Tábor – Home of Hussites If you say the word Tábor (which could be translated as a ´camp´ in English), almost everybody in this this country would imagine hundreds and hundreds of warriors who fought for Bohemia in the 15th century. We could start with Jan Hus. He was a preacher. He warned ordinary people against church. Catholic church was not modest and fair with everybody. The clergy were proud, very rich and used their power against poor people. The clergy profited from ´indulgence´ trading. Those who committed a sin could pay money to buy their sin out. That was something Jan Hus did not agree with. He criticized these practices and believed in a community of equality of poor and rich. He wanted to reform the church. In 1415 he was invited to a clergy council in Konstanz, Germany, to back up his ideas. But as he refused to take back his words and continued to insist on his beliefs, he was sentenced to death (He was burned at stake). People were confused but the idea of creating an equal community with fair rights in faith and religion survived, Jan Hus was proclaimed a martyr and his followers established a new community on the mount of Tábor, Bohemia. The revolt began with defenestration (representatives of Prague were thrown out of the window). The next important event was the establishment of Tábor settlement in 1420. People, táborité (settlers of Tábor) ,got together and they shared all valuables to collect funds to construct a new town. The Hussites were very strong and determined warriors. Major part of them accounted farmers and commons. Their weapons resembled ordinary agricultural tools, actually they were made from them and used in many battles. The Hussites had a special chant which became a famous anthem Ktož jsú boží bojovníci with made their enemies run away from battle fields. Captain Jan Žižka lead them and never lost a battle until his death in 1424. Then the Hussites continued fighting but eventually they were defeated near Lipany. It definitely ended the state of war in the country. Despite of their loss we still celebrate their courage, fighting spirit and patriotism at the local celebration called Táborské slavnosti (Tabor Meetings).
Invitation to the next Tabor Meetings Programme:
Friday 12 September 2014
Opening ceremony, torch parade, fireworks
Saturday 13 September 2014 Medieval market, knight joust, OldBohemian fair, Historic parade, concerts of all musical genres, ChildrenÂ´s paradise, royal chivalrous equestrian Tournament
Sunday 14 September 2014 European Heritage Days
Our school Our school has got a very long name - Střední škola obchodu, služeb a řemesel a Jazyková škola s právem státní jazykové zkoušky Tábor (Secondary School of commerce, services and crafts and Language School provided with the right of State Examination, Tábor) The school was founded by a merger of a vocational and technical schools in Tábor in 2006. It prepares students for future careers in many fields like economics and commerce, librarianship, pastry-making, cooking, carmechanics etc. The school is housed in a complex of buildings situated in a residential area of Tábor called Maredův vrch. It is a quiet area, not far from the city centre. Our classroom can be found in a smaller building slightly aside from the main building. Our building is small and looks like a garage, but we have a lot of freedom there.
Special social events of librarians As librarians we are involved in various public events organized by local libraries, school, or we organize them by ourselves. Most of our audience are children, so we have to come up new things and we need to be able to agree about the event arrangements with each other in the class. There are events like Tabook, Literature Night, Day of Children's Book, A Night with Andersen,...
Tabook is a new literary festival held in Tábor, focusing on the works of small publishers. The festival wants to be especially a meeting of readers, authors, publishers, teachers and librarians. This year was the festival organized for the second time.
Literature Night is a literature happening. The aim of the project is an unusual way to approach public with European literature through a series of public readings, which take place during one evening in attractive and normally inaccessible locations. Czech centres, including Tábor, held this year for the seventh time.
Day of Children's Book is dedicated to the promotion of children's books and reading. Librarians prepare a special lively program somehow connected with that idea. It´s held in public libraries.
A Night with Andersen is one of the events that libraries bring in competition with more popular media fight for the interests of children and children's reading. Children spend the whole night in the library on the occasion of the birth anniversary of a Danish storyteller Hans Christian Andersen, the night falls on April 2. Sometimes it's really exhausting, we spend a lot of time preparing extras, but I think we all enjoy it. We are often dressed up in costumes, performing various fairy tale characters and prepare a show, so it´s definitely fun. The reason of this is of course to bring the kids to the library and to enjoy the time together.
