the decorated tree is a symbol of traditional celebration, which takes about 4 days and every village has it in other term. Under this tree we are dancing, singing, having fun... Boys must look about it during celebration, because boys from another village can come and cut it down. And this is a big shame!

There were two types of traditional costumes - for celebrations and for everyday using. The costumes for every day were common abou 50 and more years ago, now wear it only old women. Costumes for celebrations are very expensive. Whole costume can cost as much as new motorbike! So every family look about it very carefully. Every part of costume is kepr for about 30 years looking as new. New parts are bought separated during years. It is difficult to dress up this costumes, people can not do it themselves. There are old women helping them, they need years of experiences. Whith their help it takes more than hour, especially for girls.

Boys are dancing specific south moravian dance, which consist of various jumps and steps. It is traditionally only for boys. Few hudreds years ago boys danced it as a protest when they had to join the army. Every boy has his own style.

For comparison I send photos from my village - Brumovice - which is only 4 km far from Kobyli, but the costumes are different. Every village has own costume.

On the hats, boys wear, are hundreds of small beads and it has about 2 kilograms, so it is really heavy to wear all day. Married men are not allowed to wear the feathers from cock tail.

Sports(wo)men: Is the winner the same as hero?

Last time (25th April) we were discussing "cultures", especially Geert Hofstede´s theory of them, his definition and five main indices which determine every culture. Janice reminded the circle diagram. That is how we got to the HERO /HEROIN question.
While talking about national heroes, I´d rather say personalities considered as heroes, Nicolas mentioned that in France succesful sportsmen are often admired as heroes, at least within certain group of people. In our country (Czech republic and I dare say even in Slovakia) it´s the same. Apparently there are some who believe Milan Baros (football player) or Roman Sebrle (athlete who compete in decathlon) are national heroes. In 1998 when our ice-hockey team won gold medal in Olympics many people felt real enthusiasm. I remember newspaper and TV was full of it. But I´m not sure if there would have been a crowd in the airport welcoming the team, if they had lost. Well, even on third place, theys would still have remained good players.
This year Katerina Neumannova (won world championship in cross-country skiing) was awarded by President of Czech republic. I´m not sure if she even appeared on ceremonial. If she had came, she would be standing next to czech pilots from RAF, inventors, artists, poeple who saved someone´s life...
For me this worshipping of sports(wo)men is curoius and I don´t understand why people do that.
I´d like to know your opinion. Do you think your top players are real heroes? What do they bring to you or your national culture?

Martina

boys dressed in folklore clothes singing Moravian songs

a procession of costumed youth

a girl dressed in typical clothes with a collar - the village Kobyli

girls wear about seven skirts – it depends on occasion

Easter in Moravia

For my region I come from - the South Moravia - is also typical that men dressed in traditional moravian folklor clothes (costumes) come to visit their girls and they sing moravian songs (about wine and love...). I will show you some typical folklor clothes and costumes (photos are from one Moravan village):

Questions about culture

Hello! I would like to pose you some questions. I hope some of them will be answered tomorrow during the videoconference and if not, I would be glad, if you could put the answers on this blog.

1) Do you think that you are a part of more groups/cultures and if yes, why? What do you have in common with other members of these groups?

2) What are the typical features of "your" culture(s)? How can someone else become the part of this culture(s)? Or do you think that it is not possible at all?

3) Which people are considered in your culture as heroes? Why do you admire them? What were their important achievements?

4) After Easter, we were talking about the habits and customs typical for our regions. How do you celebrate Easter? Do you have any special customs which are exceptional?

I also wanted to put some photos of our traditional costumes on this blog, but unfortunately, it did not work, so I will try it next time.

Michaela

SUMMARY OF SEMINARS ABOUT CULTURE

I) Summary of definitions, talking about culture

In the first seminar we were talking about culture, especially about one very interesting research of netherlandish social scientist Geert Hofstede. He focused on different societies and cultures from the whole world and researched five important indexes – PDI (how is power distributed in the society, equally or unequally), IC (degree in which is man integrated into the group), MAS (distribution of roles in the society, gender, men’s and woman’s values,…), UAI (if the society needs to have certain and strict rules, needs to knot that things are in place, if it hates changes – „nanny states“ – the opposite is the tolerant country) and finally Long-Term Orientation, bus he hasn’t collected all the data yet.


