ORIGIN OF CZECH CHRISTMAS CAROLS.

In Czech, Christmas carol is "koleda". Although this word is now mainly used to refer to a Christmas-themed song, originally the magical meaning of the words and the good wishes of a group of people singing or reciting in the houses was more important. The etymology itself serves as a guide to better understand this phenomenon. First of all, the etymology comes from the Latin kalendae, which in the Roman calendar was the first day of each month, and in addition, January 1st was celebrated as the janual festivities, which is an important detail.

Something that is also remarkable is that this word was taken mainly by the Slavic peoples, but the Germans, French and English did not take this word with the same meaning. This is due to the agrarian and rustic culture of the Slavs. If we focus on the practical meaning of the word, it has three main meanings: "tour", because the participants go through the houses singing; "gift", because after singing in front of a house they receive some candy, some food; and the third one is "wish", because during this tour through the houses people were given good wishes, so that they would be successful in the new year.

The custom of giving gifts to others has been preserved, it has its roots in the tradition of singing Christmas carols. Since its origin, this custom emphasized the generosity of people in general. Christmas carols used to be sung at the time of the winter solstice, usually in times of greatest misery. The rich then had the opportunity to show their generosity to the poor. The carolers would go around the houses asking for donations while singing and in return they used to give the people nativity scenes as a gift.