Věstník (West, Tex.), Vol. 45, No. 44, Ed. 1 Wednesday, October 30, 1957 Page: 28 of 32
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Strana 28 VĚSTNÍK — WEST, TEXAS r Weclnesdáy, October 30 105T
Tfairty Days Behind The Iron Curtain
(CONTINUED)
Thirty Days Behind the Iron Curtain
June 30. — This morning we got up
bringht and early, 5 ďelock. It was a
beautiful morning and the sun was
promising another hot day. At 6 o’clock
we were at the railroad station and buy-
ing train faře for Strážnice. The rail-
road; station was packed with people all
going to the same plače, Strážnice.
.Strážnice is a Southern Moru via n
town in the heart of Slovakia, surrounď-
ed by green meadows and forests on
one side and the other side, vineyards,
The people of this town, still to-day
proudly wear their national dress and
Bing their songs. It is a tradition that
here in this locality a festival of folk
songs and dané es is hold once a year.
In 1946 for the first time, several peo-
ple met and decided to háve a celebra-
tion in the Strážnicky Park, where in
earlier days, singers and dancers would
meet and would hold contests,
The first program listed in “Strážnice”
was to find the best dancer, singer
"and orchestra. This festival lasts three
days and nights. More and more; would
perform at this festival;
The dancers and singers perform in
• .groups. They came from all directions
of CZechoslovakia, also from Hungary,
Germany, France and England. All these
pcrformed when we were there that
day. From 10,000 visitors, the number
hás risen to 150,000. The performan-
ces are helď in a stadium, beneath
large trees on the stage for the back-
gromid, is a typical Czech home with
a tatcher roof. Every group has its own
orchestra.
The costuimes that the performers
•wore, were very beautiful and colorful.
Especially iike the groups from Uher-
ské Hradiště, Hanna, and Hungary. One
has to keep an eye on the dancers at
all times because the dances are in a
to o i rhythmí and. one must get the
meauing oí the dances.
Not only are stadiums here in the
park, brd: also eoncession stands, castle
and art gallery surrounded by centuries
■piď' pak trees. The town is beautifully
decorated for this occasion. At the en-
trance it says “Welcome to Strážnice”
and from there on to the park every-
thing was decorated with red, white and
blue streamers. On light poles and all
around, fir trees were decorated with
the streamers. (These trees w-ere all the
same slze, about 4 feet in height.)
As I mentionéd at first that the sun
was promising a hot day, well it did, it
dxdrťt háve pity for anybody. Every-
one there was looking for a shady plače
By Mrs. Betty Juřica
to rest, including my šelf. We were so
tired; from walking that about 1 6’clock
my cousin, Věra and I decided to rest
till 2:30 for at that time the parade be-
gan.
While strolling, by accident I met Mr.
Valcik. By now every one was hurrying
to find that standing room to watch
the parade. Mr. Valcik and I were al-
lowed to stíi.ncl in a third floor balcony
so that we could také pictures of the
j parade. All this time, old man sal, was
beating down on all of us and not a
cloud in the >ky. Following the parade
I left Mr. Valcik and hurried *to Stadium
1-A to my reserved seat, where my par-
ents, sister, umele and cousin,, also had
reserved seats. With the help of a nice
lady in Kyjov, where our tiekets were
tought .several days in advance, we were
in the first row and saw the program
reál well. The program lasted 2% hours
and by now we were- all ready to get
back to Kyjov to my cousirťs house,
where we stayed for several days. On
our retům trip, again the train was
; crowded and we had to be on the move
to get aboard. so at least to get the
“standing room”, This was a very en-
joyable day. Cousin Věra served us a
cold plate supper in a hurry and. one by
one cleared; up for the night and at an
early hour we were ready to go to bed.
Strážnice, a town of song and dances
will never be forgotten by the ones that
háve ,seen it .Mr. and Mrs. Steve Strmis-
ka, also were at Strážnice and all of
us brought back memories in colored
pictures.
July 1 — Míonday morning and again
we were getting ready to. také that last
walk through Kyjov. My sister, cousin
and I started out early that- morning.
Down the Street, I saw several herses
and colts. My cousin tokl me that this
day was “trades ’day” for horses. I es-
specialiy liked to watch the colts by
the side of the mare.s. We walked on
and met my father furtlier dOwn the
Street. I took several Street scenes, such
as wagons loaded; with coal, also the hor-
ses and colts, “iVlasova fronta”, (people
waiting in long lineš to buy ímeat)
My cousin tcok us to the cemetery,
here I saw the grave of my grandpar-
ents, Mr. and Mrs. Tony Holásek and
also my -great-grandrnother. My cousin
cares for the graves and beautiful pink
petunias were planted on it. The peo-
ple of Czechoslovakia. také good care
of graves and I also saw where a wo-
man was down on her knees with a
serub brush and a pail of wather, serub-
bing the tomstone till it shone. Most
of the stones are black and all are
huge.
From the cemetery, a little ways is
the school where my cousin teachcs
gymnastics. The school is built in mod-
em architecture. She guided us throu-
ghout the building and took us to the
gymnasiím.* which is well equipped with
gymnastic materiál. While we were in
Kyjov, cousin Věra was in Prague, tak-
ing exams for a degree in gymnastics
She passed the exams and graduated
with honors. Everyone was overjoyeá
that she received her degree. From the
top floor of the scliool building I took
several pictures of Kyjov, they are very-
pretty. The countryside of Kyjov iš
very beautiful and also the toymsite.
From here, cousin Věra weiít- home
and sister aricl I decided to go to see
Mrs. Chytil, here we chatted a while
and than we went to a studio to get
posteard photographs of “Kyjov dan-
cers in Kroj.” When we parted with my
cousin she was in a hurry to go home
to make. “cherry dumplings” for dinner.
She told us with regret that morning
that she couldrht serve ineat as she
wasn’t a.llowed to buy it anymore that
v/eek. You. see there, one doesn’t buy
meat just anytime, only when your time
come.s. Talking about good eating', the
cherry dumplings hit the spot. She
made yeast cake dough and mixed in
fresh cherries, topped with melted but-
ter and ground poppy seed. All of us en-
joyed this dinner and it was much bet-
ter than ímeat.
After lunch, sister and I packed our
suiteases and started out to the rail-
road station. Mr. Krejči aceompanied
us on this trip to Prague. We had to
wait for the passenger train as it was
delaycd and was it hot and dry just
like liere in Texas. We parted with Vě-
ra and this was our finál farewell. She
is a very nice young lady whom I en-
joyed to be with very much.
We left Kyjov at 3:30 in the after-
noon for Prague. There was: a two hour
stop at Brno and at midnight we arriv-
ed in Prague. On train Mr. Krejci
bought us šalami and rohlík sandwich
and a cup of beer. It all tasted good on
that particular hot day. By the time we
arrived in Hlavni Nadrazi in Prague,
we all were coveredi with “smut”. The
trains use coal and therefore we were
plenty dirty. One could shake the “smut”
out of the hair and our faces were
dirty also.
From the station we started out with
the luggage “and what háve you” for
our destination, Hotel Esplanade. The
hotel is just across from the station one
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Hošek, Ludva O. Věstník (West, Tex.), Vol. 45, No. 44, Ed. 1 Wednesday, October 30, 1957, newspaper, October 30, 1957; West, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth625432/m1/28/?q=%22~1%22~1: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Slovanska Podporujici Jednota Statu Texas.