+++ 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?

It's quite easy to find out which town belonged to which estate in Bohemia as I mentioned in the previous post. Is it the same for Moravia? 

Well. There is no such easy to understand and comprehensive book available for Moravia. But there is a book called Historický místopis země moravskoslezské (Historical geography of the Moravian-Silesian Region) published by Ladislav Hosák in 1933.

Bohemia: Which estate is the right one?

One of the common questions about the Czech genealogy, history, serfdom etc. is: which estate is the right one? To which estate did my ancestors belong? The answer for Bohemia is quite easy: look into a book called Popis králowstwí Českého (Description of the Czech Kingdom) which was written by František Palacký in 1848. The book is available online on Google Books.

Popis králowstwí Českého - original book from 1848. Source: Knihobot.cz.

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