Czechoslovakia is born!

Altarpiece from Hyrov, after 1430; National Gallery of Medieval Art, St Agnes Convent, (Prague, Czech Republic)

October 28, 1918 — The Republic of Czechoslovakia was founded, assembled from three provinces (Bohemia, Moravia, and Slovakia) which had been part of the former Austro-Hungarian empire.

Bohemia had been a duchy in the Middle Ages and then a kingdom in the eleventh century. “Good King Wenceslaus” of the popular Christmas carol was actually the Duke of Bohemia in the tenth century. Most people no longer remember that Prague–the capital of Bohemia–was the cultural and political capital of Europe for several hundred years, beginning in the 1340s. Art was so important to Czech culture that painters were exempt from military duty!

Bohemian culture always valued individualism and following one’s particular calling or conscience; hence, the association of “Bohemian” with the counter-culture of the mid-20th century in New York City and the United States.

The prophetess Libuse selected the site of the city in the AD 700s and married a local farmer to begin the Czech royal family.

Walpurgis Night is still one of the most popular of Czech holidays. According to the traditional Czech stories, the night of April 30-May 1 was magical. Not only was evil believed to be more powerful at this time, but also those who felt brave enough to go outside could find treasures if they carried with them items such as wood fern flower, wafer or sanctified chalk. It was also believed that during the night witches were flying and gathering for the Sabbath. To protect themselves, villagers burnt bonfires on hills and set fire to brooms, which were then thrown into the air to reveal any flying witch. These celebrations are nowadays accompanied with music and traditional food and mark the opening of the tourist season.

Click here to discover more about mysterious, beautiful, magical Prague!

Now is Your Chance! PRAGUE? Here We Come!

Prague, currently among the cheapest vacation spots in Europe, is waiting for YOU!

Prague, currently among the cheapest vacation spots in Europe, is waiting for YOU!

Quick! Book your tickets! If you have not seen Prague yet, NOW is your chance! The Prague Post reports that because of the strength of the US Dollar in currency markets, Prague is currently among the cheapest European vacation destinations in Europe. You can use the Come Hell or High Water books as guides to the local historical sites (the Old Town Square, the Little Town across the river, the spectacular Charles Bridge, the castle-cathedral complex of buildings — including Golden Alley — overlooking the city) as well as the WONDERFUL self-guided walking tours that you can find here.

I will be there for a week in early April that is part-vacation and part-research for a new novel set in 1600s Prague. At that time, Prague was one of the main business contacts between Western Europe and the Moslem Turks; it was also one of the most important “black markets” of castrated European men sold to the Turks as eunuchs. There are several tales in Prague about Turkish ghosts from that period. A novel set in that period will give me the chance to explore Turkish and Muslim folklore and magic as well as Czech folklore and magic.

I have never been disappointed by Prague’s beauty, no matter what time of year I arrived. This is your chance to stay in the Biskupsky Dum hotel (where Elizabeth, the Dearg-due killed a victim or two), walk along the Charles River (where both a tourist and an Evil Conference professor each met a bad end), and stand in the plaza at the apse-end of the cathedral where Svetovit was worshipped with the sacrifice of black rooster.

Or just bring me along with you as your private tour guide!
🙂

Who Comes to YOUR House on December 6?

krampus-stuffing-children-into-basket

Traditionally on December 5th and 6th, St. Nicholas walks from house to house in the cities and villages of Alpine and Central Europe to admonish and laud young and old. In the Alpine regions, he is accompanied by a Krampus (an evil creature, a devil of sorts), who is going to punish the bad children and adults on St. Nicholas′ command. For the honest children he normally has little presents. In Prague and the Czech-speaking areas of Central Europe, the čert (a clearly demonic character) accompanies St. Nicholas.

In Come Hell or High Water, both St. Nicholas and his čert appear:

“It was commonly supposed [in 1356] that St. Nicholas, as he made his rounds bestowing gifts on children and the needy, was accompanied by both a tar-covered čert, a pitch-black devil, as well as a bright and glorious andel, an angel of light, who each argued for or against the worthiness of the recipient of the saint’s benefactions. The čert was always ready, at the slightest nod from the saint, to carry away the unworthy beggar or misbehaving child and–throughout the year–parents could always warn their children that they might be carried away by the čert….”

St. Nicholas himself is a Christian figure, the fourth century bishop of Myra. As son of a well-situated family, he started to help poor people who lived in deep poverty. He was supposed to have miraculous vigor and so he became patron of the seamen, children and poor people. (See a previous post about St. Nicholas and his care for the poor here.) In most modern versions of the St. Nicholas story, he is accompanied by a monster or servant (the Dutch describe his assistant as Black Peter) who punishes the bad children while Nicholas himself rewards the well-behaved children.

The figure of the Krampus is based on pre-Christian custom. The Krampusse not only punish the bad children but had the function at one time of driving out the winter devils and blizzard sprites. Originally the custom of the Krampus was spread over all of Austria but was forbidden by the Catholic Church during the Inquisition. It was prohibited by death to masquerade as a devil or an evil creature and so this custom only survived in some remote, inaccessible, regions of the Alps from where it slowly spread back across the western parts of Austria again. Today the Krampusse revels are especially popular in Salzburg. As many times as I have been to Salzburg, I have never been there during Krampusse-time; I would dearly love to be there to see the processions and parades of costumed characters in the streets.

St. Nicholas and the Krampus procession in Salzburg (2010); photo by Charlotte Anne Brady.

St. Nicholas and the Krampus procession in Salzburg (2010); photo by Charlotte Anne Brady.

Krampus revels at the Salzburg Christmas Market, 2011; photo by Neumayr/MMV 05.12.2011

Krampus revels at the Salzburg Christmas Market, 2011; photo by Neumayr/MMV 05.12.2011