Hody (literally the Feasts) is an annual traditional celebration held in many villages and towns of historical land

Moravia Moravia ( ; ) is a historical region in the eastern Czech Republic, roughly encompassing its territory within the Danube River's drainage basin. It is one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The medieval and early ...

in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

. The festivity is held from May to November in almost all villages and towns of the cultural region of

Moravian Slovakia Moravian Slovakia, also called Slovácko (, older ''Moravské Slovensko'') is a cultural region in the southeastern part of the Czech Republic. It lies in the historical region of Moravia, on the border with Slovakia (the Slovak region of Záho ...

. The time of the celebration differs - each village or town has a church building dedicated to a particular patron saint and usually the nearest Sunday after the date of the saint's day is also the date for celebration of ''Hody''. The celebration usually takes place on Sunday and may last one or two more days. In the centre of the event stands a festive

maypole A maypole is a tall wooden pole erected as a part of various European List of folk festivals, folk festivals, around which a maypole dance often takes place. The festivals may occur on May Day, 1 May or Pentecost (Whitsun), although in some co ...

( or ''májka'') which is usually manually erected one day before the festivity. The maypole is often more than 30 metres tall, built from two or three

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' ( ), a genus of about 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal (taiga) regions of the Northern hemisphere. ''Picea'' ...

trees. It is erected with the help of ladders and crowbars. The maypole stands in the centre of a dancing place (in Czech: ''plac'' or ''sólo''). People are dancing and singing around with the accompaniment of the brass music. The main organizer and arranger of ''Hody'' is a selected young boy called ''první stárek'' (the first ''stárek'' - literally the first "''old one''"). He and a group of young friends (somewhere they are called ''stárek''s - Czech plural: ''stárci;'' or they can be called ''chasa'') are responsible for the organization and smooth running of the event. Each ''stárek'' (or member of ''chasa)'' also has a girl partner, usually called ''starka'' or ''stárka''. The boys and girls wears a traditional folk costume, which differs widely from region to region. At the beginning of ''Hody'', a mayor of the village or town should pass symbolically the rule over to the ''first stárek''.

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Folklore Summer - Folklore Festivals and Celebrations (Prague - Heart of Europe)Czech culture alive and well in Canada (Radio Prague)
{{Moravian folk culture South Moravian Region Cultural festivals in the Czech Republic Tourist attractions in the South Moravian Region

See also

References

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