New Years Day/Re-Creation of an Independent Czech State

Fireworks light up the sky above Times Square on New Years Eve.

On January first, Americans visit friends, relatives and neighbors. There is plenty to eat and drink when you just drop in to wish your loved ones and friends the best for the year ahead. Many families and friends watch television together enjoying the Tournament of Roses parade preceding the Rose Bowl football game in Pasadena California. In the warmer regions all around the country there are other games whose names are characteristic of the state. People watch the Orange Bowl game in Florida, the Cotton Bowl in Texas, and the Sugar Bowl in Louisiana. In most cultures, people promise to better themselves in the following year. Americans have inherited the tradition and even write down their New Year's resolutions. Whatever the resolution, most of them are broken or forgotten by February!

New Year’s Day is celebrated in much the same way in the Czech Republic as in the rest of the world. People gather with friends and family on December 31 (Silvestr) and drink champagne, enjoy fireworks, and kiss at the stroke of midnight to celebrate the arrival of the year.

January 1 has greater significance to the Czech people than just marking the start of a new year; it also is a day that commemorates the creation of the present day Czech state. On January 1, 1993, the Czech Republic was created after the breakup of Czechoslovakia. This day is thus the first of four official state holidays commemorating Czech statehood (the others being: September 28, October 28, and November 17).