Traditions of Slovakia

1. Traditions of Slovakia

2. Slovakia is proud of its rich folklore and customs. Each area, town or village
has its own character and its own folklore - costumes, music, songs,
architecture, customs, traditions, dances and dialects. Folklore customs of
individual regions are presented at folklore festivals in several places in
Slovakia.

4. Fascists have always been a period of fun, feasting, and their highlight is
carnival entertainment with masks representing various animals. The end of
the carnival is the burial of the bass, in which a real funeral is parodied.
After carnival, Christians observe a forty-day period of Easter fasting (simple
food, no entertainment, etc.).
Carnival

5. Easter
The most important Christian holiday of the year is Easter. Easter customs differ from region to
region. Because Easter in the past coincided with pagan celebrations of the end of winter and the
arrival of spring, today, folk traditions are a mixture of both Christian and pre-Christian customs.
The date is variable, Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the
vernal equinox. There are special customs for each day of the Easter week. E.g. on Maundy
Thursday it was recommended to get up early and wash with dew. Then you had to be healthy all
year round. On Good Friday, people are not allowed to work in the garden (nothing can be done
with clay, with the ground) and Christians are not allowed to eat meat and meat products during
fasting. Mass is not held until midnight on White Saturday, food is consecrated in churches on
Easter Sunday, and eating meat is allowed again after a long time. The girls paint Easter eggs (so-
called Easter eggs) so that they can give them to the bachelors on Monday. Monday is generally
associated with šibačka and polievačka - the boys walk around the houses, watering the girls
and shib willow. The girls receive painted Easter eggs and a colored ribbon for the basket.

7. St. Nicholas
Day
Children in particular cannot wait for the sixth of December (St. Nicholas
Day). On this day, St. Nicholas is to go around the house with the devil and
hand out sweets, or toys for obedient children. The sweets are inserted into
the boots, which the children prepare in the evening before going to bed.
Mikuláš will bring onions or charcoal to disobedient children.

8. feast of Lucy
December 13 is the feast of Lucy, who was, according to folk superstitions, a witch.
People believed that on this day they could see witches. Especially love prophecies are
associated with St. Lucia's Day. The girls wrote various male names on twelve pieces of
paper, leaving the thirteenth blank and putting them all together. Each day they burned
one of them. On the morning of Christmas Day they burned the penultimate, in the
evening they opened the last ticket. The name on it was to be the name of the man the
girl would marry. If the ticket was empty, the girl should not have married next year.

9. Many customs are associated with the Christmas holidays. Although it is a Christian holiday,
Christmas is celebrated not only by Christians, but by almost every family. The greatest joy of
Christmas is the children who look forward to it all year round. People have been cleaning, baking
honeycombs and decorating their homes long before the holidays. There is a Christmas tree
decorated with sweets, which is especially enjoyed by children. The first to be served is a Christmas
wafer - a wafer with honey and nuts, or garlic so that people are healthy all year round. The apple is
picked and cut across - when the nucleoli form a regular five-pointed star after cutting, it means
health.
Christmas