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Christmas masses in Prague’s Catholic churches on Friday will be celebrated in ten other languages besides Czech. These include English, German, French, Italian as well as Latin and Korean. On Christmas Eve, English-language masses will be held at St Thomas Church in Malá Strana, while on Christmas day, English-speaking visitors can attend a mass at the Church of Our Lady of Victory, also in Malá Strana.

The run-up to Christmas used to be a hectic time in most Czech households with cleaning, baking and decorating starting in late November. Now things are changing – many Czechs have come to appreciate the luxury of taking it easy and letting professionals bake their cookies, deliver their Christmas tree and decorate their house.

Czech legislators from across the political spectrum will be joining with colleagues from the British Houses of Parliament to sing the Czech Christmas Mass by Jakub Jan Ryba in Saint Vitus Cathedral Saturday evening. The event is now in its third year and was first conceived by a 90-member choir of English parliamentarians and parliament employees who gathered to sing the Czech mass in 2007.

Cards featuring the work of Josef Lada are an integral part of Czech Christmas. Lada is best known internationally for illustrations of the Good Soldier Švejk, but his simply drawn carol singers, snow covered villages and nativity scenes are just as popular in his native country. His grandson, also named Josef Lada, says the artist's images capture something everyone can relate to.

The Lonely Planet guidebook has ranked Prague’s Christmas market among the top five in Europe, alongside those in Cologne, Vienna, Bruges and Strasbourg. The guide called the Prague market, held between late November and early January on Old Town Square, a “gothic winter fairy tale”. The organizers said the listing was like a Michelin star.

This year’s Christmas market in Prague is in the Art Nouveau style with Christmas decorations inspired by the work of the painter Alphonse Mucha. However, the 50-year-old, 20-metre-tall Christmas tree standing in the centre of the market, does not come from the Krkonoše Mountains as reported by Lonely Planet, but from a village in central Bohemia.

On Sunday, which was the first Sunday of Advent, the lights were switched on on Christmas trees on main squares around the Czech Republic. But there is more to the brightly decorated evergreens than creating a seasonal spirit: in many cities and towns charity collections are held at the trees, with visitors donating cash and gifts to Czech children’s homes. It is a tradition that dates back more than eight decades.

Two people collapsed and had to be given emergency treatment after crowds thronged Prague’s Old Town square for the traditional switch on of Christmas lights on Saturday evening. Around 30,000 people crowded into the historic square and side streets leading to a crush and panic at some points. Some of the worst scenes were around the 52 metre high Christmas tree erected in the square and under the historic clock tower. Christmas markets have started in the square, nearby Wenceslas Square and at other points around the city.

This year’s Christmas tree for Prague has been felled and preparations are underway for its transport to the Czech capital. The 20-metre tall spruce tree will grace Prague’s Old Town Square and will be officially lit on the first advent weekend – on November 27th. Old Town Square traditionally hosts Prague’s biggest Christmas market.

In today’s special Christmas show on Radio Prague we’ll introduce you to what is undoubtedly the most famous piece of Czech Christmas music, Jakub Jan Ryba's "Česká mše vánoční" or "Czech Christmas Mass".

Exactly 20 years ago, Czechs and Slovaks were celebrating their first Christmas for four decades without a hint of official disapproval. While the communists tolerated the trappings of Christmas – with Christmas trees and traditional Czech Christmas carp in abundance – their tolerance of Christian traditions was never more than skin deep. In the 1950s, priests and members of religious orders were often locked up for their beliefs, and the brief reforms of the 1960s were followed by another wave of persecution, following the Soviet-led invasion