Traditional carnival in Czechia

Posted by M H on January 27, 2024 - 5:33pm Edited 1/27 at 5:33pm

Carnival tradition in Czechia is still alive

In Czech language we call this celebration MASOPUST. It is combined from two words - maso = meat and pust = fasting. Almost the same as carnevale = byebye meat.

The whole carnival is quite long. It always starts the same way, the day after the Feast of the Three Kings, i.e. January 7. It ends on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. Its date is determined by the moving date of Easter and is followed by a forty-day fast.

This year, Ash Wednesday falls on February 14, 2024, and the end of Shrove Tuesday will be February 13, 2024.

The forty-day fast is counted without Sundays and thus ends on Holy Saturday, which this year falls on April 8, 2024.

Easter is a moving holiday. All public holidays, including Mardi Gras and the days of Easter week, fall on a different date each year.
Shrove Tuesday belongs to pre-Christian holidays. Native customs were supposed to ensure a good harvest, as the new economic year began at that time. During Mardi Gras, people could eat, drink and be merry before the long Easter fast. That's why there were always killing parties, rich feasts, masquerades and entertainment during the carnival.

Masks in parades and their roles vary from region to region. For example, the carnival tours in Hlineck, which have even made it onto the UNESCO list, must not miss a laufr, a woman, Turks, a straw man, a mare with a race, chimney sweeps and peddlers called Jews. In Wallachia, the original masks include a bear and its driver, a Jew, an undertaker, a bride, a soldier, a mare, a beggar, and masks of various professions – butchers, tinkerers, doctors, barbers, etc. It is similar in Haná, where in addition, as one of of the main masks, a rooster appears.

Dance with the bear and fertility from straw man
Mardi Gras parades are very merry and mischievous. For example, the figure of a straw man rolls along with the onlookers - mainly women - on the ground in order to transfer its fertile power to them.

Traditional masks include a bear, which symbolizes strength. No housekeeper refused to dance with him, because during the cavorting this power was transferred to her. It was also believed that the higher a housewife jumps while dancing, the higher her harvest will be. In some regions, a quartet of dancers called Turks play an important role. They have to raise their legs high while dancing so that the tall flax and grain grow.
The Mardi Gras round ends with a ceremonial ritual, when one of the masks is slaughtered, buried or shot, e.g. a mare, a bear or a bass, depending on the specific area.

Masks in parades and their roles vary from region to region. For example, the carnival tours in Hlinsko, which have even made it onto the UNESCO list, must not miss a so called laufr, a woman, Turks, a straw man, a mare with a race, chimney sweeps and peddlers called Jews. In Wallachia (Moravian region), the original masks include a bear and its driver, a Jew, an undertaker, a bride, a soldier, a mare, a beggar, and masks of various professions – butchers, tinkerers, doctors, barbers, etc. It is similar in moravian Haná, where in addition, as one of of the main masks, a rooster appears.

Burrying of bass

Though it seems the tradition is mostly followed in the smaller towns capital Praha also organizes carnivals. The most known and much visited is the carnival which goes from Prague Castle down through the Lesser Town to the Charles bridge and it is full of many different masks.