Climate and geography
The Czech Republic (short name of the Czech Republic is Czechia) lies in a mild climate area, where cold winters follow warm summers. While the landscape is snow-covered in winter, average summer temperatures range between 20–30 ° C (36–54 ° F). There are many dry days but also there are many heavy rains. The Czech Republic is made up of three historical countries – Bohemia in the central and western parts, Moravia in the eastern part and, to a small extent, Silesia in the northeast. The western part of the Czech Republic has been a well-known spa destination for many decades. In 1918–1992, the Czech Republic was a part of Czechoslovakia which no longer exists any longer.
People and religion
The Czechs are known for their hard work, toughness and also for the fact that they are never completely satisfied with the results of their work. Also, they can genuinely laugh at themselves as well. Compared to the vivacious southern nations, they can seem to be reserved. You may be surprised, however, that many Czechs have the habit of vacating seats for older people or pregnant women in public transport. Originally, the Czechs were a Slavic tribe. But modern research shows that the ancestors of two-thirds of today’s Czechs were Celts, Teutons, Vikings and people from many other nations. Indeed, the Czechia is sometimes called the “crossroads of nations”.
In ancient times, the area of today’s Czech Republic was the border area of the Roman Empire. It was the Romans who started to call this area according to one of the Celtic tribes with the word Bohemia, which literally means “land of buoys”. Slavs began to settle the area during the 5th and 6th centuries due to the migration of nations. In the 9th century, the Czechs formed into a single state. The Czech Republic gained the greatest fame in the 14th century, when the Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV chose Prague as his capital city. Charles proved himself a competent diplomat, statesman, visionary and organizer. During his reign, Prague flourished. International prestige was also ensured by the foundation of the Latin University (1348) – the first north of the Alps and east of Paris.
Charles IV maintained very good relations with the Pope and the Catholic church. He became an important collector of Catholic relics. On the contrary, he forbade translating the Bible into Czech and German. Soon after his death, however, Jan Hus began to promote the ideas of the English Bible writer John Wyckliffe at Prague University. Finally, Hus was burned as a heretic. Unfortunately, his radical supporters, called the Hussites, did not adhere to the Bible. On the contrary, they initiated a long-standing religious civil war in the country, which decimated the Czech kingdom economically and culturally.
One of the few people who spoke openly against religious violence was the lay Bible promoter Petr Chelčický (Czech pronunciation: [ˈpɛtr̩ ˈxɛltʃɪtskiː]). His voice was heard by a small group, later known as the Unity of Brethren (Latin Unitas Fratrum). Most Czech rulers persecuted their faith. But scholars of the Unity of the Brethren loved the Bible and, despite prohibitions, decided to translate it entirely into Czech from the original languages. Their six-volume Bible of Kralice (1579–1593) has a similar value to Czech culture today as it does King James Translation (1601–1611) for English Bible readers. The Unity of Brethren also brings many teaching methods, which were later popularized by Jan Amos Comenius, called the “teacher of nations”.
As a result of the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648), all non-Catholic churches in the Czech Republic were outlawed. Unity of the Brethren has completely disappeared. During the 19th century, when religious liberation and also confusion and disgust of the people began to occur, the Czechs were increasingly inclined to believe in their own way, outside the church institutions. This trend gradually intensified. Today, Czechs are often described as atheists, but this is an inaccurate term. A significant number of Czechs believe that “there is something above us”. Various forms of spiritism are also popular among many Czechs. Many others simply do not consider religious issues. Yet, in the depths of many of them, moral questions lie asleep. After all, the official motto of the Czech Republic has a religious origin – “Truth prevails”.
Additional information in ONLINE LIBRARY of the Watchtower:
- The Celts — Their Influence Still Felt
- They Searched for the Cramped Road
- Comenius — The Grandfather of Modern Education
- Joachim Barrande’s “Kingly Gift”
Language
With young people you can communicate in English. The official language is Czech. Several international expressions have been taken from the Czech language. The word “dollar” comes from the local “tolar”, a silver coin minted in the Czech Republic during the 16th century. “Pilsner” is a type of beer that was first brewed in the Czech town of the same name. The word “robot” is derived from the Czech word for “hard work”.
Additional information in ONLINE LIBRARY of the Watchtower:
Food
Traditional Czech cuisine has a specific Central European character. The truly “classic” Czech dishes include thick soups with garnish, various types of sauces with stews and boiled or stewed vegetables. The traditional menu consists of soup, main dish and sweet dessert.
Czech sauces are dense and rich. They are based on fat and flour or cream. The dish includes a side dish called dumpling. It is actually a sliced cooked dough. Foreign tourists sometimes have the impression that this is a special type of bread. In fact, there is no need to take a dumpling by your hand. You can comfortably use cutlery to slice and soak the dumplings in the sauce. Traditional hearty menus include beef sirloin in cream (roast beef with a special type of cream sauce and dumplings) or pork roast with dumplings and cabbage.
Czechs belongs to those nations that commonly collect wild mushrooms in the forests. In the restaurant you can try mushroom soup.
You can also taste some traditional Czech country desserts. Sweet cakes and donuts have been very popular for centuries. It was once created only for special occasions, such as weddings and various important celebrations. Today, however, they are on sale all year long. Cakes can be filled with fruit jam, cottage cheese, but to the surprise of many foreigners with poppy seed, which is very popular in the Czech Republic. No, you need not worry. Sweet poppy cake certainly does not contain any opiate.
Among the most popular Czech confectionery desserts of a newer date are also yolk garland, punch cut or liqueur spire.
As a non-sweet dessert, we must mention a local special prepared “sandwich”. The invention of it dates back to 1916, when a Prague delicatessen received an order of the following wording: “Canapes are too small, sandwich too large. I want something for two or three bites.” In this way the perfect snack was created – a slice of bread attractively decorated with a variety of ingredients (eggs, sausages, cheeses, vegetables, etc.). You can buy them in every delicatessen, but also in many cafes. Another delicacy in Prague is the so-called “Italians”. It is a cooked meat mixture stuffed into casings and pickled. At the end of the 19th century, a Prague sausage of Italian origin began to be produced with great success in Prague by the Italian “Italian man” – Italian.