This is such a pleasure to read. The crux of it, I think, coming down to this one excellent question: “But aren’t all of us making choices about which aspects of our past we choose to carry forward with us and which we are content to leave behind?” Much to ponder in that.
Thank you for the reference to The key if Gold - I need to check this out!
Enjoy your month there! So much to explore and process and, of course, write about!
Thanks for taking time to read, Jan! I'll write about the Moravian trip next week. This Tuesday I'll be sending out a polemic about academe inspired by Václav Havel. I am realizing that my idealism has much in common with Czech literature -- I'd always though that my sensibilities were closer to German Romanticism. But the two traditions do cross-pollinate somewhat. My penchant for freethinking has deep affinities with Czech culture, insofar as I understand it.
hey, my guest contributor for this month has just come down with Covid. Would you be interested in sharing this post on Finding Home? Honestly, I think it's perfect. email me at FindingHome@substack.com and I'll tell you what I need.
of course! and Ditto!! I'm so taken with the Czech national anthem now that I may write something about that. If I do, I will include a link to you and this post. -- and your breadth of literature appears to surpass mine! :)
Perhaps there is a reason the Czech national anthem is "Where is my home." As much as I love Prague, I always spend some time on every trip in the countryside. It has a different rhythm and flow. I did visit the Svec ancestral home. You had to take a train from Pilsen, get off at the last stop, then take a bus about 10 km to the last bus stop and you found yourself in a village of several hundred people along the Berounka River. In 1726 four new homes were built on a hill overlooking the village and 2 of the 4 were Svec. Apparently the introvert gene is deep in the family. Land records describe the home and the current houses look to have been rebuilt from log and thatch into stone and tile. They were on a hill that overlooked a river valley below, absolutely beautiful especially near sunset. From the house you could see down to the village and even glimpse the cemetery. It was a bit sobering to think that generations were born, married, and died living their entire lives in the space between the house and that cemetery. The house was also very practical, despite having a million dollar view, there were no windows facing the valley. Although the house remained in the family until the late 20th century, my ggg grandfather Frantisek was the last of my direct line to live there. He left at the age of 11 after both his parents died and his brother inherited the property. I was better for having been there and perhaps being reminded of the ordinary things in our lives that a home represents and how somethings change overtime such as jobs, but other things such as relationships, endure.
Michael, your comments is timely, because I just spent eleven hours traveling from village to village in the Trebic area, including long detours at two ancestral homes that are now owned by other families. I'll write more about that in the coming weeks. But the one major disappointment was the discovery that Czech grave plots are leases, not forever purchases. Which means that if the whole family immigrates or dies off, as mine seems to have, the headstones get removed and other burials happen on top of those sites. So I visited cemeteries in Zakrany, Lukovany, Sokoli, Knezice, and Trebic (one man claimed that older grave plots in Sokoli were moved to Trevic), and found not a single headstone of an ancestor. To some extent that does not matter, because I have their names and dates and other forms of documentation. But standing at the grave of a blood relation brings a certain clarity that I was sorry to find so elusive.
I agree that was a disappointment. I currently live in South Carolina with very few Czechs. If you meet anyone with the Svec surname, it is me or my sons. At times I am envious of the church cemeteries/graveyards where you can see the same surnames over and over again. I have had students with the deed to their properties signed by King George! Although I have lived here 24 years, I don't have the connection to the land that others have. Whenever I visited Czech cemeteries I was satisfied if I at least saw the surname on a marker (about a 50/50 chance). In the Svec ancestral home there were 3 gravestones with the Svec surname. Not sure who or when, but I did feel some connection to that place that I have not felt here in South Carolina.
I have a polemic about academia inspired by Havel coming out on Tuesday. The trip to my ancestral villages needs to simmer a little longer. There were lots of headstones with ancestral names, just not the ones in my family tree. I suppose you're right that the ubiquitous presence of the surname itself, and comments like the one from a hotel receptionist -- Doležal, that's a Czech name -- all build a sense of connection. There were musical instruments in both ancestral homes that I visited (I am an oddball in my wife's family for playing an instrument) and a deep fondness for growing food and turning it into delicious things like slivovice that I recognize in my own obsession with gardening and food preservation. So, yes, lots of familiarity and definitely a sense of a homecoming. I am also freshly aware of how deeply American much of my thinking is and always will be. So this is not a simple discovery of a Czech identity that has been hidden within me all along. Complicated and meaningful and just the thing to tease apart with writing.
