Prague Journal

Sunday, October 31, 2004.

With the advent of Halloween, I had broken down and bought some Snickers bars. Normally at this time of year, I would have bought several dozen bags. Here, there are only single 60g (1.3 oz) bars, and I found some on sale for about 40¢ each (I usually get them for 4/$1 on sale in Denver, so this was an extravagance). I only bought a few, since there is no chance of anyone knocking on our door for treats in this area of the world. Not only does no one knock on anyone else’s door unexpected, but our flat, like most, has both outer (entry) and inner (private) doors, all of which are locked at all times. Outside entry lights are always off, even when guests are anticipated.
Halloween, as everyone knows, not only marks the end of the harvest and the slow ushering in of long dark winter, but highlights the precarious boundary between the living and the dead, as enacted by people dressed in ghoulish costumes wandering around town. Apparently, there is a “vampire” burial site just outside of Prague with human remains that date back to the 10th century. Like other grave sites in neighboring Moravia and Slovakia, corpses there were tied down – even beheaded – to prevent suspected vampires from returning to terrorize local villages. http://www.radio.cz/en/issue/59603
The only terror we witnessed was a few drunkards in costume hanging around N-11, the music bar on Narodni which hosted the Monster Ball last night. Since tomorrow is a regular workday, this evening’s event schedule looks quite tame. On the other hand, the highways will undoubtedly be terrible, with droves of Czechs returning from their weekend cottages.
While Halloween is not celebrated here among the locals, it is apparently alive and well in the United States. At Wesleyan, Matt dressed up as James K. Polk, the 11th president of the United States, and his friend Evan was Martin Van Buren, the 8th.

posted by JWinn @ 10:32 AM