Our everyday life Let me introduce our ordinary school day to you: We usually wake up at about 6 a.m. and make our breakfast (mostly bread or rolls with butter, jam or bacon and cheese and tea or coffee for a drink). Then we get dressed, clean our teeth and go to school. Some of us walk, some ride a bike, go by bus or by train. The lessons start at 7:50 except for Thursdays when the lessons start already at 7 oÂ´clock. We usually have 7 or 8 lessons every day but we can go for lunch to the school canteen after the fifth lesson. We can either choose one out of three cooked meals at the canteen or we can buy something to eat in a small school grocery shop. When all our lessons are over, we are free and can go home. We (who are accommodated at the hall of residence and do not commute everyday) spend our leisure time with our friends, surfing the internet or reading books. We often do sports (archery, play volleyball, football, ice-hockey,..) but not every day. Some of us also enjoy drawing, dancing or singing. Because we are studying to become librarians, we often attend a library, not only in our free time. Actually we must help in our local library every Friday because it is a part of our practical training. After dinner we start learning for the next day, spend some time on the internet or watch TV. Frequently we go to bed very late.
Life in the village Living in the village is freer but some teenagers may find it more boring than living in a town. People in the country know a lot about each other, we even have a special saying about it “vidí si do talíře” meaning that the neighbours can see what is there on your plate. However, country people are friendly and try to maintain local folk traditions such as the Maypole Festival, Easter whipping and carolling, Shrovetide or other fancy dress festivals, dancing balls, social and sports activities. Among favourite activities in Czech villages belongs fire fighting sport. Fire fighting sport means skill training for competitions and shows of volunteer firemen in various age categories. Lately there is a noticeable trend in migration of young people who leave the country for the city.
Life in the City In cities people live mainly in apartments, which are usually quite cheap and more comfortable than old cottages or houses in the country. There is a busy man´s life, which is largely anonymous. Life is easier thanks to the fact that supermarkets and other shops are at their hands. City residents have greater opportunities to find work and use other social or health services. But city life has its negatives too, some people feel depressed due to faster lifestyle and workload. In cities transport can be extremely busy and there is more pollution.
ICE HOCKEY IN TÁBOR ICE HOCKEY TEAM HC COCKS TÁBOR (HC KOHOUTI TÁBOR) - team founded in 1921, when the players appeared in a match on the frozen Jordán dam - ice-hockey players have won the title of masters of South Bohemia many times since then - since 1994 the name of the team = (Ice-)Hockey Club - HC TÁBOR - season 2010-2011 became the black spot in the history of ice hockey in Táborsko region as the club had crucial financial problems - this bad experience turned out to be good eventually.. because Tábor ice-hockey players along with their fans did not give up and sustained the crisis - SATURDAY, 21.12.2013 17:50 HC TÁBOR – HC MORAVSKÉ BUDĚJOVICE For the third time HC Tábor hold a gala charity match in support of DD Radenín (children´s home). This time the event takes place under the name "Delight the kids." HC Tábor provide a charity sale of Crocs shoes directly at the checkout at the winter sports stadium at a special price of 50 CZK.
2013 Table Club
HC Baník Sokolov
HC Moravské Budějovice 2005
V - Wins, VP - win in overtime or shootout, PP - won in overtime or shootout, P - Loss, GS - goals scored, GO – Goals
!The biggest rival = the City of Písek! !!! SATURDAY 14.9.2013 - START OF THIS SEASON !!!
Modrobílí hoši na led zase jdou, zimák bouří, davy šílí nad tou nádherou. Mantinely duní, dáme, hoši, gól a z hlediště ozývá se THIS IS MASCOT OF ICE-HOCKEY TÁBOR ¨COCK¨ ROMAN KOHOUT
fanouškovskej sbor. KOHOUTI JDOU, KOHOUTI JDOU, KOHOUTI TÁBORSKÝ TO VŠECHNO VYHRAJOU.
A-team Head Coach
Assistant to Head Coach
Radek Jindra and Václav Svatoš
Jan Hušek and Luboš Kunovský
ICE HOCKEY FUNCLUB Whenever the team win a match, they make a boat for fans!
