To start things off, the entire RAYNET team wishes you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We are excited for what the future holds, so keep an eye out for new RAYNET features next year. Use the holidays to take a break if your circumstances allow it, and enjoy time with family and friends. All the clients you have stored in RAYNET CRM will still be there waiting for you in 2024. 💙
This year has been quite eventful in terms of new CRM features and improvements. The feature we are most proud of has to be Automations. We are excited to see more users try them out. Take a look at all the features that made their first appearance this year in a separate article.
As some of our users already know, we recently decided to move our headquarters back to our home country, the Czech Republic. We understand that not everyone celebrates Christmas, but for Czechs it is a big deal! Not only is it time off from work for most people, but also a time to honor Christmas traditions, some of which have been around for centuries. Take a look at a few interesting things Czechs do during Christmas season:
- Carp in a tub
Yep, you read that right. Although this tradition is no longer as popular as it used to be, some Czechs still keep a live carp in their bathtub up until Christmas Eve, when they “turn it into Christmas dinner” and add a mountain of potato salad on the side. - Shiny fish scales
On the topic of fish, before you cook your bathtub occupant, it is customary to keep a few fish scales and place them under your plate during Christmas dinner. This is supposed to make you rich in the year to come. Alternatively, some people keep the fish scales in their wallet all year until next Christmas, when it’s time to swap them out for “fresh ones”. - Walnut fleet
Czechs use walnut shells with candles in them to create tiny boats that they let float in the sink or a container filled with water and predict their destiny based on what the little boats do. Some of these predictions can be pretty brutal, let's just say you really don’t want to see your tiny boat sink right after you place it in the water. - The legend of the golden pig
On the morning of the 24th, some will take on the task of fasting all day in order to see a golden pig on Christmas Eve. Usually only children embark on this journey, but most fail pretty early on due to the abundance of Christmas cookies all around them. Seeing this legendary golden swine is supposedly a good omen, symbolizing wealth and prosperity, but some might argue it’s just hallucinations due to being really hungry all day. - Holiday cards with the abbreviation PF
PF stands for “pour féliciter”, a French expression that can literally be translated to “to congratulate”. It is typically followed by the upcoming year. This tradition dates back to the 19th century and is considered an alternative to “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year” cards. Curiously, not even the French use this expression on their holiday cards. The phrase is mostly accompanied by creative graphics, ranging from family photos in Christmas sweaters to high-quality illustrations. It can also be used in text form only, to wish your clients an amazing new year, just like we did in the title of this article!
So have fun this holiday season if you plan on doing any Christmas or New Year’s activities typical for your country, and see you next year. 👋
