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Sunday, December 25, 2016

Midnight Mass in London and Prague


Midnight Mass on Christmas eve is a tradition in Catholic and Eastern orthodox churches and cathedrals.

In London the glorious striped Catholic Cathedral near Victoria is one of the best known cathedrals. If you missed Midnight mass, look for the Cathedral if you are in the Victoria area of London, England.

In Prague, Czech Republic, members of my family went to the Midnight Mass.

A queue had formed outside.

The service was all in the Czech language. The prayer books were also all in Czech. The numbers of the hymns appeared in red on an electric sign board.

One hymn was recognisable by its tune, Silent Night. You can see the word night appears as n o c, repeated at the start. So it's possible to follow along. Stand when the others stand.Sit when they sit.


Prepare for the collection of money at the end with some coins.

If you miss the Midnight Mass, you can walk uphill to the monastery, on cobbled streets past hotels and buildings. The view from the top over the city is called Bella Vista by a receptionist at the nearby hotel, Golden Star. She used to work at the monastery and thanks to her we added the view to our list of things to do in Prague. The Golden Star has good food, and an indoor restaurant and bar and an outside terrace right next to the giant walls of the 'castle' palace complex.


Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

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