Celebrating 'Meniny' (Name days)
04 December 2024
I love 4 December. Not just because it is only two days before St. Nicolas leaves candies in my shoes but because, as a kid, I used to get even more sweets – it is my name day! Celebrating name days is quite big in Slovakia. People usually gather with family and friends and are gifted small presents – it is like a 'second birthday'.
However, many of my international friends are always surprised about this tradition. Name days apparently originate in the Christian calendar of saints when certain days were assigned to specific saints. Name days are part of cultures in a lot of places, such as Bulgaria, Spain, Greece, Lithuania, Sweden and many others, but no places except Czechia and Poland seem to be as enthusiastic about them as we are. Even our calendars traditionally assign a celebrated name to each day of the year.
 | Barbora Labudová I loved celebrating my name day in high school. But when I first moved abroad, I stopped paying attention to it because people around me were not familiar with it, and it felt strange to celebrate. But now, I have a newfound appreciation of this not-so-well-known tradition and feel a bit special about having 'my' extra day for celebration every year. |
〉.
Welcome to The European Correspondent
Europe lacks true European media: in Germany alone, there are more media devoted exclusively to football than news outlets specialising on Europe. The established players mainly focus on Brussels and European institutions. The European Correspondent aims to change that. We cover the whole of Europe and write for a community of citizens who want to look beyond their own national borders. Without European journalism, there is no European civil society.
〉Read our manifesto
〉The stories we would like to write for you
Become a donor!
The European Correspondent is fully funded by its readers. We can only produce the newsletter with your support - and work towards the bigger project: building true European media. Donate now!
With your help, we can create true European journalism. Thank you!
We are non-profit. Every donated € goes directly into The European Correspondent.