Czechmatediary

Everyone has heard of Cleveland, the second most industrial city in the USA. But not everyone knows that all of its machinery was built  by the Eastern European immigrants, including the Czechs.

Ohio in the 18th century was inhabited only by Indians, while the land itself was fought over by the French and the English. While those two nationalities were fearlessly fighting for the land, the Moravian christian missionaries (Moravian Brethren) were fighting for the Indian souls. Besides Christianity the missionaries taught the Indians about hygiene, various useful crafts and farming. About 100 years later the main Indian colony located on the Tuscarawas river was visited by a famous Moravian missionary, David Zeisberger. David befriended the Indian chief of the Netawatweese clan who adviced him to ride down the local river to find a new home for himself. (more…)

Tomorrow is the Three Kings day, which is celebrated all over Europe. The Czechs do not celebrate it too much (at least we didn’t when we were kids) but I just found out from my Czech friend – who is married to a Spanish guy – that this holiday is even more prevalent in Spain than Christmas. In fact, the Spanish don’t even celebrate Christmas! Crazy, huh?

Anyhow, this is what Wikipedia says about how is this holiday celebrated in Central Europe:

‘A tradition in most of Central Europe involves writing the initials of the three kings’ names above the main door of the home to confer blessings on the occupants for the New Year. For example, 20 + C + M + B + 08. The initials may also represent “Christus mansionem benedicat” (Christ bless this house). In Catholic parts of Germany and in Austria, this is done by so called Sternsinger (star singers), children, dressed up as the Magi, carrying the star and singing Christmas carols. In exchange for writing the initials, they collect money for charity projects in the third world.’ (Read more about this holiday here).

What probably all of the Czech/Slovak kids know is the Three Kings song (My tri kralove jdeme k vam), which is sang usually together with other Christmas carols during Christmas time. Below is the video as well as the words of the song (translation of the words was done by me so it may not be perfect). Let us reminisce about the times of our childhood!

CZ: Zitra je tu svatek Tri Kralu, tak vam preji to nej, nej, nejlepsi. Je na case si zavzpominat na tu nasi pisnicku o Trech kralich  a tady je k tomu take pekne detske video: (more…)

“Save little Jesus!” , the signs declare. A bunch of demonstrators, dressed up as snowmen, were expressing their opinion toward the increasing intrusion of the big-bellied Santa and his reindeer – the all-American images of Christmas. Slogans such as “We survived Grandpa Frost (=Deda Mraz; the former USSR image of Christmas), we are going to survive Santa Claus!” or “The end of big-eyed reindeer in Czech!” made me think of couple of ironies however:

• Irony 1: The Czechs are fighting off Santa Claus as an American spirit of Christmas, meanwhile the image of Santa  in America is becoming politically incorrect. Both of them are connected with the word ‘Christmas’ which has become a forbidden and offensive ‘C’ word within the last few years. So while the Czech Republic is trying to save the their image of Christmas, the Americans are fighting to save Christmas itself. (more…)

My husband was recently telling me about his childhood arrow. When he was about 7 years old he found out that Santa did not exist and that just scared him tremendously. I tried to think of a time when I found out that Jesus does not bring us presents (for those who don’t know, it is Jesus who traditionally brings Christmas presents to the Czech and Slovak children). But I just can’t remember….I remember writing him letters and putting them behind the window so that he sees it when he is flying around and I remember bragging to the kids at school that I had seen Jesus’s feet as he was flying out of our window on Christmas Eve.

Here is a question for you:

CZ:  Pred nedavnem mi manzel vypravoval, jak vlastne zjistil, ze Santa neexistuje. Bylo mu asi 7 let a hrozne ho to zranilo. To me privedlo na myslenky, jak jsem vlasnte  zjistila ja, ze mi Jezisek ve skutecnosti neprinasi darky. Vubec si na tuhle epizodu meho zivota nemuzu vzpomenout; jenom si pamatuju, jak jsem mu psala dopisy a pak jsem je davala za okno, aby je pri jeho litacich pochuzkach videl…..taky si pamatuju, jak jsem se detem ve skole vytahovala, ze jsem na Stedry vecer zahledla jeho nohy zrovna kdyz vyletaval oknem z naseho obyvaku.

