Dive into a world of fantasy, originality, allegory, mysteries and history: visit Prague during the Carnival season! You will discover a whole new world during the bohemian festival called “Carnevale Prague”. Moreover, folk celebrations with masquerade costumes will captivate you in the Czech, Moravian and Silesian regions, too…

A Long-standing Tradition and Celebrations in All Corners

Prague carnival is no new phenomenon. It draws upon spectacular historical allegorical feasts that took place regularly every year in Bohemia from the Middle Ages up until the recent past. The “Bohemian Carnevale” is a rebirth of this phenomenon, celebrating our fantasy and joy. This year the inhabitants of Prague and the carnival guests will celebrate from February 25 until March 9, 2011 practically everywhere. The carnival festivities will take place in the open air, in public spaces as well as in palaces, museums and restaurants and hotels.

Where to Get Your Mask and Where to Go?

In order to dive into the fantasy world most successfully, be sure to enjoy the events wearing a carnival costume. You can buy or borrow an original costume right in a bohemian costume hire shop called “Budoir” in Clam-Gallas Palace, situated in Husova street in the centre of Prague. This is also the place where the biggest event of Prague Carnival will take place on March 5: the “Crystal Ball”, a big baroque masked ball. Some of the carnival events will be accessible free for guests wearing masks, in Prague’s towers or Charles Bridge Museum, for instance. If you are an incurable romantic you should definitely not miss a masked carnival cruise on the River Vltava. Some of the Prague restaurants will be offering a Carnival Menu. You will find the latest information on tickets, costumes and events at www.carnevale.cz.

Carnival Listed by UNESCO

Czech traditional carnival festivities were acknowledged by UNESCO in November 2010: Shrovetide processions taking place in the villages in the Hlinecko area, the Pardubice region, were inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. According to ethnographers these processions have been celebrated in the local villages of Vortová, Studnice, Hamry or Blatno for some 200 to 250 years. The costumes, masks and rituals have remained almost unchanged since the beginning. Pretty red masks and ugly black masks figure in these Shrovetide processions. This year the processions will take place on February 26, and you can look forward to admiring chimney sweeps, a bear handler with a bear, mares or Turks.

Sword Dance in the White Carpathians

You can celebrate an original carnival in the East Moravian town of Strání in the White Carpathians. However, Shrovetide is called “fašank” here, and folk bands from the Czech Republic and abroad meet every year for this occasion. Local brigands used to dance the Shrovetide sword dance, according to old legends. Today the sword dance called “Pod šable” is danced in one circle by five men and one farmer with a wooden skewer. They always dance with decorated swords in a house they visit and the farmer stabs at bacon with his skewer and ties bottles of slivovitz and sausages on it. The dancers pass from door to door of local cottages on Mardi Gras or Shrove Tuesday, i.e. March 8.

Carnival Festivities in Domažlice Region

Folk festivities with masked processions accompanied by folk musicians playing on accordions and guitars will take place at the opposite end of the Czech Republic, in the region of Chodsko, located in Western Bohemia. The most famous and largest celebrations take place during the last four Shrovetide days in the town of Postřekov, as well as in virtually all local villages in a more intimate atmosphere.

Shrovetide in an Open Air Museum and a Delight for your Taste Buds

The carnival celebrations are also organised by the Wallachian Open Air Museum in the town of Rožnov pod Radhoštěm, the largest and oldest open air museum in Central Europe. Apart from a traditional masked procession and a rich folk procession you will also satisfy your taste buds: on the first Shrovetide Saturday (February 26) the fourteenth competition for the best Wallachian sausage and the fourth competition for the best Wallachian presswurst take place here.

Carnival in Czech Towns

The Shrovetide atmosphere will come alive in Czech towns as well, not only in the country. The second largest city in the Czech Republic, Brno, has even prepared a thematic exhibition called “Balls, Dances and Carnivals” for this occasion. You can attend it in the Moravian Museum located in the Institute of Ethnography. The exhibition will be followed by a procession of Shrovetide allegorical floats on March 22. The performance inspired by the content and topic of the exhibition starts on March 22 at 2 p.m. on Náměstí Svobody (Freedom Square)in Brno.

The Shrovetide processions will definitely take place in UNESCO towns, as well: masked processions walk through the town of Český Krumlov and Telč every year.