Boží Dar Christmas stamp tradition celebrates 30 years!

Boží Dar in the Ore mountains is a popular Czech ski resort which almost always gets the first snow of the year. However, its claim to fame is linked to a special Christmas tradition. Its post office –which is closer to the sky than any other in the country- deals with mail addressed to Baby Jesus, the Czech equivalent of Santa Claus.

Photo: Lenka Šipošová, Czech Radio

Even in the day of social networks and mobile phones, the tiny post office in the West Bohemian mountain town of Boží Dar – meaning Gift of God –is snowed under with mail at this time of year both from around the country and abroad. The post office annually stamps hundreds of thousands of Christmas greetings with a special Christmas stamp, making these cards and letters a popular collector’s item.

It is also the post office to which Czech children send letters addressed to Baby Jesus or Ježísek telling him what they want for Christmas. During the period of Advent the post office with its four employees gets on average 15 kilograms of mail a day, stamping letters and cards from morning till late at night. Last Christmas it processed 250 kilograms of mail, with some letters from as far as Japan, Australia, the US, Argentina, New Zealand and Taiwan.

Every year it uses a special Christmas stamp. In 1994, when the tradition was first established, the stamp had a Christmas tree motif. In the past 30 years, it has had stamps with the motif of a carp, a bell, gifts and candles as well as Biblical themes - the birth of Christ, the Three Kings or the star in the sky over Bethlehem. However, the most frequent motif has been the little baby Jesus in various designs – often seen through the eyes of Czech children and inspired by their drawings.

This year’s Christmas stamp by designer Josef Dudek depicts and angel with a gift.

So far, the record amount of mail the post received was in 2016, when its employees stamped 386 kilograms of Christmas cards and postcards, last year there were 253 kilos and the year before 313 kilograms.

The head of Czech Post Ivo Vysoudil explains what people need to do to get this special stamp.

Photo: Slavomír Kubeš, ČTK

“All you need to do is write a postcard or letter, stick on a stamp and send it to the Boží Dar post office, between December 1 and December 23rd. You can also hand it over at Partner Post Office points or if you come to Bozi Dar to ski, drop it into our special Christmas post box designed for mail for Baby Jesus. If you want the stamp as a collector’s item, put the card or letter into an envelope with a return address and our staff will stamp it and send it back to you. Direct it to Christmas Post,  Boží Dar 1, 362 62.”

Over the past 30 years hundreds of thousands of people have sent letters to Boží Dar and many treasure a large collection of Christmas stamps from the little mountain town.

All the stamps used by the post office over the years are on display in the museum in Boží Dar.