Masa půst

Yesterday was Shrove Tuesday. In the church calender we are in now in Lent, the run up to Easter when we remember that Jesus came to die for us. (If you want to know more about Jesus see link to Two Ways to Live on the right or click here ).

In the Czech Republic, before Lent, they have something called Masa půst. Frankly I am slightly confused by it, but it seems to be an excuse for being silly, having fun and getting drunk.

I went with most of the immediate family, except Vojtěch and Lida, to the pub. (I thought we were going to church, but I obviously was wrong). To get into the pub we had to go past older teenage boys dressed up in army uniforms. We paid them a small amount, then they fired a small cannon. A lot of the crowd were children or teenagers. About ten of the men where dressed up various wierd costumes and went around the pub teasing various people. A couple of them would throw stuffed rabbits at people.

There was also a band there with brass instruments, drums and accordian. Petr, 11 year old son, has long beautiful curly red hair. One of the more drunk men came up to him to ask him to dance. His father rescued him, explaining that Petr was not a girl, but poor Petr went very red in the face.

Vašek, another of the family's sons, had been running around, darting under tables and generally being his normal self. Unfortunately he managed to hit his ear so hard against the table the last time that it bled.

We went home soon after that...