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138 discussions from all categories
A Name to Anchor Identity: From Mulberry to “Praha” If you look at a Texas map, you’ll encounter a myriad of unique place names. Some describe a tree, a river, …
When a word leaves Prague and never really comes back The most famous Czech word in the world is almost certainly robot. Today it is used in Italian, English, C…
Why look at the map “with Czech eyes” If you leaf through a map of North America or Eastern Europe with even a little attention, patterns start to surface: Prag…
The word "pivo": simple, familiar, and very old In Czech, beer is called pivo, a short, direct word that feels almost domestic. For a foreign reader it may soun…
A creature of water, but not simply a “Slavic mermaid” Rusalka is often introduced, rather conveniently, as a “Slavic mermaid”, but that description is more use…
From a family koláč to a public celebration The kolache, in its best-known American form, comes from the Czech koláč: a yeasted pastry, often round, filled with…
A simple name for a complex tradition The word dechovka comes from dechová hudba, literally “wind music”. That sounds almost like a technical label, but in Czec…
Beyond “Czech Towns”: Cultural Meeting Points Within Large Metropolises When people hear “Czech emigration”, they often picture a map dotted with place names: a…
A mountain that needed a face The Krkonoše are not simply the highest mountain range in the Czech Republic. They are a border landscape, suspended between Bohem…
When hockey reached the Czech lands Ice hockey, known in Czech as lední hokej, took root in the Czech lands well before Czechoslovakia existed. At first it was …
A region that seems to breathe slowly Šumava is a broad mountain and forest region in south-western Bohemia, stretching along the border with Germany and Austri…
A circle of home: when a pastry becomes a compass If I had to explain the American kolache to someone who’s never seen one, I’d say this: picture a sweet roll t…
Pilsen, Chicago: A Neighborhood Shaped by Successive Migration Layers Pilsen sits on Chicago’s Lower West Side, a place whose story is almost a textbook in how …
Where it is and why it matters New Prague is a small city in southern Minnesota—close enough to the Twin Cities (Minneapolis–St. Paul) to stay connected, but fa…
A landlocked country, but not without natural borders The Czech Republic lies in the heart of Central Europe: it has no access to the sea, borders Germany, Pola…
Czech & Slovak Dance Ball with live folk and dance music, social dancing and a community gathering.
Historic Moravian Day festival celebrating Moravian, Czech and Slovak heritage, with Czech Mass, brass bands and 200+ dancers in kroje. Exact dates TBD (traditi…
Large multi-genre festival in an industrial heritage site, with international headliners and many parallel cultural activities.
Major open-air rock and pop festival with 200+ performers and big international headliners over several days.
Contemporary music and arts festival with a multi-genre program and international acts.
