“All the best for your name day!” That’s what the title means.
Here in the Czech Republic, everyday is somebody’s name day. So technically, Czechs have 2 celebrations of their existence – the day they were born and their name day. Although name days commonly bear less importance than birthdays, quite a few people still celebrate it. Based on my research, it is either celebrated by giving flowers and chocolates or if the person is older, by going out with friends and co-workers for beer.
It is interesting to note that in the past, parents were compelled to choose the names of their children based on the name days in the calendar. Any highly unusual name needs the approval of a “special office” before a child can be baptized or registered using that name.
I don’t have a name day. If I were Czech, my parents would’ve appealed to that “special office’ to get my name approved. It is not on the Czech name day calendar.
If fate was written in the stars, Jakub’s name was written on the sand. As I was noting down schedules on my Czech calendar this morning, I just realized that today is Jakub’s name day. I wonder what I’ll do to celebrate it. I cannot buy him flowers or chocolates nor can I go out for beer with him.
What would you do if I were you?
Czech the Flip 