Czech Republic Traditions

Traditions of the Czech Republic

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Generally christian holidays are pretty important due to a Roman Catholic history, mainly Christmas and Easter. New Year's Day is a particularly important day as that's when Czechoslovakia split and thus, is the day the Czech Republic was formed. In addition Independent Czechoslovak State Day (28th of October) is the day Czechoslovakia gained independence. An interesting thing as well is that Christmas is celebrated from the evening of December 24th, all the way through the 26th.

Other public holidays include[1]:

  • Good Friday
  • Easter Monday
  • May 8: Liberation Day, the day World War II ended
  • July 5: Saints Cyril and Methodius Day, an Easter Orthodox holiday celebrating missionaries who brough Christianity to many slavic peoples
  • July 6: Jan Hus Day, a day honring Jan Hus, an important figure in early reform against the Catholic Church
  • September 28: Statehood Day, a day honoring St. Wenceslas who was the patron saint of the Czech state
  • November 17: Struggle for Freedom and Democracy Day, a day commemorating a student demonstration against Nazi occupation in 1939 as well as the demonstration in 1989 that started the Velvet Revolution
All of the aforementioned holidays are public holidays, meaning stores and such are required to be closed on them.

Two of the only traditions I've been able to find are the common use of holiday cottages, and the commonly provided dance lessons in secondary school[1].

In the Bohemia region, horn playing has been a tradition for some time[2], and in [2], it is also mentioned that many Czech traditions often get labeled as German traditions. This may be a contributor to the difficulty I've had in finding resources on Czech traditions, however it has also been seen that Czech national pride is rather low [3], so it may also be the case that Czechs don't have much interest in traditions.

References:
[1] “Traditions,” Czechia. Accessed: July 18, 2025. [Online]. Available: https://www.czechia.eu/traditions

[2] T. N. Damicone, “The singing style of the Bohemians: part 1--a 300 year tradition of Czech horn playing,” The Horn Call, vol. 44, no. 2, p. 94, 2014.

[3] K. Vlachová, “‘This Country Is Not for Anyone’: Explanations of Low National Pride in the Czech Republic,” Nationalities Papers, vol. 47, no. 6, pp. 1000-1012, 2019, doi: 10.1017/nps.2018.22.