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On Saturday, December 24, many Czechs will be putting up and decorating Christmas trees – and enjoying the common seasonal dinner of carp and potato salad. But while Czech seasonal traditions are much loved, some are relatively new – and have fascinating regional variations.

Over a million Christmas trees are sold in Czechia each year, many of them having been imported from as far as Denmark and Norway. A new initiative, called Zachraň stromek or Save a Tree, has come up with a more sustainable way of celebrating Christmas. It offers locally grown trees that would never make it to the market due to their imperfections. I discussed the project with one of its authors, Jana Brišová, and  first asked her how she got the idea to sell crooked Christmas trees:

Ester Ledecká has been crowned Czech Sportsperson of the Year for the second time. The 27-year-old took her third Olympic gold medal in Beijing – but perhaps surprisingly says that wasn’t the high point of her 2022.

The annual Christmas ice swimming competition in the Vltava River, known as the Alfred Nikodém Memorial, is taking place for the 76th time this Monday. Every year several hundred people take part in the event, which honours the founder of the sport in Czechia.

Despite the economic crisis, Czechs have donated a record amount to charity this year. According to preliminary statistics of the Czech Donors Forum, the final sum collected in 2022 is expected to reach some CZK 15 billion. This year, the money was mostly raised to help war-stricken Ukraine.

Czech artist Yemi Akinyemi Dele (professionally known as Yemi A.D.) is one of eight people selected to join Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa on a trip around the Moon on board Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket next year. The dancer and choreographer with Nigerian roots, who has worked with Kanye West, was handpicked from more than a million candidates. I caught up with him shortly after the news was announced to discuss what it feels like to be Czechia’s first space tourist, and started by asking him how he got involved in the project:

The number of electric vehicles in Czechia is growing and according to official estimates their number could reach 100,000 by 2030. Most of them will be in the capital city. Prague has therefore decided to increase the number of charging stations available. Drivers will find them, among other places, in the smart lampposts lining the streets of Prague’s Vinohrady district.

Czechia’s six-month presidency of the European Union is slowly coming to a close. Petr Fiala’s cabinet took over the role at a challenging moment, with Russia still waging war against Ukraine and energy prices rocketing. So what have been the main achievements of the Czech presidency? That’s a question I put to Filip Nerad, head of the international news department at Czech Radio.

With only weeks to go until the elections, a new poll suggests the three frontrunners in elections for the Czech presidency are neck and neck. For ages it seemed it would be a battle between Andrej Babiš and Petr Pavel, but recently Danuše Nerudová has emerged as a serious contender. How has she achieved this surge? I spoke to political scientist Petr Just.

Independent Prague cinema Kino Pilotů received a prize for Best Programming at the Europa Cinemas Awards earlier this month – the first time a Czech movie theatre has won. But what makes the small “kino” so special?