Sounds like a great experience. I'm reminded of Loius Jenkins's poem, "My Ancestral Home." Do you know it? If you can't find it, I'll send a copy. Close enough is sometimes better.
That's a great poem. My tour guide in Prague told a similar story about a man from the Midwest who wept over gravesites in his ancestral village and then flew back home. The tour guide later discovered that they had visited the wrong village -- the American had given him the wrong information -- but he felt that sharing it would cause more harm than good. DNA research also suggests more variation within ethnic groups than between them, which does rather beg the question of why the strict bloodline is so important. Maybe my kids won't care that much, but I would like to have more than rumors to share with them.
As I think you know, in my ancestry-discovery case I have a chance to explore the Nature/Nurture binary: my adoptive parents are first generation Irish (on my father's side) and Pomeranian/German (on my mother's), but my birth mother (so far as I'm able to determine) is a first generation Scot. I have not located a father. And speaking of DNA, I've just enrolled in a DNA research project at my clinic since I would like to pass on some information to my boys. We're all pretty healthy, but I've just had hip-replacement surgery and I guess I'd like to know more about those predispositions among other possible ones. I'm a month out, still limping a bit, but the surgeon assures me I'll be playing golf and running (in six months perhaps). I haven't played golf in 4 years, but maybe I'll surprise myself.
Enjoy your time in Prague and the workshop; it's a workshop I've wanted to attend myself, especially when Trish was there. But, of course, we can go to Prague any time!
This is such a pleasure to read. The crux of it, I think, coming down to this one excellent question: “But aren’t all of us making choices about which aspects of our past we choose to carry forward with us and which we are content to leave behind?” Much to ponder in that.
Thank you for the reference to The key if Gold - I need to check this out!
Enjoy your month there! So much to explore and process and, of course, write about!
Thanks for taking time to read, Jan! I'll write about the Moravian trip next week. This Tuesday I'll be sending out a polemic about academe inspired by Václav Havel. I am realizing that my idealism has much in common with Czech literature -- I'd always though that my sensibilities were closer to German Romanticism. But the two traditions do cross-pollinate somewhat. My penchant for freethinking has deep affinities with Czech culture, insofar as I understand it.
hey, my guest contributor for this month has just come down with Covid. Would you be interested in sharing this post on Finding Home? Honestly, I think it's perfect. email me at FindingHome@substack.com and I'll tell you what I need.
of course! and Ditto!! I'm so taken with the Czech national anthem now that I may write something about that. If I do, I will include a link to you and this post. -- and your breadth of literature appears to surpass mine! :)
That dish looks delicious. I need to visit U Sadu
Perhaps there is a reason the Czech national anthem is "Where is my home." As much as I love Prague, I always spend some time on every trip in the countryside. It has a different rhythm and flow. I did visit the Svec ancestral home. You had to take a train from Pilsen, get off at the last stop, then take a bus about 10 km to the last bus stop and you found yourself in a village of several hundred people along the Berounka River. In 1726 four new homes were built on a hill overlooking the village and 2 of the 4 were Svec. Apparently the introvert gene is deep in the family. Land records describe the home and the current houses look to have been rebuilt from log and thatch into stone and tile. They were on a hill that overlooked a river valley below, absolutely beautiful especially near sunset. From the house you could see down to the village and even glimpse the cemetery. It was a bit sobering to think that generations were born, married, and died living their entire lives in the space between the house and that cemetery. The house was also very practical, despite having a million dollar view, there were no windows facing the valley. Although the house remained in the family until the late 20th century, my ggg grandfather Frantisek was the last of my direct line to live there. He left at the age of 11 after both his parents died and his brother inherited the property. I was better for having been there and perhaps being reminded of the ordinary things in our lives that a home represents and how somethings change overtime such as jobs, but other things such as relationships, endure.
