Czech Traditions in October

October is the month of transition into autumn and preparation for winter. Let’s have a look at some of the (not only) folkloric traditions.

While we might still enjoy summer in September some years, October lets us know that autumn is inevitable, even though the weather may still be nice and the Indian summer can last even until the end of this month. Last vegetables like beetroot and carrots are harvested and farmers plant the so-called ozim, which are winter grains. Most traditions of this season are connected to the harvest and farming but people never forget to have some fun as well.

Czech October Traditions

Sv. Havel/St. Gall and autumn ploughing

The Czech proverb says that St. Gall impacts the cabbage (“Svatý Havel do zelí zajel.” – October 16 when the weather becomes more windy and rainy and spoils the vegetables). Which is why the Czech forefathers made sure to harvest everything they planted in spring and summer before this day and have the winter grain in the ground. And many farmers still keep this tradition, not because if some superstition but because the simple fact that the weather really does become more unpleasant. There are more weather sayings, all of them teach us to harvest our vegetables or not to let the cattle graze freely.

This day was a dividing line between the outdoor and indoor work. Their reward would be svatohavelské posvícení which was a feast in honor of St. Gall stretching over several days.

Farmers who wanted to teach their cattle and horses to pull the plough fast, led the cattle on his wife’s apron, making one cross in the air with the whip and three crosses in front of the team before starting the work. Once the team was hitched, nobody was allowed to go under the shafts of the plough or anything that was hitched would flip on the side. The first time the plough would go in the earth the farmer would take a handful of earth and smear it on the horns of the oxen to make them pull well and to a good job.

End of service

Autumn was the end of the service season for the farm workers, horse groomers and others. The group of workers of each household would elect their king and queen and then go around the village asking gifts of food which they would feast on that same evening in the local pub.

Poetry

Preparing the field for the winter was hard work and no wonder that most of the rhymes and songs were all about people wishing their work to go well or at least to make their time working pass faster and with joy. Here is one such poem from a collection by J. V. Sládek:

Cabbage as food and remedy

God knew we were good and so he gave us cabbage.

– Magdalena Dobromila Rettigová, famous Czech cook

Have you ever had fermented cabbage? It’s a common side dish to roasted goose or duck but it’s the most healthy in uncooked state. In fact, since our Czech forefathers ate (almost) exclusively locally and there was no fresh fruit and vegetables in winter, fermented cabbage was an important source of vitamin C. And when it comes to poorer mountain regions, cabbage was a part of everyday diet.

September and October was the time the cabbage was shredded and prepared for fermentation. The traditional way to do this was to place the shredded cabbage into large basins or tubs and women would soften it by walking over it. Even before it was fully fermented, the juices were used for making soup and it was used cold to ease fever and as a laxative, and boiled cabbage juice was a cough remedy. Cold fermented cabbage compresses were used to cure headache

“Zemáky a zelé, živobytí celé.”

– Potatoes and cabbage – the whole livelihood, Wallachian proverb

Our forefathers believed that the cabbage would be hard if planted before the Day of Annunciation (March 25). And to protect it against caterpillars, farmers soaked the seeds in water with honey and ashes collected on Ash Wednesday.

Carving pumpkins

Carving pumpkins had a tradition here long before people knew about Halloween traditions abroad. Children would carve “Turks” – simple faces. Sometimes, they would put gelatin in the holes for eyes, nose and mouth and lit a candle inside. Groups of children would walk with these “heads” around the village and place them on fences, bridges…

The children would also keep the pumpkin seeds, wash them and make ornaments from them.

Jarmarky and posvícení (hody)

Among the things everyone looked forward to in autumn. After all the hard work of the farming season, there was fun awaiting.

Jarmarky were and still are markets. Traditional jarmark is full of stalls selling products like local food, handmade kitchenware, pottery products…and especially gingerbread hearts and other shapes.

Posvícení were originally celebrations connected to the date of consecrating the local church, although it became more and more all about the feasting and fun. In Moravia, posvícení is called hody and you can read more in the article Time for Hody!

In 1786, the emperor Joseph II. wasn’t too happy about hody being celebrated on different dates in different regions and introduced one single date on which it should be celebrated – third Sunday in October after the Day of St. Gall. This gave this posvícení its name – svatohavelské posvícení (posvícení of St. Gall). However, it didn’t stop the people from celebrating their regular posvícení, it just gave them one more date to celebrate.

Food in October

Fresh vegetables get scarce, it’s time for beetroot and carrot harvest and the Carrot salad is one delicious way to eat fresh carrots. It’s also the season of apples, among other fruit, and Apple Strudel is the perfect dessert and you can still enjoy some Fruit Dumplings. During colder afternoons, Poppy Seed Roll or Poppy Seed Bábovka are a true soul food. And because there are still hody going on, Koláče are a very common recipe as well.