PICTURE: We have been preparing the nativity scene since the summer, says the nativity scene in Jindřišská Tower
What is this trip about? You can zoom in,
We have a tradition that people visit and look at each other’s nativity scenes on holidays. Eighteen families have a nativity scene like this at home. You can come to them and admire him, no entrance fee. They have it on display in the living room, in the hallway or in the garage, our acquaintance has even built a special annex for it. One of them is also in the church. People used to have them in the bedroom, they even slept under them, it’s good insulation, you just can’t get up. Since 2015, our tradition has been inscribed on the prestigious list of intangible assets of traditional folk culture in the Czech Republic.
Where does the journey begin and when can people do business?
The starting point is in Schumpeter’s house, where the Society of Friends of Nativity Scenes has its exhibition, where people get a route plan and can leave. You won’t be able to get around them all in one day, the time of the alley to Hromnice, ie until February 2.
Marie Roháčková is already the third nativity scene of the Roháček family in Třešť. She is an executive of the Association of Friends of Nativity Scenes in Třešť, whose mother was born. Every year, the Roháček family in Třešť opens the door to visitors to nativity scenes right at their home. Every year new and new characters are added to their nativity scene.
Is nativity scene a tradition in your family?
My grandfather bought the base of the nativity scene and then bought more figurines for it, there are a lot of carvers in Třešť. Then my dad kept adding something to him. When we, his children, were older, my mother and I both started cutting and expanded a lot of nativity scenes. The carvers exchange a lot of figurines, they still know whose work they are. The equipment is inherited in families, but some still cut more and more figurines themselves.
For most of us, nativity scenes are a matter of the Christmas holidays. But it’s probably different for you, isn’t it? How do you prepare it?
I think of the nativity scene all year. We start in July, when we collect various flowers of other natural components, which we will not find later. We go to me in September and collect it until November. If it lasts in good condition, you will use one for the next year and it can be used somewhere as a pad. We brought a total of twelve boxes of material to Prague, we drove it on a smaller truck.
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Do you still use any natural material?
Sure, stumps. We hide them, because it is not easy to find a good stump. They are best made of water, they preserve them perfectly, they are hard as stone. When a pond or dam is drained, we set out to look for stumps.
And how does the construction itself work? Do you have a figure that you always start with?
First, I look at the empty area for a long time and think. Then I put the first stump somewhere – and then I can do it myself. We had a plank platform ready in Prague, and it took us three days to build it in six people. But the one we have at home, I build for fourteen days in the evenings. The results are diverse, but our landscape is also not uniform, behind the hill it looks completely different. It is a scene of the Czech landscape and my imagination. The landscape in the background is called londšoft, the medium is the Czech landscape, the surroundings are such swamps.
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The nativity scene includes various cottages. Are they any specific houses? Show real buildings in the nativity scene – or even figures?
Not in this nativity scene, none of the buildings is a model of a real building. But some nativity scenes in our country in Třešť do. In July, there is always a traditional event where carvers go and portray various historical and contemporary figures, carving for example John Paul II, Charles IV, Josef Lada, Mr. Tau, Jan Amos Komenský or TG Masaryk, who is even there again. Historic buildings in Třešť, such as a pharmacy, are also carved.
What is the most difficult part on the construction site?
Start and then clean up. Everything is prepared in boxes. We assemble our home at home for a week or two, but it is disassembled and harvested in the morning.
The current time has been affected by the covid pandemic, has it also affected the construction and display of nativity scenes?
Last year, we only built such a small nativity scene because of the covid rules. People couldn’t even look at him. But this year we can have our big one again. At home, a nativity scene has always been built. We can no longer imagine Christmas without nativity scenes.
Do you have any of your favorite figurines?
Make a small story for everyone, especially for those my grandparents cut. My grandmother liked grandmothers, when I build them, I always remember my grandmother. The special figurine is Božka and the Krc brothers, they are simply real people from Třešť, who were so specific that they ended up carved in several nativity scenes.