Christmas Carp in Prague Vltava

Those who travel to the Czech Republic to enjoy some of our Christmas spirit, like the concerts in the Old Town, can be surprised, what do all the fish do in the bowls at street corners. A simple answer – they wait for the Christmas Eve to be ceremonially eaten! This old-times tradition is specific. Even when somehow morbid (the carps are often being slaughtered in front of pedestrians) it belongs to the previously mentioned Czech Christmas spirit.

Not all Czechs buy a carp for Christmas, and not all Czechs who buy a carp finally eat it. The complete tradition is the family who buys the carp should kill and cook it by themselves, which is a thing a modern men is mostly not able to execute without heavy mental trauma, resulting in a very new tradition, especially in Prague: ceremonial setting of the carp free. Even when most of the freed carps won’t survive in the fast flowing waters of Vltava, some are going to live long and well as the research proves. Do you want to try it? Buy one, take your dearest, and free it. You will feel good, I promise.