In the second seminar we were talking about the definitons of culture, what does the word mean for us – which criteriums does a group have to fulfill to be described as a culture.. I agree with Hofstede that a group could be called culture if its members share the same institutions, values, behaviours, traditions… But I’d like to point out that we have to respect that its members are different personalities with their own view of thinking, different opinions.. Moreover, as a sociologist, I can say responsibly, that there is not any right or wrong definition of culture, race, nation or any other “group”.. I only think that a common view is that culture is a group of people who share the same values, have the same traditions. Considering this point of view we can talk about “west culture”, “European” culture, “Moslem” culture and everybody would know what we mean even though it is impossible to think that millions of Europeans share exactly the same values… Also for most of students culture means something what their members have in common. Then we discuss the topic of our videoconferences – if we think that we can define our group as „a culture“. For me, it is a very specific “culture” of students from many countries all over the world. I like this “multicultural” world and I appreciate that we can learn from each other about different traditions, cultures, habits.. That is what I like about it. I think we can’t say that we are a group with specific culture or we are a culture, but at least we can say that we are one “videoconference culture” from 10.00 to 11.30 p.m. every Wednesday... For me, the teachers are definitely members of the group and that is what I like about the lectures, there is nobody more than anybody else and we discuss every topic openly. It depends on the lecture and specific topic, sometimes I fell as part of a culture of Masaryk University, sometimes I don’t see any differences between our students and students on the other side of screen. But most of the students think that videoconferences are very interesting and we can learn a lot from each other but we can’t describe our group as a culture.


II) Questions for students

1) I’d like to know if you see our videoconference group and people involved in them as a culture. Are the teachers members of our group? Are there two different groups from two countries or is there anything what we share or what we have in common? Can we define us as “a culture”?

2) If you consider the definition that culture is a group of people from the same country/background who have a lot in common, who share the same institutions, traditions, values…Do you think you can specify something very typical for your culture (Chinese/Japanese/French)?

3) I’d like to discuss the thesis of controversial social scientist Samuel Huntington’s thesis. His “Clash of Civilizations” is a controversial theory that people's cultural and religious identities will be the primary source of conflict in the post-Cold War world and the conflict between civilization and different cultures is the very typical feature of our world. He divided world into the "major" civilizations (eight): Western civilization, The Orthodox, Latin America, The Muslim world, Hindu civilization, The Sinic civilizatio, Japan, The civilization of Sub-Saharan Africa. I’d like to ask you if you see our world and contemporary events as a clash between different cultures…

4) Talking about culture not as a description of a group, but in general – culture which includes going to the cinema, theatre, reading books, listening to music or playing any music instrument, what does it mean for you? Is culture important for you?

Kristyna

A. Holliday

I think I should put something here about what Adrian Holliday has to say about small cultures which could also be described as a group.There is a need to distinguish two paradigms of 'culture' in applied linguistics. What has become the default notion of 'culture' refers to prescribed ethnic, national and international entities. This large culture paradigm is by its nature vulnerable to a culturist reduction of 'foreign' students, teachers and their educational contexts. In contrast, a small culture paradigm attaches 'culture' to small social groupings or activities wherever there is cohesive behaviour, and thus avoids culturist ethnic, national or international stereotyping. Ethnography uses small cultures as the location for research, as an interpretive device for understanding emergent behaviour, rather than seeking to explain prescribed ethnic, national or international difference.

