The folk custome of cleaning houses before Christmas comes from an ancient tradition. Girls dressed all in white with faces whiten by flour go from house to house after sunset on the 13th of december carrying a goose feather to sweep all the bad deamons from behind the stoves and from corners of rooms, garlic to mark the door for protection and light as a symbol of a new sun to be born and cleaning homes with burning sacred herbs still is popular among Slovaks.
