Welcoming new year

I have already written a blog post about Christmas traditions, but what about those welcoming new year? What customs were connected to new year in Czech past? There were many of them and I have selected only some of them. I have used wonderful book Veselé chvíle lidu českého written by Čeněk Zíbrt - there are many of those new year's customs mentioned in this book. 

New Year's Run in Czech Silesia, abt 1735.

2017 Pittsburgh CGSI Conference

Have you heard? There's going to be the Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International Conference in Pittsburgh in October 2017. 

And you know what? I'll be one of the speakers! 

I will have two lectures - After the Roof - Surname Changes in the Czech Past and Life in Bohemia and Moravia in the 18th Century - and one workshop which will take place two times - Reading Kurrent. 

So - see you there!

History of villages: Lelekovice, Moravia

Haven't done a history of villages post for a while - and as there are quite many villages still waiting on the list, I decided I should write such blog post. Anyway - if you are interested in history of some village from Bohemia, Moravia or Silesia, let me know in comments!

The oldest log house in Bohemia? In Rtyně!

We found an interesting article on website of Czech Radio and I decided to translate it for you as I think readers of this blog would be interested in such topic.

People in Rtyně didn't know the oldest Czech log house was located there

Folk architecture is responsible for many poetic log houses all over Bohemia and Moravia. These houses are usually 100 to 150 years old. But the oldest log house in Bohemia is more than 400 years old.  Short time ago, even its owners didn't know that. It's a wooden cottage in Rtyně v Podkrkonoší. 

The log house in Rtyně

Easter recipes

I mentioned in 2014 that I'll do food post from time to time. Well, the time has come and here is the first (and I hope not the only) food blog post, focused on Easter. I have three recipes for you this time - mazanec, Easter stuffing (nádivka) and egg spread.

Death notes

You probably know them. Short notes in "cause of death" column in death registries. There is often written something like "Úmrtní list z Radlic č. 21 dne 15. září 1873", "úmrtní ohledací lístek č. 15 dto 28. Januar 1836" or just a simple "č. 21". What do these notes mean? What they looked like? And can you still find them somewhere?

Welcome in 2016

Our youngest (fourth) daughter was born few days ago, on the feast of Three Wise Men. Her name is Salome and we are back home from hospital now. Anyway, getting back to shape will take a bit longer, so I don't suppose I'll be able to write much in upcoming weeks. I'll try to answer comments and questions, but the rest has to wait. Thanks for understanding. :)

Loss of ancestors - pedigree collapse

This post is not only Czech genealogy, but common basics - but I had a need to write it. It's focused on loss of ancestors, ie. the ancestors paradox or pedigree collapse. That's situation when you "loose" number of ancestors due to fact that related people marry. An excellent article about how everyone on Earth is related brought this topic to my attention.