+++ or Three crosses

Three crosses (+++ or xxx) can be often seen in the parish books together with a name - of a godparent, witnesses, father of a bride or groom... What are these three crosses? And what they mean?  

Dušičky (All Souls' Day)

Most people know Halloween and All Saints' Day - but for people in the Czech Republic is much more important third day of these celebrations - All Souls' Day (Dušičky in Czech). That's the day when people visit cemeteries and remember dead family members and friends. 

Candles in the Vinohrady cemetery during the All Souls' Day.

Czechoslovakia - 103 years

Today it's 103 years since Czechoslovakia was created. It doesn't exist anymore (yep, I know, might be surprise for some people) as it ended in 1992 when the country splited to the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Today I want to take a look on the creation of Czechoslovakia a bit differently - through the local chronicles... 

Planá nade Mží.

Moravia: Which estate is the right one?

This blog post is already available on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/moravia-which-is-99901406

Bohemia: Which estate is the right one?

This blog post is already available on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/bohemia-which-is-99901186

Town herders/shepherds

There is a number of different jobs our ancestors had. Many of them were farmers, much more were farmhands, some where craftsmen. There were teachers, traders, innkeepers... And there were shepherds. Why to mention them? Because they were a bit special.

Shepherd with his herd of sheep. Late 18th century.

Updated guide to the Acta Publica website

 

Parish books from the southern Moravia and Vysocina region are being published on the Acta Publica website. This website is administered by the Moravian Land Archives in Brno and is currently available in Czech, German and only partially in English, so I have decided to prepare a guide to it.

Traps of old spelling: Voiced and unvoiced consonants