23rd Strážnice Vinobraní

This past weekend was the 23rd annual vinobraní in Strážnice. 

We went on Saturday morning.  It was a full-day wine and folk festival.

Lots of wine and burčák, plus beer and slivovice, along with performances by local music and dance groups.

Here are a couple of videos I filmed at the festival.

78th International Folklore Festival

We spent the weekend in Strážnice with Kája's family.  Every year, Strážnice hosts the International Folklore Festival, the largest and oldest folklore festival in Europe.  

Czech TV even broadcasts it across the country.  This year was the 78th edition. 

The festival is organised by the National Institute of Folk Culture which is part of the Ministry of Culture. 

The festival includes dancing, music, and various competitions for both children and adults.  This year there were over 31.000 visitors who came to see 3.150 performers from across the country.

There were another 230 performers that came from Slovakia, Hungary, the Netherlands, South Korea, and the USA.

The first festival was in 1946 and it was only for ensembles from across Czechoslovakia.  In 1957, the first foreign folklore ensembles participated.  The festival is for both amateur and professional groups.

On Saturday, there was a parade that proceeded to the open-air museum and stadium.

It was pretty interesting.  It's interesting to see how each region and village's traditional costumes vary.

Strážnice, Czech Republic

Kája and I spent the weekend in Strážnice which is about a two hour train ride from Brno.  

Strážnice is home to 5.400 people and is 65 km (40 miles) from Brno, close to the Slovak border.  While Neolithic pottery has been found here, the it was first written mention of the town was in 1302.  It was one of the most populated towns in Moravia at the start of the 17th century.

The old city gate bastions date back to the 16th century.  They were used to protect the town from Turkish invasions.

Behind these gates is a chapel that was consecrated in 1917.  The story goes that it was built as thanks to the men who returned in good health from WWI.

The stone cross near the gate dates back to 1769.  The baroque monument is one of the oldest in the town and marks one of the places that city executions used take place.

The nearby city cemetery dates back to 1895.

Inside the cemetery is a tombstone dedicated to the Red Army that liberated the city in April 1945.

February isn't the time of year to see storks but here's a stork nest for when the season comes.  I'm told that nearby is one of the last places in Central Europe where a forest colony of White Storks can still be seen.

The shrine at Radějovská street dates back to the first half of the 19th century.

The town hall is a protected cultural monument that dates back to the 17th century.

The Strážnice Castle, is less castle and more chateau, is from the mid-19th century.  The castle is home to the National Institute of Folk Culture and a library with over 13.000 books.

The castle is in the middle of a large park where there's an amphitheatre.  

The Parish Church of St. Martin was a Gothic church in the 15th century but it burnt down several times.  In the 1720s it was renovated in the Baroque style.  

The Strážnice Museum of the Villages of South-East Moravia is an. open-air folk museum that opened in 1981.  

The Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary was built in 1747.

The synagogue was built in 1804 and renovated in 1879.  It was damaged in 1941 and it was then used as a warehouse.  In 1991 it was returned to the Jewish community.  Today, it is part of the Strážnice Museum.

Next to the synagogue is the Jewish cemetery which was founded in the mid-17th century.  It is 5000m² (1.2 acres) with around 1500 gravestones.

The town is located on the Baťa Canal and it's possible to take boat rides during the summer.

In front of the city museum is a statue of the philosopher and educator Jan Amos Komenský.  He studied here in 1604-1605.

Of course no Czech town is complete without a statue of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the first president of Czechoslovakia.  Apparently he had studied here.  

Strážnice is also the home of really good potato chips (crisps).  

I hear that the factory is the town's biggest employer.

Here's a short video I found on YouTube showing the factory and how the crisps are made.

©Strážnické brambůrky Hobža

Update:  Every year, Strážnice hosts an international folklore festival.

New Things in Brno

I've been in Czechland for just over 13 years now.  Sometimes people are surprised that I've lived in the country this long.  The typical understanding is the foreigners (expats) come and eventually foreigners leave.   

The other thing that often surprises people is that the whole time I've only lived in Brno.  My entire Czechland adventure has taken place here in Moravia.  I love this city.  There's always something going on here or something new to discover.

Yesterday, I took the day off and Kája and I spent the day together.  Here's three "new" things I found in the city.

1.  The BRNO sign by the town hall.  It isn't exactly new but I hadn't seen it yet.  

2.  Štetl Fest is coming in September.  It's a multi-genre festival of Jewish culture and history.  It's the largest festival of Jewish culture in the country.  I assume that it's in participation with the coming MEHRIN Moravian Jewish Museum but that's just my assumption.

