What a great name for a blog – “Czech seldom asked questions (or Czech SAQs)”! Sorry the name has been already taken by Mr. Roberts who teaches political science at Northwestern University. But where is his connection to the Czech Republic, you may ask? Well, it so happens that his dear wife is Czech (from Brno). They go back quite often and over the years Mr. Roberts has become quite the expert on anything Czech.
Czech out his blog, it is quite entertaining and it gets you thinking about things you have never thought of. For instance, he describes the Czech-style ‘baby shower’ as follows:
‘Some friends who recently had a baby invited me to what they called a welcoming ceremony for their baby. What is this?
Known as the vitání občanků (welcoming of the little citizens), this ceremony was introduced by the communists as a sort of secular alternative to christenings. The ceremony usually takes place at the town hall and is presided over by a government official who makes a speech welcoming the infants to the community and gives them small gifts (like a scrapbook). Despite the fall of communism, the mostly innocuous ceremony remains relatively popular.’
Or do you remember Velorex? If not, read this:
‘I’ve noticed people driving around in a three-wheeled car. What is it?
This car is known as a Velorex. It was developed in the 1940s by the brothers František and Mojmír Stranský and originally called an Oskar. Besides the three wheels, the distinctive features are a canvas tarpaulin or metal shell around the outside and a Jawa motorcycle engine inside. Though production was definitively ended in 1973, the Velorex has become popular with collectors and can be seen at car fairs. The film Vrchní, prchni (Run, Waiter) accurately captures the hit in social standing you took for driving a Velorex when your friends had Škodas or Trabants.’
And the flow of Roberts’s interesting observations goes on and on…it may be worth it to bookmark this site!
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The only baby showers I ever went to were drunken affairs in far flung Praha hospodas involving Norbert, Martin, Richard, Honza, and the names of the various kids they’d just (vaguely) helped bring into this world.
sounds like Praha! I bet they had those babies in one arm and holding a beer bottle in the other….and the ashtray was balancing on the baby’s forehead.