fire after wrapping them around a large wooden dowel. They retain a spiral shape and are quite tasty when coated with sugar and cinnamon.
Last weekend involved several seasonal activities. Last Friday afternoon, the American teachers at the Lyceum joined the former director of the school in making kapusniža for a Christmas dinner for all the Lyceum staff. The recipe is similar to our family recipe for this delicacy but, as we found out on a trip to Slovakia several years ago, there are many variants on sauerkraut soup. The “cooking” involved chopping onions, peeling and shredding potatoes, cubing pork, and peeling and pressing garlic - all in institutional proportions. This activity was lubricated with copious amounts of homemade distillate. That evening we attended the Christmas Concert by the Slovak Philharmonic, Chorus, and soloists. The program began with Saint-Saens “Christmas Oratorio” followed by a broad selection of Christmas carols. Some of the latter were in English and many were sung by the Bratislava Boys Choir with several amazing young singers. Some of the orchestral selections reminded us of the “Cincinnati Pops” and the concert definitely put us in the Christmas mood.
On Saturday we traveled to Vienna for some museum visits and to see the Christmas Markets there. We first visited the Belvedere Palace with its very nice collection of works by Austrian artists then we went into the central city to visit the Hofburg Palace, home of the Hapsburg and Holy Roman Emperors since the 15th century. By late afternoon, a good bit of snow had fallen, so our walks through Vienna had a strong Christmas feel. Vienna’s markets are more commercial than even Prague’s, but by walking through some of the side streets we encountered some interesting stalls and performers. In one market, there were antique shops with overpriced but interesting objects. On another square we encountered a group of musicians playing alpenhorns and brass instruments. 
We are winding down now, with the last day of school yesterday followed by the Kapuzniža Party last evening. This morning, we all gathered for a Christmas service and the students were dismissed. We returned to school for a few hours to catch up on final details before the holiday. We are leaving early tomorrow (Wednesday) morning for home and are looking forward to spending the next couple of weeks with family and friends. Our sincere wishes for a Blessed Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year go to you all.