Štetl comes from the Yiddish word for a "small town."  Usually it refers to a small town with a large strong Jewish presence.  

3.  Brno has an Embassy of Independent Belarusian Culture.  Back in 2020, I know that Brno supported the protestors in Belarus.  But with everything going on at the time with Covid, I missed that the embassy opened on 17 November 2020.

It's not a traditional embassy.  It was set up by the Centre for Experimental Theatre and it focuses on informing the public about what's going on in Belarus and supporting cultural activities.

It's probably even more important to understand what's going on there now given that Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko allowed the country to be a staging ground and launching point for Russian's invasion of Ukraine.

Я за Україну. Я за Україною. Слава Україні  Stojím za Ukrajinou!  I stand with Ukraine. 

2018 Manchester Pride

We had so much fun at last year's Pride in Manchester that we went again this year.  It is one of the longest running Pride events in the UK.



The theme this year was the "Circus of Acceptance".  The parade this year had about 150 entries and with more than 4,000 participants.  With tens of thousands coming out to watch and join in the festivities in the Gay Village.


Well over £161,000 (about $205K) was raised for local Manchester LGBT charities.

It was such a nice weekend.  Even with a bit of Sunday rain.  I wonder what next year's theme will be?

My First Bonfire Night

Tonight was my first Bonfire Night.  It's also known as Guy Fawkes Night and it is celebrated every 5th of November.

Quick history lesson...Catholics were persecuted under Elizabeth I's rule for 45 years.  Many had hoped that when Protestant King James I ascended the British throne that they would be free to practice their religion.

When that didn't happen, in 1605, a group of Catholic conspirators planned to assassinate the King and blow up the house of Parliament.


The assassination attempt failed and Guy Fawkes, one of the conspirators of the Gun Powder Plot, was executed with his co-conspirators.  So every 5th of November, there's a celebration to commemorate the failed attempt.

Remember, remember!

The fifth of November,

The Gunpowder treason and plot;

I know of no reason

Why the Gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot!

Many communities across the United Kingdom have fireworks and a bonfire where an effigy of Guy Fawkes is burned.  In Northern Ireland, bonfires aren't held in Catholic neighbourhoods; just the Protestant ones.

The celebration was exported to many British colonies.  In New England, it pretty much ended with the American Revolution.  It is still celebrated in New Zealand, South Africa, and parts of Canada.

We decided to drive out in search of Auckland fireworks but didn't have a lot of success.  We ended up at the beach by Devenport and watched people light fireworks.  We loaded a German immigrant a lighter for his daughter's sparklers and she gave each of us a sparkler.  It was very sweet.

Here's a video I found on YouTube that talks about Guy Fawkes Night.

©Anglophenia

2016 Bohemia Jazz Fest

The Bohemia Jazz Festival began in 2006 as a way to promote world-class jazz here in Czechland.  The week-long festival takes place in public squares in seven Czech cities - Prague, Brno, Liberec, Tábor, Písek, Plzeň, and Domažlice.

Bohemia Jazz Festival is one of the largest summer music festivals in Europe.  Best of all...the concerts are all free.

One of this year's performers is Harold López-Nussa Torres from Cuba.  Here's a video I found out on YouTube of his trio performing at Náměstí Svobodý the other night.

Pumpkin Festival

Otevřená zahrada is Brno's Open Garden.  It is a short walk from the city center and is quite a cool project.  It opened in Spring 2013 and the garden focuses on four elements - earth, water, air and sun.  There are several educational exhibits for kids to play with that lets them interact with nature.

The Open Garden is managed by Nadace Partnerství which is the Czech foundation for promoting sustainable development and empowering local communities.  IBM is one of the garden's partners and there are frequent opportunities for IBMers to volunteer here.

Today's pumpkin festival was to celebrate all things pumpkin.  Kids could decorate pumpkins and there were plenty of food options.  Over 1,000 people showed up to enjoy a sunny day in the garden.

 
Claudia signed up to work a few hours at today's pumpkin festival.  I came by just to babysit Tünde so that Claudia could do whatever.  

Tünde & her ladybug boots

Yet somehow I got "volunteered" as well.  We ended up running the blocks station where kids would try to knock over blocks with a ball.  It's a good thing that I've got A1 Czech so that I could speak with the kids.  Overall it was great fun!