This past weekend, winter has well and truly arrived in Stará Oleška. Whilst since the beginning of the month, snow fell on three or four occasions, it never amounted to much and rapidly melted. But the morning of Friday 15th December brought a more serious snowfall, and it has snowed again on several occasions since then and it is doing so once more, even as I write this blog post.
However, on the morning of Monday 18th, the snow stopped for several hours and the sun came out, enabling me to take the photographs accompanying this post. And to take the photograph on the left, I did go out through the side gate, to avoid having footprints in the snow on the path 🙂
Above is the view across the village from the road in front of my house, looking out towards Huntírov. In case anybody is interested, the yellow house in the centre of the photograph is currently for sale. The details can be found by following this link.
It has always amused me that one of the three camp sites located around the lake is entitled, in Anglicized form, ‘Autocamp Alaska’ – hardly the name I would choose for a summer camp site. But here it is, living up to its name 🙂
Finally for this post, a couple of beautiful snowy trees.
Tomorrow, Saturday 4th February 2017, marks a significant anniversary – it is exactly eight years since I wrote and posted my first-ever blog post here on ‘Ricky Yates – an Anglican in Prague’. Yes – eight years on, I’m still blogging 🙂
Believe it or not, this is post number 375. But I have to confess that in the past year, I’ve only managed to add 33 posts since celebrating the blog’s seventh birthday, a year ago. Therefore it sadly ranks as my least productive year 🙁 However, I am proud that if you scroll down the right-hand side bar to ‘Archives’, you will see that in each of the 96 months since I started writing, I have managed at least one post in every single one of them!
However, in its forthcoming ninth year, my blog will have to change its name as, very soon after Sunday 30th April, Ricky Yates will cease to be ‘an Anglican in Prague’. Suggestions for a new title are welcome. Likewise, I will need a new header photo to replace the skyline of the city that has been my home for the past eight & a half years.
As I write this post, we are experiencing one of the coldest and snowiest winters that we have had for a number of years. Here in Prague, there hasn’t been as much snow as there was back in January 2010, when the authorities were using JCBs to tip excess snow into the Vltava. But the temperature has been below freezing point for about two weeks and, whilst it has risen today to -1°C 🙂 , after a brief thaw, we are are promised sub-zero temperatures again from next Tuesday.
This year’s severe weather has certainly been positive for one part of the Czech economy. As this news article explains, the Czech ski resorts are having a bumper season. Two years ago, when we experienced the mildest of all our nine winters here, they suffered considerably because of warm temperatures and a lack of snow.
I am still trying to get my head around the fact that twelve weeks on Sunday, I will retire. There is still so much to do as part of the day job, not least divesting myself of things that I normally do, to members of the laity. That is before starting to sort out papers and belongings, ready to move.
But I do promise to try and continue adding regular posts here over the coming weeks. And as I’m taking the week of annual leave owing to me in 2017, from Monday 13th – Monday 20th February inclusive, I may even finally complete the text of my long-promised book, ‘How to be Czech’. Watch this space!
Today is Armistice Day, marking the signing of the armistice, ninety-eight years ago, which brought an end to the First World War at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. In the USA, it is known as Veterans Day and is kept as a public holiday.
During the First World War, what is now the Czech Republic was still part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire which, together with Germany and the Ottoman Empire, formed the eventually defeated Central Powers. The Czechs were a subjugated people, increasingly seeking much greater autonomy or self-rule. As I explained in my previous post, two weeks before the official end of WW1, the independent new nation state of Czechoslovakia was proclaimed.
Yet despite the rise of Czech nationalism, many Czech people fought and died for an Empire that they didn’t really believe in. In many towns and cities across the country, there are memorials such as this one in Zbraslav, to those who gave their lives in the First World War.
Today is also St Martin’s Day, the Feast Day of St. Martin of Tours. As a fourth century Roman soldier, Martin is said to have cut his military cloak in two and given one half to a scantily clad beggar outside the city of Amiens, to protect him from the freezing weather. Later, after leaving the army, Martin became a monk and hermit, before being made Bishop of Tours in 371.
Here in the Czech Republic, there are numerous traditions associated with St Martin’s Day. There is a Czech saying, ‘Martin prijíždí na bílém koni‘ – ‘Martin is coming on a white horse’, indicating that today is when the first snowfall can be expected. This year in the Czech Republic, Martin came quite early with the first snowfall on the higher mountains some two weeks ago. Even here in Prague, we had our first dusting of snow, twenty-four hours before St. Martin’s Eve.
Many restaurants offer a St Martin’s special menu which always features roast goose. According to tradition, the association of a goose with St Martin is because he was so reluctant to be ordained a bishop, that he hid in a goose pen, only for his hiding place to be given away, by the cackling of the geese.
