Other than International Labour Day, Czechs celebrate love on 1st of May.
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| Self-love. :D Haha |
Wow, I totally have no idea that Czech has so many traditions and actually I am not sure if people really celebrate today as Day of Love. But, from what I read, the Day of Love in Czech was introduced earlier than the famous Valentine's Day. This country is a bit beyond our imagination and Malaysians always remember it as Czechoslovakia (still) in which they have peacefully separated on 1st January 1993.
Okay, back to the topic. In Czech, there is a romantic poet named Karel Hynek Mácha who wrote Máj (May), a famous poem among Czechs. This one is the English translation anyway.
It was late evening, on the first of May,
The eve of May was the time of love.
The turtle-dove´s voice called to love,
Where rich and sweet pinewoods lay.
There are few customs / traditions / events on this day that MAYBE some Czechs still do them.
1. There is Karel Hynek Mácha's statue on Petřín Hill and some lovers will kiss in front of the statue with belief that their love will be as strong as the stone. -_-'
2. Lovers will kiss under a blooming cherry tree or birch. But the legend is a bit awkward to think about... that if a girl is not kissed, she will wither and die in twelve months. HAHA. Many people survived I guess.
3. Some villagers erect maypoles and they need to protect the maypoles from being stolen by other neighborhoods' villagers. This is my first time to come across the word 'maypoles'.
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| Source - Wikimedia |
4. The last tradition is, there is Majáles, an event celebrated by students in cities. Majáles today is more about a festival with musics and some other competitions. I don't know much, just don't want to get involved. These people can get wild most of the times in these kind of events -_-'
Well, I am sharing this here not because I believe or I celebrate it, just for general knowledge yea. Anyway, happy holiday today!
Reference:
HK, Czech
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