New Year’s Day is a secular celebration in the Slovak and Czech lands.It is the time for parties, more food, and some drinks, including wine for the midnight toast.

A midnight kiss, the first of the year, is reserved for the loved person. Then every person of the opposite sex may be kissed, and the husbands and wives are not supposed to be jealous.

Activities which are done on New Year’s Day are supposedly the activities people will have to do every day of the rest of the year.

During olden times, in the villages the garda or hospodar(the farmer) would pull out his plough and make a symbolic round of his field.

Nowadays, people prefer to take the day leisurely, curing their headaches and hoping that there will not be too much work to do during the rest of the New Year.