culture

homework 11th April
1) what does it mean culture - how could be a group described as a culture:I agree with Hofstede that a group could be called culture if its members share the same institutions, values, behaviours, traditions… According to the English – Czech Explanatory Dictionary, culture is “a form or type of civilization of a certain race or nation”. But I think it is very misguided to designate a group as a culture – because in this case its members are supposed to be a group with similar behaviour, institutions,… But we have to respect that its members are different personalities with their own view of thinking, different opinions… As a sociologist, I can say responsibly, that there is not any right or wrong definition of culture, race, nation or any other “group”.. I only think that a common view is that culture is a group of people who share the same values, have the same traditions. Considering this point of view we can talk about “west culture”, “European” culture, “Moslem” culture and everybody would know what we mean even though it is impossible to think that millions of Europeans share exactly the same values…2) How can we define the "microculture of our videoconferences"To define the culture we share with the students from Aberystwyth is very difficult.. For me, it is a specific culture of students from many countries all over the world. I was already thinking about this topic (about our lectures and a shared cuture) before we got this homework. It was one of the first lectures when I said to myself – isn’t is great that there is student from Japan sitting next to the students from China and Russia, people from Czech Republic discussing the topic “communism” with the students from China… I like this “multicultural” world and I appreciate that we can learn from each other about different traditions, cultures, habits.. That is what I like about our “videoconference culture”. I think we cant say that we are a group with specific culture or we are a culture, but at least we can say that we are one “videoconference culture” from 10.00 to 11.30 p.m. every Wednesday... For me, the teachers are definitely members of the group and that is what I like about the lectures, there is nobody more than anybody else and we discuss every topic openly. It depends on the lecture and specific topic, sometimes I fell as part of a culture of Masaryk University (and I am proud of being one of our students, for example when we were talking about communism) sometimes I don’t see any differences between our students and students on the other side of screen.3) What about Czech Easter habits?Many Czech Easter symbols are related to spring and the beginning of new life (a bunny, a chick, a little kitten)• Easter Eggs and krasliceThe hand-painted or otherwise decorated egg (kraslice) is the most recognizable symbol of Czech Easter. Girls decorate Easter eggs to give them to boys on Easter Monday. There are many Easter egg decorating techniques and the more elaborate ones require a certain level of skill. Different materials can be used, such as bee's wax, straw, watercolors, onion peels, picture stickers. There are no limitations to creating pretty, colorful eggs.• Pussywillow and pomlázkaYoung, live pussywillow twigs are thought to bring health and youth to anyone who is whipped with them. An Easter pomlázka (from pomladit or "make younger") is a braided whip made from pussywillow twigs. It has been used for centuries by boys who go caroling on Easter Monday and symbolically whip girls on their back. In the past, pomlázka was also used by the farmer's wife to whip the livestock and everyone in the household, including men and children. There would be no Czech Easter without the pomlázka. Another czech habits, typical especially in the mountains is to douse a girl with water - it has a similar symbolic meaning as the pomlázka.Boys used to make their own pomlázkas in the past (the more twigs, the more difficult it was to braid one), but this tradition and skill is long gone and pomlázkas can be bought in stores and street stands. Some men don't even bother and use a single twig or even a wooden spoon!This tradition is still largely upheld, especially in villages and small towns, although it may have lost its symbolism and romance and is now performed mainly for fun. Some boys and men seem to have forgotten that the whipping is supposed to be only symbolic and girls don't always like that. The reward has also changed - food, money and shots of plum brandy (slivovice) (or wine in my region) are often given instead of or in addition to painted eggs and candy. So by early afternoon, groups of drunk men can be seen staggering along the roads... All that aside, Easter remains one of the most joyful holidays on the Czech calendar. But I think that many men confuse this feast with beating woman and drinking and they forgot the mentioned symbolism and also the christian tradition..Regarding food, for my family is typical to cook a special dish - a chicken roll with green herbs and plants (blowball, chive,...)For my region I come from - the South Moravia - is also typical that men dressed in traditional moravian folklor clothes (costumes) come to visit their girls and they are singing moravian songs (about wine and love...)

Positives of Communism discussion

positives of communism
Communism like all political system (or if you want, ideologies) had both negatives and positives. We cannot claim that one system is absolutely perfect and another is totally bad. This is not possible and that´s the reason why people prefer different systems – they have various values and everybody finds something convenient for him in “his” system.Now, I would like to report about some positives of communism in former Czechoslovakia.Firstly, there was practically no unemployment. Everybody had to be employed, otherwise he could be sent to prison. People worked and earned money hence you did not see homeless people or beggars in streets.Secondly, it was much easier than nowadays to marry and have children, because the young families had some advantages and support from state. For example, they could take newly-wedding loans, which were very lucrative for them. Hence, the rate of natality was quite high, what is something really different from today – for example, in 1961 the proportion of children in age 0-14 was 26 % of population, in 2001 only 17%. On the other hand, the proportion of people in age 65+ was in 1961 7,5 % and in 2001 13%.Granted, many people critisise that in fact, it was impossible to travel abroad – especially to western countries. However, if you were a member of some cultural group, you had good chance to visit many countries because you represented your country. For example, the folklore group from our town visited during the communist era Great Britain, Ireland, France, Belgium ect.Although I am not the fan of communism, as I mentioned in the beginning, it had its positives and many people say that their lives were happy. I think it was a good era for workers and also for people who did not have big ambitions, but it was discriminating system anyway. Michaela

21.3.

