Tuesday, May 27, 2008

The Bohemian Maypole

We are Bohemie and darn proud of it. Well, actually the kids and I are bohemie, DH has an honorary standing in the Bohemie-ness as he married into it, but is darn proud of it too.

We have many Czech happenings in the area we live and participate in many of them. The kids are part of a Czech Folk Group, the of 5 of us belong to a Czech Club and have made many friends through these activities. We also eat many traditional Czech dishes but I will save that for another day. Yes, we are darn proud of our heritage BUT that doesn't mean I don't poke fun at it whenever I get the chance! This here is one of those chances. I just can't stop myself...I just can't.

We recently attended a Czech Festival and one of the activities was a Maypole. Participants in the days activities as well as the audience were invited to participate in the wrapping.

All three of my hooligans go out, in costume, to help wrap the pole. The instructions were given to walk around the pole, just to get the feel of it. They walked and walked and walked. The top of the pole just spun. Now, I felt really bad for the friend of ours who was in charge of this activity, I really did. But did that stop me from laughing until I cried. Did it stop me from talking about it and showing the video to people the rest of the day. Did it stop me from putting the video on my blog. Um let me think about that while you watch this little episode I proudly call...The Bohemian Maypole.

The top of the pole just kept spinning and spinning...it seemed like it went on forever. I really did feel bad.When the decision was made to start weaving instead of wrapping, the pole finally stopped spinning and started to look like a real Maypole. It was very beautiful and very fun!
When the kids were done they ran over to where we were standing. We were also laughing and crying, but tried to mask as much as possible. I asked them if they had fun and they all exuberantly replied, "YES!". I then told them the only thing I could, "Wear those costumes with pride my darlings, where them with pride!"

©2008 The Homefront Lines

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