The Czech Year

Carnival. The village people celebrate a carnival (masopust) with live music. They complete it with performance of traditional customs and masks made for the carnival. After throwing the allegory of Death into the river, which is one of the old customs, everyone goes silent, and the music gets quiet. – Spring. The snow is melting, the nature is blooming. Herders are singing, girls are weaving wreaths and throwing them into the stream, boys are carving wooden flutes. They are all together greeting spring. Birds of the woods are teasing an old owl. Children start to fight with one another. In the evening everyone is rushing their cattle back home. Mother is at home putting her baby to sleep. After spring comes summer and with it also the harvest season. With the last bunch of grain appears a big storm and heavy rain. The villagers are rushing home, where they light a Groundhog candle in front of a picture of St. Procopius of Sázava. – The Legend of St. Procopius. An old man tells others the legend of a saint man who ran off to the deep forest near the river Sázava to repent for his sins. – The hermit lives in a cave surrounded by tame animals. The devil is trying to lead him away from the right path. Procopius resists all temptations. The devil therefore draws his trusting doe into the forest, where a hunter starts following her all the way to the entrance of the hermit's cave. Seeing the hermit's good will, the hunter eventually puts the bow humbly down. The devil stands defeated. – The storm is over; the little candle is out… – The Fair. The villagers are walking in a group, singing. At the chapel, everyone pray for what they want. The girl wants a man from the town, so she can marry him, the young man wants to marry a craftsman’s daughter, old farmer wants to win in a bowling game. Then the villagers go to the carnival stalls. The farmer loses all his money and his watch in a bowling game with a gypsy, the young man is rejected by the craftsman’s daughter and a gypsy fortune teller predicts that the girl will marry a farmer’s son. The farmer, the young man and the girl are disappointed. They go to see a puppet show hoping it might cheer them up. The show is about a girl called Kateřina and a Turkish prince, who wants to marry her. She is not interested in him, so she pretends to be dead, so the Turkish prince decides to execute her father. The young man gets involved in the play so much, that he tries to protect the puppet father from the Turkish prince and the executioner. The young man realizes together with the girl, that they are in love with each other. The farmer promises himself, that he is never going to play bowling again. The new couple gives the poor puppet actors generous presents. The young man, the girl and the farmer go back home with good new resolutions. – The Feast. The villagers gather in a pub at the full tables to talk, eat, drink, sing and dance together while listening to music. An old homeless woman arrives to the village, carrying a harp with her, but she gets only one cookie. One song, that she is playing, reminds an old veteran of his faith. When he was young, he had to go to war and left his beloved girlfriend behind. Not long after she received a letter saying that her boyfriend died in a war. The veteran returned home, without legs, just at the time of the wedding of his girlfriend with a rich man. Suddenly there is a gloomy atmosphere in the pub, but the band arrives and the mood swings. The bagpiper starts to dance even with the veteran and dances with him until the veteran falls and the musicians get kicked out of the pub. The bagpiper is lured by an evil fairy into a deep forest pond. At the last moment, the veteran saves him by throwing a rose into the water, breaking the evil spell. The bagpiper asks him for forgiveness. – Bethlehem. The winter has come and so has Christmas with its traditions. The news of the birth of Jesus Christ spread in the village. All the villagers rush to worship him. In peace and tranquillity, they stand before the new-born. The Star of Bethlehem still shines on many crosses…