Slovakia Today, English Language Current Affairs Programme from Slovak Radio

On the special Christmas Day edition of Slovakia Today, we will hear from people, who experience the Slovak version of the Christmas holidays in the most unusual places. At least it might seem like that for some. We will speak to a catholic missionary, who has spent the past thirty Christmas holidays in cold and unwelcoming Siberia, but we will also spend time with a jolly and utmost welcoming Slovak community in Melbourne, Australia, where the Christmas mood has a literal heartwarming, or one would say heart-sweating fashion. Spending holidays away from your roots or loved ones is also the case of refugees that came to Slovakia and the civic association Mareena helps them to get back on their feet.

Special Christmas Eve Show

Professor of ethnology at Commenius University in Bratislava Marta Botikova talks about festive baking as well as the tradition of Christmas tree and decorations in Slovakia. Musikmaker Stroon discusses the idea of getting experimental music to temples. Peter Dikos and Daniel Pravda are two missionaries to be presented by RTVS editor Stefan Chrappa.

On this Wednesday edition of Slovakia Today we will already focus on the upcoming Christmas holidays, by talking about experiencing the holidays in a far away land with a Slovak missionary in Japan and the Solomon Islands. Then we will talk about celebrations at home, where the radio can your best neighbour and wish you all the best with a song. Besides that, we will also delve into holiday cuisine, but into one that has special rules of preparation: Kosher - both known and unknown.

Although there’s nothing new about religious persecution, it has seen a drastic increase in many parts of the world in recent times, with religious believers of various creeds being driven from their homes and suffering from hunger and poverty solely because of their faith. It’s for just this purpose that the international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) exists. Jonathan speaks with Lucia Froncová, head of communications at ACN’s Slovak office, about the vital work this organisation is doing to help victims of persecution in various parts of the world.

News and Topical Issue. In today’s show you will hear an interview with associate professor Silvia Baučeková Rosifalová from Pavol Jozef Šafárik University with whom we discussed hidden meanings and symbolic of food. The interview will be followed by the first part of our advent series dedicated to the Slovak missionaries in the world – this time we will visit Madagascar.

In January 2022, a deposit return system for beverage packaging is set to start in Slovakia. We interviewed a representative of the recycling company to find out more. Education Ministry Takes steps after number of students failing their year at Slovak elementary schools rose last year.

Scientific illustration is a very rare genre in Slovakia. Although not to be compared with seeing his drawings live, it is also possible to scrutinise the delicate hand work of Jan Svec online. Online also is the film 'Purgatory' by Zuzana Piussi mapping the current situation in the Slovak judiciary.

In the following minutes we will talk a little about how life was in Slovakia. Way back in the past, when people in the villages of Central Slovakia kept solemn pre-Christmas customs, such as the searching for a shelter for the Holy Family. But before that, we will speak to the head of the Institute of Sociology at the Slovak Academy of Sciences about what life in Slovakia has been like for its inhabitants in the year 2021. The extensive survey with the name "How are you, Slovakia?" has been running for almost two years now, and it helps the public, the media and public institutions understand people's motivations for their behaviour.

As Artificial Intelligence technologies expand into more areas of our daily life, societies are continually confronted with new choices and dilemmas as to what they are willing to allow, finding themselves forced to weigh the benefits against the risks. Jonathan speaks with philosopher and AI researcher Juraj Podroužek of Bratislava’s Kempelin Institute about the dilemmas involved in one such technology which is seen as a potential ‘red line’ for many European countries – the installation of facial recognition ‘biometrics’ cameras in public spaces.