Christians celebrate Easter as the most important time of the year; however, many Easter traditions are even older. Easter celebrations were observed by peasants as the beginning of a new year...
At the end of November 1941, the Nazis built a concentration camp for Jews in the main fortress at Terezín, known as the Theresienstadt Ghetto. On 4th December 1941, the fi rst Jews were...
Přemysl Otakar II built the New Town of Prague in 1257 on the site of the original 9th century settlement. Later renamed Lesser Town in the 18th century, it was mainly inhabited by the German...
Advent (adventus in Latin) literally means “arrival”. In the past, it was the time of strict fasting while merrymaking, dancing and singing were prohibited. Advent is the...
November:
Cold November – green January.
When leaves don’t fall for a long time, hard winter creeps up.
December:
On saint Barbora sledge into a courtyard.
Saint...
An extensive introduction to Jaroslav Seifert, the Czech poet, writer, journalist and translator would mean repeating what has already been published many times before. Jaroslav’s...
Antonín Dvořák was born on 8 September 1841 in Nelahozeves, as the fi rst of eight children. All the men in Dvořák family had always been butchers, and so it was...
Dotted with blooming gardens and golden fi elds of grain, the Haná Plain is one of the most fertile lands in the Czech Republic. It excels not only due to the favourable climate but...
July
Rain on Markyta’s day means enough rain will come.
On St. Jacob’s day the corn is given the cobs, while on St. Anna’s day the corn is given the hair....
The Czech painter, illustrator, graphic artist and scenographer Jan Zrzavý was born in Okrouhlice near Havlíčkův Brod on 5th November 1890 († 12th October 1977). He...
Such an order given by a sailboat captain would not have impressed his crew more than 190 years ago and he would have most probably been inviting a psychiatric examination. However, there came...