The festival of st. Nicholas is recognized across European cultures and it has greatly afflicted how Santa Claus acts in American culture now. How does it work in the heart of Europe? Well, it´s a picturesque scheme. The festival is traditionally atributed to 6th of December in western christian tradition. In the eastern orthodox calendar
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Kutná Hora is an ancient town located to the east of Prague, an hour journey by train, and which is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Though in medieval times it was a a mining center that contributed significantly to the royal coffers of the princes of Bohemia, these days it is probably best
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November 17 is a date of global significance. On that day in 1869, the Suez straight was open, on the same date in 1950, the 14th dalai-lama was inaugurated and in 1970 the computer mouse was patented. It is also an international day of students. For Czech people, it isn’t a celebration of liberal student life, partying
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Czechs, by their own account, are some of the least religious people in the world. Nevertheless, the long-standing tradition of All Souls’ Day is alive and well here, so to speak. Over the weekend, the country’s already-beautiful cemeteries began to blaze with the light of thousands of candles, lit in remembrance of those no longer
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In Europe, the 20th century began with the apocalyptic finale of the age of the continent’s last authoritarian empires. By the time the smoke of the First World War had cleared, the Russian czars, the German kaisers, and the Austrian emperors had been swept into the proverbial dust bin of history. In Central Europe, the
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Wenceslas I, Duke of Bohemia, was a medieval ruler who is now widely known as the patron saint of the Czech lands. Many aspects of his life and rule had the feel of a Shakespearean tragedy, from the rivalry between his pagan mother and sainted grandmother, to his premature and untimely demise. In the end,
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I’d been in the country for all of three days. I wasn’t sure where I was exactly. I was having a hard time putting my shoes on because I couldn’t stand up straight. It was 11:00 in the morning and two elderly ladies had just made me staggeringly drunk by feeding me strong shots of
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In the late-night hours of 20-21 August, 1968, the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was invaded by approximately 500,000 members of the combined armed forces of East Germany, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Poland lead by – who else? – the USSR. This military incursion was undertaken by the Warsaw Pact nations in order to put a stop to
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It’s Christmas. It’s time to slow down, recharge batteries and spend some time with the closest ones and have fun over some Czech traditions and superstitions! Some of them are rather weird, mysterious or heartless, some were forgotten but a few one can still witness during Christmas time in a Czech home. Before the humanking
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The 17th of November, the Czechs and Slovaks are celebrating the so-called Velvet Revolution – the peaceful demonstrations that ended the 41 years period of totalitarian communist rule. During those remarkable days, the opposition singers banned from their career for decades could sing to large crowds again and the Western world was zealously listening to
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