Mam tedy pro vas otazku:

(more…)

December is here and with it comes the merriment of Christmas and a New Year…and food…and sweets…and Santa (Mikulas) and Jezisek!!! There are so many St. Nicholas celebrations (I counted 12 of them) out there so there is no excuse for you not meet the ‘real’ angel together with the devil and the holy man – Saint Nicholas.

CZ: Je tu prosinec a s nim take radost Vanoc a Noveho Roku…a dobrutek…a Mikulase…a Jeziska. Na nize uvedenem listu je 12 Mikulasskych besidek (!!), takze zadne vymluvy, damy a panove, jdeme se pozdravit s andelem, certem a Mikulasem )

1. Baltimore, MD

What: St. Nicholas Day celebration (Mikulasska)

When: Dec. 6

2. Astoria, NY

What: St. Nicholas Day celebration for children (Mikulas) (more…)

Pope Benedict XVI. is getting ready to visit the Czech Republic. The trip is scheduled for Sept. 26 – 28th and it is to include the visit of Prague, as well as Brno and Stara Boleslav, where he will participate in celebrations commemorating the national patron, St. Wenceslaus. Although the Czech Republic is only 27% Catholic there will be other nationalities present, such as the Polish, Hungarians and the Slovaks, to help fill in the potentially embarrassingly small crowd.

You can read more about his visit right here (click here).

CZ: Papez Benedikt XVI. se chysta do Cech. Navsteva je planovana na posledni tyden v zari a papez ma behem te doby navstivit Prahu, Brno a Mladou Boleslav. Chce tak s ceskymi katoliky (pouze 27% cele ceske populace) oslavit den Svateho Vaclava. Vetsinu casu ale ztravi na Morave, kde je – jak je dobre znamo -  vice vericich nez v Cechach. Fandicim ceskym katolikum prijdou na pomoc take polsti, slovensti  a Madarsti katolici, takze v Cechach bude pekne rusno

Vice is o papezove navsteve muzete precist  zde (kliknete zde).

“Why should I spend money for a funeral if my dead relative can’t give me anything in return?” That is the current Czech attitude toward their deceased relatives, says David Stejskal, a local grave digger. He also says that the moral in the Czech Republic is decreasing every year which goes hand in hand with a loss of respect for the dead. Many relatives just pay the necessary fees for the person to be buried but no ceremony is being held. Some people even refuse to bury them at all and in that case the state has to take care of the body and pay for the funeral itself. Last year the government had to pay over 2 million crowns just for these unclaimed burial fees.

“About 4 years ago I dealt with a mother who was not interested in burying her 12-year-old disabled daughter’, says Stejskal. (more…)

This year has been a very special year for the Christians in the Czech Republic. It so happened that the Bible was finally translated into a contemporary Czech, making it more user-friendly. The last time all the biblical texts were translated was 3o years ago. The translation process took 17 years to complete, having 7-member team of translators on board, but all say the time was well worth it.

Until recently the most used Czech bible translation was the Czech Ecumenical Translation from the 1970′s, although many people still read the 16th century translation known as the Bible of Kralice. “The Bible is not flat. There are different styles in the text; some texts are very simple and straightforward, while others are very poetic. There are songs, the Book of Psalms, and so on. (more…)

Czech Americans and their relationship towards Religion

The earliest Czech immigrants (the Moravian Brethren) came to America solely to search for religious freedom. The later immigration wave of Czechs (after 1850) was coming for many different reasons such as education, political convictions and others . Yet still the majority of Czech Americans belonged to the Catholic Church – the only recognized religion by the Hapsburg Empire. This Hapsburg re-Catholization of the Czech lands left many Czechs scared, especially since the Czech lands used to be predominantly protestant. No wonder that when these “forced Catholics” came to the free America, about a half of them decided to turn their backs on Catholicism all together. The other half that stayed Catholic and didn’t have a Czech congregation in their vicinity usually joined some German or Polish Catholic congregations. By 1920 America had about 350 Czech priests and about 200, 000 Czech Catholics.

Czech Protestants in America consisted mostly of descendants of the Hussites and Moravian Brethren. Their most famous congregation has been the Jan Hus Presbyterian Church in New York City (founded in 1888).

And then there were the blossoming Progressives and the Freethinkers who refused any kind of religion. These two groups received support and sympathy from the socialists and the atheists and together they established in America many atheist schools, ceremonies for marriages, funerals and other important events. (more…)