An exception to the curfew applies at midnight mass – SME.sk

BRATISLAVA. The midnight Holy Mass at Christmas is exempt from the curfew. This follows from the government resolution of 14 December.

A curfew applies from 17 December from 20:00 until 05:00. “The restriction on the curfew shall not apply to a trip to a place of worship, to a trip for the purpose of attending a service or to a religious act in the case of a person who is considered to have been vaccinated or has contracted an illness. Covid-19 according to the measure in the event of a threat to public health ordered by the Public Health Office, and on the way back, “the Conference of Bishops of Slovakia explained on its website.

Midnight masses are an integral part of Christmas Eve in Roman Catholic churches. Slovak carols and Christmas songs are sung during them, including the world-famous Austrian melody Silent Night, Holy Night, composed in 1818 by the organist Franz Xaver Gruber in a small Austrian village.

In many places, so-called earlier “midnight masses”, for example at 22.00, which are attended by families with children and the elderly. Nativity scenes and decorated and lighted Christmas trees are not missing in the churches and households of the faithful.

This year’s celebration of Christmas was marked, like last year, by a pandemic of the new coronavirus. Church capacity must be limited during services.