Christmas Carp
There is perhaps no more iconic Christmas tradition in Czech Republic than the Christmas carp.
When our children were young, it was such a lovely activity to stroll the Christmas markets and gaze into great water troughs filled with lively carp, freshly transported from the breeder ponds of Southern Bohemia. While some patrons take their carp home in one piece or in a bucket to keep it alive, the majority of the customers at the stall will opt to have their carp butchered on the spot. The burly fishmongers, equipped with just the tools for the job, make short work of the armored fish, separating organs from flesh and head from spine. All of it is wrapped neatly in a couple of baggies, the flesh for the fried carp, and the head and innards for the carp soup preceding the main course.
It wasn’t until after several years of observing the tradition, that we ourselves would partake of it. Our neighbor Mr. Romanek insisted that we join in the Christmas conviviality of carp consumption, and thus took it upon himself to mentor me in the butchering and preparation process. After obtaining, with no small effort, one of the last available carps on our side of town, I gathered the children and we rendezvoused as planned with Mr. Romanek in his expansive farmhouse garage. The first step was to remove the scales, which is no small task on an 8lb carp. We clamped the tail to a board and began the scraping process with files and chisels. He made sure that we each took one of the thick and shiny scales and tucked them into our pockets. The next step in the process would be removing the head. This proved exceedingly difficult. While the fishmongers, with their specialized chopping knives made short work of the carps, we resorted to mallet and butcher knife to no avail. After several minutes of taking turns trying to hammer through the spine, Mr. Romanek plugged in his power saw and ran it through while giving us all a nice little red spray. As we gutted the animal, its gaping head continued to croak at us while the tail flapped violently despite being headless, gutless, and scaleless. I believe it was in that moment that I concluded to myself, despite Mr. Romanek’s earnest efforts, I would not be undertaking this process the following Christmas.
Running concurrent with the butchering of the carp, is a custom of buying your carp live and keeping it in the bathtub for the week or so leading up to Christmas. The magic of the Christmas market is truly recreated there in your own bathroom. Many families with children may even name their temporary pet carp before it magically disappears just before Christmas Eve. Some families, unable to part with a beloved Christmas carp may choose instead to release it into a nearby pond. Whether this has to do with attachment or an abiding dread for the butchering process is debatable.
Two youngsters peer into the bathtub at the Christmas carp.
The South Bohemian town of Třeboň is the center of the carp farming industry for Europe. It originated in the 13th century as Catholic monks sought fish for their fasting rituals. This may be where the Christmas Eve fasting tradition originates. It is rather interesting to note that the several strongly Roman Catholic nations around Czech Republic have abandoned the fish on Christmas tradition, while the Czech Republic is the most atheistic of all of them yet manages to hold tightly to this originally religious tradition.
While it’s interesting to observe the apparent irony of nonreligious people staunchly clinging to religious traditions, I take it as an admonition to myself to be mindful of the tendencies to make certain habits in my own life either idolatrous or profane. I profane my Lord when I participate in religious activity mindlessly, taking lightly my worship of Him. I am idolatrous when I seek fulfillment in that which is not Christ, and especially when I ascribe those errant false fulfillments to Him. This is what I love about advent: The opportunity to tune my heart’s bearing afresh, and safeguard it by the power of the Holy Spirit from drifting tragically off course.
Fish farmers harvesting carp in the Třeboň carp ponds.
