Fast Forward to Now
Ahoj Friends,
I have returned from my voyages in the Great Czech Republic and now find myself on Haverford’s lush campus. I want to write this post to provide some closure to my adventures, this last blog entry will include pictures of other people I interviewed , some conclusions about my research and more recipes for excellent, filing Czech food.
The last few weeks of my internship were fabulous! I was able to get in contact with some Czech Rastas, or another way to describe them would be Czech people who are interested in Rastafarian belief and ideologies. I went o meet them at a monthly gathering they have in the woods. The town itself was filled with Czech history and contained a narrative of ethnic Germans who once inhabited this border village. Their remnants could be spotted in the architecture of the buildinds, the bunkers that were placed along the border to prevent invasions during WWII and finally in the cemetaries filled with German last names.
German Style Cottage
This is another beautiful house in a different town but with a similar theme!
Nestled even deeper in this ethnic enclave, were a group of altnerative Czechs who sometimes refer to God as Jah Rastafari, occasionaly smoke herb and enjoy taking long leisurely walks through the woods and past old cottages. Here is a group picture:
A little bit candid…
A close-up of the drums:
“‘I n’ I one day nearer home/ I’ n’ I one day nearer than yesterday/ For Babylon world/ is full of trials and badderation/ I’ n’ I one day nearer home than this day”
While many of the people at the gathering do not refer to themselves as Rastafarians they do admit to having some Rasta-influenced beliefs. They mostly learned about the movement from reggae music, particularly Roots. Though some of them find the lyrics to be somewhat racist, to them it’s more important to contextualize the lyrics and message within a particularly struggles. More than anything, I believe these people are united by a spiritual, rather than religious, ideology and a strong interested in nature and alternative, more earth-friendly ways of living.
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November 16th, 2009 at 5:26 am
I believe these people are united by a spiritual, rather than religious, ideology and a strong interested in nature and alternative, more earth-friendly ways of living.