System of Government The Czech Republic is a parliamentary democratic system. Citizens elect their representatives to the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate, counties and municipalities. We have had the elections this October, now the winning parties are negotiating about the government. The Chamber of Deputies has 200 members. Their main responsibility is to propose and pass laws. When a law is passed, it goes to the Senate, which has 81 members. There the law is either approved or rejected. In case of refusal, the law is returned to the Chamber of Deputies for adjustments. If the law is approved, it is passed to the President, who signs it. Our political scene is made up of left-wing (ČSSD, KSČM), central (ANO, KDU-ČSL, Úsvit) and right-wing parties (TOP 09, ODS). Now Czech citizens are entitled to vote for the president, currently the post is kept by Miloš Zeman. Our political parties: ČSSD – Česká strana sociálně demokratická (Czech Social Democratic Party) http://www.cssd.cz/ KSČM – Komunistická strana Čech a Moravy (Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia) http://www.kscm.cz/ ANO – Akce nespokojených občanů (Action of unsatisfied citizens) http://www.anobudelip.cz/cs/ TOP 09 – Tradice, Odpovědnost, Prosperita 09 (Tradition, Responsibility, Prosperity 09) http://www.top09.cz/ ODS – Občanská demokratická strana (Civilian Democratic Party) http://www.ods.cz/ Úsvit přímé demokracie (Dawn of straight democracy) http://www.hnutiusvit.cz/ KDU-ČSL – Křesťansko-demokratická unie-Československá strana lidová (Christian Democratic Union-Czechoslovak People's Party) http://www.kdu.cz/
Night Life in Tábor If you want to go out in Tabor somewhere to sit in the evening, Zizka Square is definitely the best place, where you can sit on the terrace enjoying the view of the old town in summer. There are miscellaneous restaurants ranging from those offering typical Czech cuisine to Italian or even Indian cuisine. You can visit the hotel Nautilus, where one has to be ready to pay some extra charge for extended services. To have a drink of excellent Czech beer, go to the newly opened restaurant Original, which is located on the main street in the 9th May Avenue (třída 9.května). Opposite the restaurant there is the hotel Palcát, where you can go to the Steak house and bowling, opened on 20 5th 2013. Right next to it there is a night club NYX, where they play hits from oldies to modern music.
At the ice rink(winter sports stadium) is located the Disco Club Allegro, which can be visited on Saturday after an ice-hockey match. Allegro is not far from the disco Milenium , where is the longest illuminated bar in South Bohemia. If you look for something more central, right next to the castle named Kotnov, there is a disco club of the same name. They make excellent cocktails there. Those of you who long for a peaceful evening with a glass of wine, I would recommend to go to the restaurant U Beranů where you can occasionally hear Czech country music, or the Billiard Club Casablanca. In Sezimovo Ústí you can go to the Apollo, a threestorey building, with a bar and a restaurant on the first floor. There you can have something to eat before going to the second and third floors where the discos are. Cinema-goers are invited to watch a film either at the cinema Svět (at Křižík Square) or the cinema Spektrum(in Sezimovo Ústí II), programme offer available on www.tabor.cz . Fans of classical theatre can join the crowds for a theatre performance at the municipal theatre Divadlo Oskara Nedbala, where they stage great works performed by professional as well as amateur theatre groups from all over the Czech Republic.
Christmas customs A typical Christmas symbol is a Christmas tree. The Christmas tree is decorated with glass balls, glittery chains, straw or glass decorations and chocolate bonbons. A lot of people build a nativity scene where baby Jesus is born in a stable. But Christmas preparations start long before a Christmas tree is decorated. On December 4 we customarily tug a twig of cherry tree called ´barborka´. The twig is taken home, placed in a vase with water and on Christmas Day it will bloom. Mistletoe twigs are hung below the chandelier, a symbol of luck in the New Year. Another typical symbol is special festive confectionery, which is an inseparable feature of a Czech Christmas table. Christmas sweets are mostly made of flour, sugar, eggs, butter, cocoa and chocolate. Gingerbread, Linzer biscuits and vanilla rolls belong to the most favourite kinds. A special Christmas cake called ´vánočka´ is made and placed on the table. Everybody loves aroma of Christmas spices as vanilla, cinnamon and clove. For Christmas dinner families usually prepare a traditional menu of fried carp with potato salad and carp soup. We have a special custom connected with fish. Apart from the fact, that families with small children usually bring a live carp and keep it in the bathroom tub for one or two days, we are also quite superstitious about the scales. If you find a fish scale After dinner we wait impatiently for a bell ringing, as it is the signal letting us know that it is time to unpack our presents. Christmas carols are sung at the Christmas tree too. Czech people also make advent wreaths and decorate the entrance doors and tables with them. Four advent Sundays have their special names; the first one is iron Sunday, the second is bronze one, the third is silver and the last is gold. The wreath is decorated with spruce branches, candles and ribbons. Among old traditions belongs pouring lead, sailing nuts ships, throwing shoes and cutting apples. If a star is found in the apple, it will bring good luck and health. In some families people bring home a candle which was lit by other candle, which had originally been lit in Bethlehem, this light is called Bethlehem light. At midnight not only religious people go to church to a festive Christmas midnight mass. Peťa
