Unveil the future with an almost forgotten Czech Christmas custom: The Floating of Walnut Shells!

The Christmas season has a completely different meaning today than it did for our relatives at the beginning of the last century or the century before last. Holiday traditions are fading away and being replaced with superficial things, but here are a few of the older ones that we think should be brought back.

Many customs and traditions are still associated with Christmas Day in the Czech Republic.

Many of them are related to divination of the future.

Casting lead, slicing an apple, throwing a shoe, or launching boats from nut shells with candles.

What is the best way to make them?

What does it mean when your boat stays at the shore or your candle is about to go out?

Make boat launching at Christmas your family tradition as well.

Families make small boats from walnut shells and place small burning candles into them. The boats then float on bowls of water. If the shell survives the floating, that family member is guaranteed a long and healthy life. If not, bad luck will befall him or her.

Why are boats launched at Christmas?

Our ancestors have always attributed magical properties to Christmas Day, believing that various supernatural forces and natural elements work much more on this day than at other times.

It is, therefore, not surprising that on Christmas Eve, people performed various customs, primarily to predict what awaited them in the near future.

One popular way to predict the future was launching boats from walnut shells. The nuts, the candle, and the water had a symbolic meaning.

Due to its shape and hardness, the walnut symbolizes strength, success, and wealth. A burning candle meant a sacrifice because, on the one hand, it gives light to others, but at the same time, it burns itself, and according to folk culture, water has a purifying power.

How do you launch walnut boats?

The history of the Christmas boat launch has a long tradition, which is why there are many interpretations of the individual boat movements.

Regional differences often play a role in the interpretation. It is, therefore, not surprising that even today, different families interpret the behavior of boats on the water differently.

While in some families, it is only necessary that everyone watches their boat sail after putting it on the surface, in other families, you have to ask yourself a specific question that you want to know the answer to when you set the boat on the water.

By the way, in earlier times, the tradition of launching boats on Christmas Day, mainly concerned single girls who wanted to find out with their help whether they would be married the following year or not.

The girl launched two boats into the water, one representing her lover and the other herself. If the shoes joined each other, the girl could look forward to the wedding; if, on the other hand, they moved away from each other, the couple would be separated.

What does this Christmas tradition mean?

After you light the candle and launch the boat, observing how your boat will behave with the lit candle is essential. What is the meaning of releasing boats for Christmas? What does your boat of luck foretell if:

• stays at the shore – next year, the person in question will remain home; no significant changes await him.

• sails far – a person goes on a journey, the fulfillment of plans

• reaches the other shore by herself – achieving success or fulfilling a goal without the help of others

• floats to the center of the container – the owner of the boat goes out into the world for a more extended period

• forms a circle with other ships – good interpersonal relations, friendship

• touches another boat – love and generally good interpersonal relationships await the person in question; the longer the boats sail together, the stronger the relationship will be

• the boat is in the middle of other boats – the person in question will need help and protection

• the only one that does not form a circle with the others – the person in question will leave the family in the next year

• lasts the longest, the candle burns for a long time – a long and happy life

• sinks very quickly – misfortune and annoyance await the person in question

• it sinks after a while – a good start that wears off

• spinning in a circle – indecisiveness, stepping on the spot

• joins another boat, and its candle goes out – this person’s behavior will cause trouble for the other

• sinks the other boat – the person wants to achieve his goal at any cost. If it is two boats of partners, sinking means separation.

• first, he sticks to the shore for a while, but then he swims to the opposite shore – after the initial confusion, the person in question manages to realize his goals

• takes in water but manages to reach the other shore – the person in question will realize his dream despite the difficulties

• he joins several different boats during the voyage – searching for himself, clarifying his goals and plans

• the candle goes out when the question is spoken – the person in question is dishonest with himself and others

• the candle goes out and the boat remains at the shore – the question one asked is not important

How to make walnut shell boats?

Now we know what the launching of boats at Christmas portends, but it is no less important to understand how to make boats. Tradition says that to predict the future, each family member must “launch” their Christmas boat on the water and drive it themselves.

What you will need

• whole walnuts or their shells
• narrow cake candles
• matches or lighter
• tea light
• knife
• nutcracker
• a bowl of water, possibly a sink

Method

1. Use a nutcracker to crack the nuts in half and remove the core.
2. Remove any residue from the nut’s shell.
3. Shorten the cake candles to a length of approximately 1 – 1.2 inches. The higher the candle, the worse the boat’s stability on the water.
4. Light a tea candle and use its flame to heat the bottom of the shortened cake candle.
5. Press the bottom of the heated candle firmly against the bottom of the walnut shell in its center as far as possible.
6. Allow the wax to harden thoroughly.
7. Fill a bowl, sink, or basin with water.
8. Carefully light the candles in the boats.
9. Drop your boats from the nut shells into the middle of the surface.
10. Watch carefully how the boats with lighted candles float by.

The following video lets you watch the entire step-by-step procedure, including releasing the boats.

Walnut shell boats

There are other ways to make a boat. For example, insert only a wick into the shell and then cover it with wax from a heated candle almost to the edge. Christmas boats made in this way are usually more stable.

Last but not least, buying ready-made boats or unique floating candles that need to be lit and placed on the surface is possible.