The appropriate accompaniment to St Martin’s goose is Svatomartinské vino, a young wine from the recent harvest. This is produced in the vineyards of South Moravia and always becomes available for the first time on 11th November each year. In more recent times it has been marketed in a big way in a similar manner to Beaujolais nouveau.
All that I describe here are examples of the keeping of traditions which are Christian in origin by a now rather irreligious Czech population. The Epiphany door-marking illustrated at the end of this post and referred to in following comments falls into the same category.
Mariánské Lázne is a spa town in West Bohemia, located not far from the German border. Better known by its German name of Marienbad, in the nineteenth century, it developed as one of the top European spas, popular with notable figures and rulers who often returned there on numerous occasions.
To meet the needs of these international visitors, a whole series of hotels, colonnades and other buildings were constructed. These included Churches of different denominations, all located in relatively close proximity to each other.
This is Kostel Svatého Vladimíra, the Russian Orthodox Church. It is still in use, though the number of Russian visitors has dropped considerably in recent times, because of the serious fall in value of the rouble.
Here is Kostel Nanebevzetí Panny Marie, the Roman Catholic Church, dedicated to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was constructed between 1844-1848 in the ‘new Byzantine style’, according to my research.
Squeezed between two taller and grander buildings, is the Evangelický kostel / Protestant Church. It was built to meet the needs of Protestant guests, in the years 1853-1857, from the public subscriptions of German Lutherans. In 1907, stained glass windows were added, donated by Kaiser Wilhelm II. It continues to be used for worship by the Ceskobratská Církev Evangelická, the main Czech Protestant Church.
And yes – there is also an Anglican Church. It is a classic example of a red brick Victorian Church building and was consecrated by the Bishop of Bath and Wells in 1879. My understanding is that it fell into disuse, some time in the late 1920s–early 1930s, when a combination of the Stock Market crash of 1929, and the subsequent rise to power of Adolf Hitler, meant that British citizens no longer came to take the waters.
Sybille and I had twice previously visited Mariánské Lázne during the early part of our time in the Czech Republic, but on both occasions it was in winter and the Anglican Church building was snowbound and locked. So I was very pleased that when I was there again last Saturday, that it was open and I was able to go inside.
Since the early 1990s, the building has belonged to the Mariánské Lázne Town Council, who use it as an Exhibition and Concert Venue. But the reason I found it open was because it was being made ready for a wedding that was to take place there later that afternoon. No doubt this would have been a civil ceremony, conducted by the local registrar. The main reason that I was visiting Mariánské Lázne was to conduct a religious wedding, following the liturgy of the Church of England, but at a different venue. Somewhat ironic to say the least!
Of the original interior, the only remaining features are the pulpit and this marble memorial plaque from 1911, commemorating the frequent visits of King Edward VII, both as Prince of Wales and later, as King. I knew that this plaque existed and was very pleased to be finally able to see it, and get a photographic record.
Finally for this post, here is the smaller of the two colonnades in Mariánské Lázne, being made ready for the wedding I was there to conduct. The larger colonnade is featured in the first photograph of this post. The happy couple were Bismark and Hannah. Bismark comes from Ghana whilst Hannah was born in Norway, but of Ghanaian parents. They met whilst both studying medicine in Hradec Králové and are now working as doctors in Norway.
They originally asked if I would conduct a service of blessing for them, following a civil marriage. But once I explained that I could legally marry them, they gladly agreed. We did have a few problems, convincing the local registrar that I could conduct a legal marriage ceremony for them. However, we did eventually succeed. Below are the happy couple, following their marriage.
On Sunday 17th January 2016, I conducted worship in two different countries, something I shall now be doing quite regularly in 2016 on the third Sunday of each month. At 11.00, I celebrated the Eucharist and preached at St Clement’s Anglican Church in Prague. Then at 18.00, I led a service of Evening Prayer in the Frauenkirche, Dresden.
Over the weekend, we had a further serious snowfall, so this was the scene that greeted me as I arrived outside St. Clement’s, waiting for our host Czech Protestant congregation to finish their service. It was still snowing when I took the photograph.
From the second week in January, through to around the second or third week of March, Prague enters what I always refer to as the ‘non-tourist season’. It is the time when you can walk around some of the popular historic sights in Prague, without being run over by hordes of visiting tourists. However, tourists are a great boon to us as a Church as, on most Sundays, the congregation is boosted numerically by visitors. Some of them also contribute quite generously to the collection. But for the second Sunday running, we had no visitors at all in the congregation – I knew everybody by name. Clearly we are in the ‘non-tourist season’!
