Christmas magic & comebacks to Košice

A three-week-long period before the greatest holiday of the year. All-year-long awaiting for a poppy seed potato pancake (loksha) with mulled wine. Children running around the stalls. Ukrainian singers performing Slovak folk. Scattered cheese and smeary wooden tables. Flashing lights and forms of media art everywhere. Voluntary financial aids, wood carpentry from Spiš region, streetfood burgers, lavender gift inspirations, lights, lights, lights, hundreds of woollen caps and scarfs, tingling mead teeth, laughter, music, running around, stars, chestnuts, reindeer, snowflakes, potato spirals, date, after-school punch, fox caps lowered just above eyelash line, insufficient amount of garlic in your langosh, hand-painted decorations, spattering oil and while serving a drink, a bartender kisses his girl behind the counter.

Photogenic without posing. That’s how Christmas market looks like. Snowy or snowless, doesn’ really matter. Visited by locals and tourists, it has become a centre for those coming back home. Moreover, it’s them who create such specific atmosphere precisely through their once-a-year meetings. Warmth, so typical for Christmas time, emanates from old not-forgotten acquaintances and friendship turns into more vibrant colours. Seize the charm of Christmas in the city where returns form one of the most important features of the period. Come (back) too. No wonder, it’s a kind of magic.