7 Czech holiday hits to get you in the mood for Christmas

The increasingly commercial aspect of Christmas has had the unfortunate side effect of a deluge of carols or Christmas-themed earworms in supermarkets, stores, and other public spaces as early as October. If you're tired of All I Want for Christmas or Feliz Navidad, you can switch to our recommendations for a Czech Christmas playlist that might still ring a (festive) bell or two. After these main selections, scroll down for an entire Spotify playlist devoted to holiday tracks.

The Czech songbird, who broke a number of hearts throughout the Eastern Bloc in the decades before the Velvet Divorce, in addition to conquering local audiences, shows no signs of slowing down to this day. Vondráčková released several Christmas-themed albums in the 1990s, which naturally became firm festive favorites.

Love it or hate it, the tradition of eating carp at Christmas (after letting it have a swim in your bathtub if you feel so inclined) is a Czech staple, although recent campaigns to end the practice for ethical and sustainability reasons have been gaining ground. If you have better fish to fry, this song can go perfectly well with your potato salad.

With a stylish black-and-white video, showing animated snippets of Christmas celebrations, some of them from the movie "Alois Nebel," this song conveys the intimate atmosphere of a Christmas dinner with your nearest and dearest. Released in 2011, it became the most-played Christmas song that year, as well as in 2013 and 2014.

Let Karel Gott take you on a trip down memory lane with his rendition of "Silent Night," complete with a video of him wading through the snow surrounding a gingerbread-like chata. If you are a resident of Prague or Plzeň, this is likely all the snow you will see for Christmas.

Another beloved Czech artist, Lucie Bílá has recorded several albums of Christmas songs in her signature warm voice. Her wish for simpler holiday celebrations, and for "the world to be quiet for a while" seems more pertinent this year than ever; as does the timeless appeal not to receive another sweater.

With this gentle song featuring a children's choir, the acclaimed singer touches the hearts of children young and old as they open presents under the well-lit Christmas tree, in scenes captured by the song's video. Born in the Moravian-Silesian region, Farna is a superstar both in Czechia and across the border in Poland, so you are likely to hear her sing Christmas songs in Polish too if you plan to spend the holidays up north.

To wrap up the celebrations on a humorous, though not entirely politically correct note, you can opt for a modern version of a Christmas carol, featuring the characters of Pepa Kapr (Carp, in case you missed him) and a mysterious Jerry Krocan the Republican, with whom the artists apparently have a bone to pick.