We were therefore, a slightly smaller congregation than usual, with the weather and winter ailments, preventing some people from attending. But nearly all those who did come were very un-Anglican – they sat together in the front pews! Being regulars, they knew where the limited under-pew heating is most effective 🙂
After warming up at Coffee Hour and enjoying post-service refreshments in the hall across the street in Klimentska 18, I then headed off on a short three-stop tram journey to Praha hlavní nádraží (Praha hl.n.) – Prague main railway station, in the company of my friend and ministerial colleague, Rev’d Dr Karen Moritz. I had invited Karen to be the preacher at the January English-language Anglican Evening Prayer service in the Frauenkirche, in advance of her leaving Prague in the next few months.
Upon arrival at Praha hl.n., I immediately checked the departures board, to see whether the platform number for our train to Dresden Haupbahnhof (Dresden Hbf), was displayed. Unfortunately there was no platform number but instead, a note that departure would be delayed by thirty minutes. The train was coming from Budapest and presumably had experienced problems with the adverse weather conditions en-route.
Sitting on the station concourse, constantly scanning the departures board, I increasingly began to panic that we wouldn’t make it to the Frauenkirche on time. Finally, we were summoned to platform six, and the train that was meant to set out at 14.27, departed just after 15.00. Fortunately, there were no further delays between Praha hl.n. and Dresden Hbf. Instead, we actually made up nearly ten minutes of the delay. Following a three-stop tram journey and then a five minute walk, we safely arrived at the Frauenkirche, just after 17.30.
Order of Service
I knew from reading the Frauenkirche website, that between Monday 11th – Saturday 16 January, the Church had been completely shut down, to allow a variety of repair and maintenance tasks to be carried out, as well as a very thorough cleaning of the interior. Apparently, this happens every year, during a quiet week in January. Having been admitted by the verger, I immediately smelt the wood stain with which the wooden floor under pews, had been treated. Sitting on the dais for the service, I noticed how bright and sparkling the rededos was, behind the altar 🙂
I had been told back in July, that numbers attending the Anglican service in winter, could be quite low, around 35-40, for exactly the same reason as in Prague – it being the ‘non-tourist season’! But when I did a rough head count, during a musical interlude within the service, I arrived at a total of just over sixty. They looked somewhat scattered, but then the main body of the Church will seat in excess of three hundred people. It made me realise that my figure of around one hundred attending the service last September, may well have been an underestimate.
I have to say that I felt a lot less nervous leading the service last Sunday evening, than I did on my first outing last September. I really felt I had begun to build a bit of a rapport with some of the regular attendees. It was also a pleasure to hear Karen preach as she spoke about ‘The Foolishness of the Cross’, based on the Biblical text from 1 Corinthians 1. 18-31. We posed for this picture, under the pulpit, following the end of the service.
After getting dis-robed, Karen and I accepted an invitation to join a few of the congregation for a drink in a nearby Bierstube, the Augustiner an der FrauenkircheI ordered ein großes Bier, assuming I would get a 0.5l glass, in contrast to ein kleines Bier, a 0.3l glass. Much to everyone’s amusement, what arrived was ein sehr großes Bier, a one litre glass 😀 Evidence in this photograph.
After staying overnight in Hotel Martha, I had hoped to get some photographs of snowy Dresden in daylight, especially as the sky cleared and the sun came out as we were finishing our breakfast. But catching the correct trams to get back to Dresden Hbf in time for our train back to Prague, took greater priority. However, we were treated to some spectacular views on our train journey home, which I was able to capture.
Soon after leaving Dresden, the railway line follows the valley of the River Elbe as it cuts through an area of sandstone mountains known as the Sächsische Schweiz – Saxon Switzerland. The mountains form the natural border between Germany and the Czech Republic. On the Czech side, the mountains are known as the Ceské Švýcarsko – Czech or Bohemian Switzerland. The name for the area was created by two Swiss artists, appointed to the Dresden Academy of Art in the second half of the eighteenth century. They believed the area to be very similar to their homeland in the Jura region of Switzerland.
Just after passing through the spa town of Bad Schandau, the train came to an unscheduled halt, which allowed me to get this photograph of the Lutheran Parish Church of St John, Bad Schandau.
When we did continue, once a long freight train had passed by in the other direction, we moved very slowly onto the other track, to pass a broken down freight train blocking our track. This is what enabled me to take the following three photographs. Whilst this caused us to be fifteen minutes late getting back to Prague, on this occasion, I wasn’t complaining 🙂
Seeing this area, covered with snow and glistening in sun, has made me add Sächsische Schweiz andCeské Švýcarsko to my ever-lengthening bucket list of places I would like to visit and explore.
