How to knit a Czech Christmas braided bread – Vanocka – so that it doesn’t fall apart? Get inspired by our tricks and tutorials.

18. 3. 2024

There are some Christmas cookies that we can not imagine Christmas without. Today, we want to show you a traditional Czech Christmas braided braid called Vanocka.

This sweet Christmas braided bread with raisins soaked in rum, generously sprinkled with chopped almonds brings Christmas – when homemade Vanocka comes out of the oven, Christmas is on the doorstep. It is made from yeasted dough, braided into a long loaf shape.

Vanocka bread is supposed to look like Baby Jesus wrapped in a swaddling blanket, which is why it symbolizes new life and fertility.

Vanocka has to be braided in a certain way; we will also show you how to weave it well so it doesn’t fall apart.
Discover the secret to making Christmas a success this year.

However, our ancestors also associated other customs and superstitions with Vanocka and its knitting; for example, cross-knitting the Vanocka was believed to protect family members from evil forces.

While today we usually bake one Christmas tree the day before Christmas Day, in the past, several were often baked, more precisely, one for each member of the household.

The giant Vanocka, consumed as the last course of the Christmas dinner, then belonged to the householder, who cut it himself. By the way, pets also received a piece of Vanocka.

A coin was also often baked into the Vanocka. The person who subsequently discovered it in a piece of Vanocka could enjoy happiness, wealth, and health for the following year.

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