21.3...positives of commuunism,...
21.31) As noted above, the social care about mothers was generous and it became more stronger in the beggining of 70s and then in Husak’s era… Government passed a pro-natality law which, in combination of high number of post-war born women at productive age caused a baby-boom at that time…For example, mothers were given special social contributions for childern school things, their clothes,… (in 1974 and 1975 it reached its top - 194,2 and 191,8 thousand childern were born)… And also the model of family and its position in the society was a little bit different from now– for the young family at that time was typical to spend all the free-time togehter and they also concentrate all the activities to the family circle.Another advantage which is very difficult to find sufficient arguments for, was the social cohesion between people. Also Marx said, that people fight in capitalism like eagles but in socialism they share more together (maybe the poorness and desperacy..*), they were not so ambitious and care more for each other than in this „anonymus“ world.The most visible positive for many people could be that the gulf between „the top five“ and the others wasn’t so deep, the „social scissors“ are more splayed in contemporary society and it causes societal tensions. I mean that the idea of communism was „for all the same“ but the capitalistic slogan sound something like „who tries he deserves“.. For example, the number of „poor people“ was thanks to full employment, government’s generous help for families and other social contributions very low.. It’s fact that the poverty became more visible after 1989. Concerning emplyment, which has very much to do with the topic of poverty, there was almost nobody unemployed in the era of communism, but now, although the rate of unemployment has been declining since 2003, it tis still about 7,7%.But there are no real positives for me!!! I think that some of socialist ideas, propagated by Marx,Engels were not bad at all, but they have arised from absolutely different background…And theory about socialism which leads to communism maybe sounds nice but the reality is very different from it. This is the reason I always vote for the right wing, I want the freedom of speech, freedom of move and I don’t want communist to have control over my country anymore!!!2) A) Talking about last fifty yrs, the best thing was that the communist regime has broken down as we already said. But there are also many other important events for our country – the entry into the EU has moved the Czech republic closer to the advanced european democracies and led us to share more with them..Even that there are many disadventages and the voices of eurosceptics are very strong, it is very important to us to be a part of the EU..B) The worst thing was the lack of freedom under communist supremacy…I think that that time under Soviets has fixed something very typical and sad to the czech character, something what is incomprehensible for other nations ..And that is what I find as the worst.. The Communist regime used inherent Czech nationalism to create xenophobic attitudes towards anyone who came from the outside world and/or who differed in any significant way from the accepted "collective" way of behaving within the "nation."I don’t want to generalize but it is also very typical for many czech people to underestimates themselves..and not only for the „common“ people, it is also typical for czech political leaders, to follow the allies but not to ask for anyhing and be absolutely not-assertive…C) How does our country enrich the world? I think that there were born so many excellent artists (Antonin Slavicek, Emil Filla, Toyen, Olbram Zoubek,…), musicians and harmonists (Bedrich Smetana, Antonin Dvorak,…) so we definitely can say that those people have enriched the world. The czech medicine, especially surgery plastic, as I know, is very well developed and czech doctors are ones of the best specialist in the world. And we also have many important inventors!!For example, Otto Wichterle has invented contact lines, Karel Schinzel has introduced a coloured photography or Prokop Diviš has invented a lightning rod…3) Regarding videoconferences, I’m very satisfied and keen on it! I haven’t had any experiences before and I’m very glad I’ve enrolled this course! I think this is the most effective way of communication between students and I think it can motivate us to be better in debates, to prepade the arguments and so on.. It’s also very interesting that we meet students from all over the world, talking about different cultures, traditions, … I really like it and I don’t have any recommendations or complaints or anything else..

Comments on Communism

Positives of the Communist era in the Czech Republic
1) The Communist era in former Czechoslovakia introduced a very effective and generous social system (e.g. mothers can stay with their children at home for three years, they are given allowance from the state and when they want to go back to work, their employer must give them the same position they left those three (or less) years ago).EVIDENCE: According to OECD (2005) the Czech Republic had the most effective social system in the world which needs the least money from the GDP (gross domestic product). It is even better than Denmark or Sweden; and the Czech Republic has the smallest ratio of the poor (4%) in the world. This social system is the heritage from the Communist era and no government dares to introduce major changes in this as most people consider the system as a standard.2) The Communist era brought a high social respect to the historically “poorest” working professions.EVIDENCE: For example, miners in Communist Czechoslovakia had the highest salaries among workers (much higher than white-collar workers), they enjoyed special priviledges, such as free/or almost free holidays, free theatre/concert tickets in private lives; and huge respect in “policial sphere”, for instance, they could even keep the word “God” in their traditional greeting.