Prague Journal

Friday, December 24, 2004.

Today is Christmas Eve. In Czech the day is called "Generous Day" or "Giving Day," because it is the day that people give presents (or put presents under the tree to open after dinner). The Old Town Square was a veritable soup kitchen this afternoon, with delicious fish soup for a huge crowd, amidst the last vestiges of the Christmas Markets. The other food stands were also busy– boars on spits and stuffed with sausage, hot wine and mead, trdlo and other confections. No sign of carp today, since carp should be either in ovens or frying pans, in preparation for this evening's dinner. Christmas trees and candles are still selling, and a few people look like they're carrying bags with last-minute gifts.
Having time to spare before Shabbat services, I went to check out the new developments at Barrandov, the southern suburb that overlooks the Vltava River, where Hana and Radim still own a flat. Barrandov was named for the French geologist Joachim Barrande. In the 1920s and 1930s Václav Havel, (father of Václav Havel, the former president of the Czech Republic) started to built a garden town on the Barrandov rock, with a scenic restaurant and café, swimming pool, residential quarter and film workshops. Inspired by America, the businessman Havel created a small Hollywood in Barrandov. Old factories were rebuilt and new ones were built, traffic increased and some new bridges were constructed. This promising development was interrupted by World War II. During the war, the Barrandov area was a seat of various resistance groups and Red Army occupation. After the war, prefabricated housing estates and industrial plants were built, in typical communist style. About a third of the population lives in these “paneláks,” most of which are pretty drab on the outside and in dubious condition. In Barrandov now, in place of many of the older run-down buildings and former factory halls, there are several fancy shopping and business centers and many of the old, drab apartment buildings have been repainted and/or refurbished and the common areas upgraded (playgrounds, parks, walkways). The tramline to Barrandov was built in 2003, so now it’s not so difficult to get there without a car, but it’s still more than a half hour from the center of town.
While most people in Prague are celebrating Christmas Eve, the Jewish quarter in Prague is celebrating Shabbat. The Altnai Shul (orthodox) and Masorti (conservative) held services at 4 p.m., just after sundown. I went with Eunice to the Masorti service, which is in the Jewish Town Hall where Bejt Praha used to meet six years ago when the Spanish Synagogue was being renovated. Rabbi Hoffman’s kabalat Shabbat was quite lovely—about 15 people in attendance—with most of the service chanted in Hebrew. He also gave a brief overview of this week’s parsha. At 6 p.m. I went to the Spanish Synagogue for Bejt Praha’s service. Peter led the service, but this time the songs were led by a chazzan from New York (his wife’s family is Czech) who had a lovely, strong voice and added elegance to our usual low-key service. There were at least 50 people there tonight, quite a good turnout, considering most of them are Czech and have families who are getting together for the holidays. Peter’s wife Magda has two weeks off of work, so they will go to the mountains next week and there will be no Bejt Praha service on New Year’s Eve.
The Old Town Square was virtually empty this evening, as was Wenceslas Square, with few restaurants open (there were some sausage stands and hot wine kiosks, but little else). Rick and I had planned to go to a “Christmas Jazz” performance at one of the old town jazz clubs, but decided instead to head home. (Jitka’s cookies beckon.) The metro, trams, and buses are on a holiday schedule, running at 20-30 minute intervals, so it took quite a while to get back to our flat. Fortunately, it’s not too cold outside today, just a bit drizzly.

posted by JWinn @ 11:00 AM