The path of the Czechs was not always smooth and prosperous. In approximately 558 AD, a formidable horde known as the Avars emerged from Asia and made their way into Europe. They settled in the land of Hungary and soon began launching devastating raids into neighboring territories, including the Czech lands in 563 AD. Our...
Ash Wednesday, which is today, officially ushers in the Lenten period according to the Christian calendar. Around the world, numerous nations, including the Czech Republic, commemorate it. We’ll look at the history of Ash Wednesday and how it’s observed in the Czech Republic in this post. The History of Ash Wednesday Ash Wednesday is a...
The name Bohemia, first recorded in history, originates in the Celtic word ‘Boiohaemum’, signifying the dwelling place of the Boii people. This Celtic community established itself in Central Europe long before the arrival of Slavic people. The Celtic Boii people were an ancient Celtic tribe that lived in the region of Bohemia, located in what...
The late Middle Ages and the Renaissance saw a flurry of intellectual and scientific endeavors in the medieval city of Prague. A vibrant group of individuals who were dedicated to studying and unlocking nature’s mysteries lived in the city and were known as the Prague alchemists. The goal of the scientific and metaphysical discipline of...
Today’s post is about the Czech connection to September 11, 2001. There are several Czech connections to the tragic events that happened that day we all remember. The truth is that nobody who still has a memory can fail to forget where they were the first time they heard about the attack on the World...
I am thinking of all those Moravian, Slovak, and Czech immigrants who came through Ellis Island. Those who came before us, and how so many of them are simply forgotten. Due to the ravages of time, many of the stories of these immigrants will remain mysteries forever. Not only the people, but their entire lives....
Today we are taking a trip through history and looking at trams on Wenceslas Square. Why a trip through history? Because these days, you only see two trams at the square, and they act as a café, mainly for the tourists. The two historic Křižík trams serving as a cafe have been located roughly in...
Do you enjoy going back in time as much as I do? What if I could take you back to Šumava in 1929? You’d stay in the towns, see the Chod people, experience the marketplace, explore the forest, and learn about the mythology and folk tales. The Šumava mountain range stretches across south and west...
Today I am taking everyone on a nostalgic trip to a Czechoslovakia of the late 1960’s. The images come from a book entitled, Children of Czechoslovakia by Marcela Andrlova. It was published in 1969. On the back cover it reads: “Living at the crossroads of Europe, the children of Czechoslovakia and their parents are much...
There is a house in Prague which was said t have announced death. How? Because legend says the Prague bell rang on its own… At first glance, it looks like an ordinary house on Mostecká Street, which leads to Charles Bridge. It houses the U Tří zvonů pub, which got its name because it sat...
Today we are learning about the forgotten history of Elias Palme Glassworks. It used to be a famous factory, now it is a famous ruin, but the aesthetics of ruin also attract people and currently, this old historic property is for sale. So who was Elias Palme (1827–1893)? Back in the times of luster and...
Chicago’s working class were expecting a day in luxury and instead many of them experienced a terrifying and tragic calamity on the Chicago River. While most people are familiar with the Titanic (1) and Lusitania (2) disasters, many people have never heard of the Eastland Disaster (3). Counting passengers only, 832 perished on the Titanic....
In the southern part of Romania and along the River Danube, you will find six timeless Czech villages with an estimated 2,000 Czech inhabitants. These ‘Banat Czechs’ as they are called have been in the area for approximately 200 years, since between 1823-1828. They live in very ethnic and timeless Czech villages in the Banat...
While American children may nostalgically remember how handy their Swiss Army knife may have come in, certainly almost all Czech children remember their Czech fish knife. It was inexpensive, had a very nice shape, and it was easy to open, close and cut. Fancier multi-blade knives with additional equipment came much later. The so-called “Rybička”...
I have admired these little Czech figurines known Vizovicé Pečivo since I was a little girl. As Czech, Slavic, or Moravians, we’ve been creating them for at least two centuries. It is without debate that these that these family jewels hand crafted by grandmothers and aunties carry a special generational wealth and are treated as...
They slept that night in peace. The danger, they felt, had ended. Their democratic revolution would live. The Russians would not come in. As they slept, the chief of Czechoslovakia's secret police, who was scheduled to lose his job within a few days, arrived at Prague's new airport - to secure the field, he explained, for the arrival of an important Russian delegation. Within minutes, Czech and Soviet agents ringed the field, and airborne troops landed. At 1:00 a.m., the people of Prague awakened to the blaring of taxi horns and to news they could not at first believe.
