Figure 1.-- Football as in most countries is by far the most popular sport in the Czech Republic. We notice that gymnastics is also popular. |
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We have only begun to work on Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic at this time. We have some information on choirs and schools at this time as wella s some information on sports. Czechoslovakia had a varied religious heritage. Several major creeds have played a role in the country's historyWe hope to eventually expand our assessment of boys' activitities ans associate clothing as we acquire more information about Czech boys clothing. Hopefully our Czech readers will help us expand our information here.
We have no historical information on boy choirs in Czechoslovakia, but we do have some information on modern choirs in the Czech Republic.
Czechoslovakia had a varied religious heritage. Several major creeds have played a role in the country's history: Roman Catholic, Uniate, the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren, Lutheran, Calvinist, Orthodox, the Czech Reformed Church (the Hussites), the Old Catholic Church, and Judaism.
Czechoslovakia was built around the Czech lands of Bohemia and Moravia. The Czechs were an early convert to Lutherenism during the Protestant Reformation. It was also one of the successes of the Counter Reformation through which by force of Hapsburg arms, the Czechs were forced back into the Catholic Church. Even so, it left and indelible mark on both the Czech church and people. Roman Catholicism, esoecially the papacy, came to be seen as both pro-Hapsburg and pro-German by the Czechs and other ethnic groups. (Compare this to Poland and Ireland where the Catholic Church was a symbol of national identity to foreign control.) After the 16th century religious wars there were minorities of various Prorestant scects among the various mostly Catholic ethnic groups: Bohemian Brethren in the Czech lands, Lutherans in Slovakia, and Calvinists among the Hungarians. At the time Czechoslovakia became independent after World war I, about two-thirds of the population was Catholic. While Czechoslovakia was overwealmingly Catholic, the Protestant minority and history of religious discent helped to forge a more tolerant Catholicism. A spirit of resistance to Rome began even befoe the Reformation with the Hussite heresey. Another factor here was surely the fact that the Hapsburgs were strongly suported by the papacy helped to create a resistance t papal control within the Czech church, especially in the Czech lands of Bohemia and Moravia. The Catholics split with Rome over the issue of papal infallibility even before Czechoslovakia was created (1870). The Czechoslovak National Church was Catholic but decidedly antipapal, and very nationalistic with a range of inluences, including Hussite and Unitarian . Relations between the Vatican and the new independent Czechoslovakia were uneasy. The papal nuncio twiceleft Prague in protest over preceived anti-Catholic government actions (1925 and 33).
Assessing Czech schools is a little complicated in this mational format. This is because the Czech people have been incorporated over time in many different states. Bohemia was once an independent kingdom and then for many years was ruled by an Austrian monarchy under a range of constitutional arrangements. As a result, Czech education was heavily influenced by German educational trends. After World War I Czechslovakia was created, an independent state with both Czechs and Slovaks as well as othernationalities. The NAZIs dismembered Czechoslovakia, but it was restablished after World War II and became a Communist puppet state. After the overthrow of the Communists, Czechoslovakia was paritioned intto the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
We have very limited information about sport in Czech Republic or before the creation of the Czech Republic, the former Czechoslovakia. As in most countries, football (soccer) is by large margins the most important sport. We see youth teams playing games with other Czech teams as well as foreign teams, especially Germany. We are not sure how these teams are organized. They appear to sports clubs rather than school teams. We also notice that gymnastics is very popular in the Czech Republic. Again it seems to be organized primarily through sports clubs.
Children from time imemoriable have enjoyed toys. A Czech boys being located next to Germany and part of the Austro-Hungrian Empire have had some great toys. We don't know of any specific Czech toys. Basically Czech children had the same toys as Austrian and German children. German until the NAZIs seized power were noted for some of the best children's toys. We don't have enough Czech imahes yet to describe the variety of toys children they played with.
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