How My Family Celebrate Christmas Our family isn´t large but it isn´t small either. We live in a village in a big farm house. Our Christmas Day starts at 8:30 a.m., it is the time, when I must get up. I don´t have breakfast in the morning and I try not to eat all day, because I want to see a gold pig (which I have never seen before). The preparations start with tree decorating. We bring it inside and start looking for a stand. After an hour of intensive searching we start decorating the Christmas tree. We have decorations made of straw, a classical old Czech tree. (see the photo) The next step is preparation of Christmas table; starting with ironing of the table-cloths, polishing forks, knives and spoons. Although washing of festive plates and dishes isn´t fun, it belongs to Christmas. We must distribute Christmas sweets to our neighbours, which is my favourite activity, because our neighbours give their Christmas sweets to us in return. Unfortunately, I don´t bring home any sweets, because I´m very hungry as I didn´t have any breakfast, I eat all sweets. My Dad begins to cook fish soup and to fry carp (fish) in the evening. After dinner I and my siblings go to our bedroom, because we wait for Ježíšek, who is believed to bring Christmas presents to the Czechs. When he rings the bell, we know that everything is done and ready, so we go to unwrap our gifts. We have only few presents under the Christmas tree. Then we sit down on the couch and we watch new fairy tales on TV. Christmas has its special atmosphere, Christmas atmosphere. It is a holiday full of comfort, contentment and love. I love this time, because it is a moment, when I´m with my family.
Recipe for Linzer biscuits Linzer biscuits are traditional Czech Christmas sweets. Theyâ€™re simple and taste great. You can try to bake them at home too. Here is the recipe.J Ingredients: 250 g fine flour 120 g icing sugar 130 g butter 1 egg grated lemon peel (from 1 lemon) 1 packet of vanilla sugar 1 jar of currant jam Procedure: Prepare a pastry of flour, sugar, butter, egg, grated lemon peel and vanilla sugar. Put it in the fridge for half an hour. Then roll the pastry into a 2-millimetre-thick slab and cut out various shapes - wheels, hearts, stars etc. To do this you can use metal or plastic cookie cutters or your imagination and cut shapes out with a knife. If you make 20 identical shapes of a star, half of them bake as they are and in 10 of them make a small hole in the centre before baking. Stick cooled down shapes using currant jar (pair a plain shape with a shape that has a hole in the centre). Dobrou chuĹĽ! :)
Hello, let me introduce myself. Iam Saint Wenceslas. Iam the patron of the Czech country. You can see me at twenty-crowns coins or in Wenceslas square. Thi statue was made by a famous Czech sculptor Josef Václav Myslbek. I am surprised that I am so important for Czech citizens because my live was quite short. Born in 907 I grew up at my grandmother´s Ludmila and she led me to Christian faith. In the end she was killed by my mother Drahomíra. When I became king I had to pay to other countries to keep peace. I hate wars and I don´t want people to suffer. In 928 (or later, maybe in 935 ... It is so long that I have forgotten the exact year) a terrible accident happened. I was killed by my brother Boleslav. And I haven´t forgiven him yet! Oh and I ´d like to mention one more important thing, my name-day is celebrated on September 28 and on this day people remember me. Actually I dare say I am loved by students mainly when my name-day falls on a workday, because when it is so, students have a day off. People are telling legends about me. According to this legend I sleepin the Blaník mountain with knights. When came the worst time for czechpeople I will help them. Maybe really horrible times will comewhen Im still sleeping now.
Czech Filmography As many other countries, we have a really diverse filmography. And if I were to write about every film, this article would be endless. Nonetheless there are just few films that they are characteristically Czech. In the first place I must mention the period of black and white films of earlier days, when films e.g. Hotel Modrá hvězda (´The Blue Star Hotel ´), Hordubalové (´The Hordubals´), Dívka v modrém (´Girl in Blue´), Eva tropí hlouposti (´Eva Does Silly Things´ with the great actress Natasha Goll !) were made. You may know the actor Vlasta Burian, who played in many films, for example the film Ducháček to zařídí (read as ´Duchaaczek Will Arrange It´), sorry but I really don’t know how to translate the name, Duchaaczek means something like a little ghost. Or another popular film Nezlobte dědečka (´Don’t make Your Grandfather Mad´), where he stars in three roles! I really have to let you know you about Jan Werich. Yes, you can google him, since he made the best Czech films ever! His masterpieces are Císařův pekař (´Emperor’s Baker´) and Pekařův císař (´Baker’s Emperor´), both these films are about a golem. Do you know what a golem is? And Vlasta Burian acts also in a lovely fairytale named Byl jednou jeden král (´Once There Was a King...´), it’s a fairytale about a misunderstanding between father and her daughter. The plot starts with the scene where one of the three king´s daughters says to her dad that she loves him as salt and this is what makes him angry, because he thinks that salt is useless and invaluable! Then Werich gave voice to my favourite fairytales, he made audial recordings, which were later made into a film too. The collection is called Fimfarum. Yeah. There are three films, but the first one is my favourite.
