BY AMY HADACHEK
C
omfort food baked in special ethnic traditions will bring food and family together this holiday season, and include newer family members who have similar and also diverse ethnic traditions. Heartwarming memories keep joy lit for people with heritages deeply steeped in Czech, German, Swedish and Mexican cultures.
CZECH Czech history focuses on Christmas Eve, when the Czech traditional Christmas dinner is eaten. Fish soup (carp and fried carp) with potato salad is the traditional meal, particularly in “the old country.” Pork and sauerkraut are a traditional Czech meal; sometimes with jaternice (pronounced Ith-er-Netsy; a Czech/Slovak sausage made from pork meat/offal and a filler of rice or barley, with garlic.) Kolaches (pronounced koh-lahtch; a round pastry with fruit in the middle) are always a treat. Houska is a tasty braided Czech bread; baked with fruit, or nuts and a spice, and frosted. “Regarding Christmas traditions, my husband and I visited the Czech Republic several years ago, in the town of Brno and we saw people fishing in horse tanks in the middle of street corners, with carps. Kids take the fish home to play with them in their bathtubs. Then, the fish are killed and eaten Christmas Eve,” said Doris Ourecky, president of the Wilbur, Nebraska Czech Museum. Wilbur, a quaint town with oldworld charm, was designated the Czech Capital of Nebraska in a Governor’s proclamation in 1963, and declared “The official ‘Czech Capital of the U.S.” by President Ronald Reagan in July 1987. Wilbur hosts a Christmas festival, and an annual Czech Days festival in early August with the National Miss Czech/Slovak U.S. Pageant, although both were cancelled this year due to COVID.
MIDDLE: The 2015-2016 Wilber Czech Royalty BOTTOM: Kroj display at the Wilber Czech Museum PHOTOS OF THE CZECH SLAVNOSTI NEWSPAPERy 12 COURTESY The Fence Post | Countr
Christmas
