The Ghosts of Christmas

Christmas has become a heritage. Each year we see not just new things - innovative toys, fireworks, experimentation with foreign traditions- but also our own long-treasured culture. For British people, this might include the work of Charles Dickens, famous for A Christmas Carol, the story of Scrooge, the miser who discovered the magic of Christmas and the need to give gifts to others. For Czechs this could include the work of Josef Lada, creator of a multitude of Christmas scenes from the lives of ordinary people.

Despite the difference between these respective national figures- one a writer, the other a painter- it may be that there is more in common between them. Lada became famous…