Well, another film I want to talk about is Limonádový Joe (´Lemonade Joe´). It’s a comedy, parody and a musical in one. The story is about a cowboy, who likes to drink Kolaloka lemonade, based on Coca-Cola. Now I want to mention Miloš Forman. Do you know him? Yes, he is a director. He has made many great movies. For example Loves of a Blonde, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest ( with Jack Nicholson!), Hair (a great musical!), Amadeus (You must know Amadeus!), The People vs. Larry Flynt or Goya’s Ghosts. He has been awarded several Oscars, Golden Globes, Baftas and many other prestigious prizes. Christmas time is coming and this is the time when everybody watches fairytales on TV. In my family we love watching them. We really do. I love Šíleně smutná princezna (´A Madly Sad Princess´) and Tři oříšky pro Popelku (´Three Nuts for Cinderella´). They are quite old, but so cute! We also love an old fairytale about devils. It’s called S čerty nejsou žerty (and it could be translated as ´No joking around with devils´).
Compared with the USA, we also have some stupid comedies, e.g. Ecce Homo Homolka, Hogo Fogo Homolka, Homolka and Tobolka or a trilogy about country lifestyle named Slunce, seno, jahody (´Sun, Hay and Strawberries´), Slunce, seno a pár facek (´Sun, Hay and a Couple of Slaps´), Slunce, seno, erotika (´Sun, Hay, Erotics´). I’m sorry, I hate these comedies, I don´t get its humour which is why I won’t write about them anymore. If you want to know what they are about, go and google more details about them. Finally I´m going to say a few words about some typical Czech movies loved by all family; S tebou mě baví svět (´I’m Enjoying the World with You´) about men and their winter holidays with their kids. Diskopříběh (´Discostory´) – I actually have no idea what the main idea of this movie is, what the hell ... Ehm. Another film from this category would be Na samotě u lesa (´At the Solitary House Near a Forest´). It shows the beauty of our countryside and animals, but it’s not a documentary. 17
A famous collage about poets in five parts: (A funny thing is, that the main character is a doctor) 1) Jak svět přichází o básníky (´How World Loses Poets´) 2) Jak Básníci přicházejí o iluze (´How Poets Lose Illusions´) 3) Jak Básníkům chutná život (How Poets Enjoy Life´) 4) Konec Básníků v Čechách (´End of Poets in Bohemia´) 5) Jak básníci neztrácejí naději (´How Poets never lose hope´) You may know Jan Švankmajer and his Alice. (´Something from Alice´) He has a different view on Alice and her story. It’s scary, bizarre and distinguished.
And after all I want to tell you about a fairytale named Princezna ze mlejna (´Princess from Mill´). There is a character of a devil and a water goblin, and it’s very funny. And why I’m telling you about this? Since the name of the princess is Eliška and I am named after her.
Tomáš Klus Tomáš Klus, one of the most famous singers in the Czech Republic, was born in May of 1985. As a boy, he used to do pentathlon and he was great in it (winner of European champion!). Because of training he moved to Prague but he then started singing and found acting more interesting than sport. So he joined DAMU, a special college for actors and soon became one of them. At the same time, he was learning how to play the guitar and started writing his own songs. He won a local singing competition and music producers made a discovery of his talent in there. He was nice, funny, his songs were great, so it didn´t last long and he created his first album named ´Cesta do záhu(d) by´. His second album ´Hlavní uzávěr splínu´ made him famous. Songs like ´Marie´, ´Chybíš mi´ and ´Damoklův meč´ were played on the radio channels in the whole country. During that time, he was also acting at the theatres, TV shows and movies (especially popular is a fairytale which he shot two years ago). Last year, he released a CD called ´Racek´ with four singles inspired by A. P. Chekhov´s play, in which he was acting. He also won the most prestigious music award in the Czech Republic, Czech Nightingale and he was successful in several categories, an award for artists named Angel. This year, he got married and his daughter was born. He´s working on his new album and tours the country with his concerts.