You might also enjoy this reflection by a Czech author: https://wordswithoutborders.org/read/article/2022-07/czech-enough-jaroslav-kalfar/
Michael, your comments is timely, because I just spent eleven hours traveling from village to village in the Trebic area, including long detours at two ancestral homes that are now owned by other families. I'll write more about that in the coming weeks. But the one major disappointment was the discovery that Czech grave plots are leases, not forever purchases. Which means that if the whole family immigrates or dies off, as mine seems to have, the headstones get removed and other burials happen on top of those sites. So I visited cemeteries in Zakrany, Lukovany, Sokoli, Knezice, and Trebic (one man claimed that older grave plots in Sokoli were moved to Trevic), and found not a single headstone of an ancestor. To some extent that does not matter, because I have their names and dates and other forms of documentation. But standing at the grave of a blood relation brings a certain clarity that I was sorry to find so elusive.
I agree that was a disappointment. I currently live in South Carolina with very few Czechs. If you meet anyone with the Svec surname, it is me or my sons. At times I am envious of the church cemeteries/graveyards where you can see the same surnames over and over again. I have had students with the deed to their properties signed by King George! Although I have lived here 24 years, I don't have the connection to the land that others have. Whenever I visited Czech cemeteries I was satisfied if I at least saw the surname on a marker (about a 50/50 chance). In the Svec ancestral home there were 3 gravestones with the Svec surname. Not sure who or when, but I did feel some connection to that place that I have not felt here in South Carolina.
I have a polemic about academia inspired by Havel coming out on Tuesday. The trip to my ancestral villages needs to simmer a little longer. There were lots of headstones with ancestral names, just not the ones in my family tree. I suppose you're right that the ubiquitous presence of the surname itself, and comments like the one from a hotel receptionist -- Doležal, that's a Czech name -- all build a sense of connection. There were musical instruments in both ancestral homes that I visited (I am an oddball in my wife's family for playing an instrument) and a deep fondness for growing food and turning it into delicious things like slivovice that I recognize in my own obsession with gardening and food preservation. So, yes, lots of familiarity and definitely a sense of a homecoming. I am also freshly aware of how deeply American much of my thinking is and always will be. So this is not a simple discovery of a Czech identity that has been hidden within me all along. Complicated and meaningful and just the thing to tease apart with writing.
I had no idea that is the Czech national anthem!! I will have to look into that - now I want to hear it and know all the words!!
Sounds like a great experience. I'm reminded of Loius Jenkins's poem, "My Ancestral Home." Do you know it? If you can't find it, I'll send a copy. Close enough is sometimes better.
That's a great poem. My tour guide in Prague told a similar story about a man from the Midwest who wept over gravesites in his ancestral village and then flew back home. The tour guide later discovered that they had visited the wrong village -- the American had given him the wrong information -- but he felt that sharing it would cause more harm than good. DNA research also suggests more variation within ethnic groups than between them, which does rather beg the question of why the strict bloodline is so important. Maybe my kids won't care that much, but I would like to have more than rumors to share with them.
As I think you know, in my ancestry-discovery case I have a chance to explore the Nature/Nurture binary: my adoptive parents are first generation Irish (on my father's side) and Pomeranian/German (on my mother's), but my birth mother (so far as I'm able to determine) is a first generation Scot. I have not located a father. And speaking of DNA, I've just enrolled in a DNA research project at my clinic since I would like to pass on some information to my boys. We're all pretty healthy, but I've just had hip-replacement surgery and I guess I'd like to know more about those predispositions among other possible ones. I'm a month out, still limping a bit, but the surgeon assures me I'll be playing golf and running (in six months perhaps). I haven't played golf in 4 years, but maybe I'll surprise myself.
Enjoy your time in Prague and the workshop; it's a workshop I've wanted to attend myself, especially when Trish was there. But, of course, we can go to Prague any time!
Hope the tripe is going well. Some great photos so far, especially the food.