"CHANGING TO MEET THE CHANGING NEEDS OF FRATERNALISTS"
"Joining Hands To Touch Lives-Fraternalism for the Family and Our Nation"
ESTNIK
SPJST Herald
Official Organ Of The Slavonic Benevolent Order of the State of Texas, Founded 1897 HUMANITY
BENEVOLENCE
Postmaster: Please Send Form 3579 to:
VOLUME 82 NUMBER 17
BROTHERHOOD
SUPREME LODGE, SPJST, P.
0. Box 100,
Temple, Texas 76503 April 27, 1994
ISSN-07458800
Scenes from Lodge 84, Dallas 84th Anniversary Celebration Brother Ben Jarma, who was recognized as Fraternalist of the Year of 1993 by Lodge 84 went on to be recognized as 1993 SPJST State Fraternalist of the Year. Pictured here, with Sister Bessie Petr, Brother Jarma's dedication and service to the lodge and to the Society spans five decades. He was recognized for his fraternal service at the Lodge 84 Anniversary Celebration on Sunday, April 17, 1994.
A Tale of Two Cultures
German influence evident in Czech culture By W.J. "Bill" Malina (88) PART ONE The study of Czech history, culture, and heritage is not complete without a brief look at the German influence upon Czech people. Paradoxically, throughout history, it is as if Czech people could not live with the Germans, and at the same time could not live without them. Wherever you find Czechs, you can usually find Germans nearby. In Texas, the culture and characteristics of these two nationalities have so many things in common that, to the casual observer, they appear as one ethnic group. They share a common love of music and dancing, as well as of drinking beer and feasting on their ethnic foods. Only the knowledgeable student of music can tell the differences between Czech style and German style polka and waltz music. When it comes to food, the Czechs have their kolaches, the Germans their strudel; the Czechs have their klobasa, the Germans their wurst. Again, the casual observer cannot tell the difference because Czech cooks prepare strudel and German cooks bake kolaches. Wurst and klobasa are different names for sausage. In this modern age, it is easy to think of Germans as those people who live in Germany, or whose ancestral roots go back to Germany. Historically, the first Germanic people were a mixture of warlike tribes that migrated into Central and Eastern Europe from the north and northwest. Among them were people known as Franks, Goths, Vandals, Cimbir, and Germani. Their influence extended southward to Italy and Rome, the seat of government of the western part of the old Roman Empire. The Romans called the lands in which thee war-like people lived Germania. Apparently they were unaware of the differences between the several tribes. In 768 A.D., Frankish ruler named Charlemagne (Charles the Great), united most of their Germanic tribes and assumed kingship over them. By 800 A.D., Charlemagne became so powerful that he was crowned emperor of the old Western Roman Empire. By 911 A.D., the Germanic Kingdom grew to consist
of five duchies: Bavaria, Lorraine, Franconia (France), Saxony, and Swabia. In 962 A.D., Otto I (Otto the Great) was crowned emperor of the Holy Roman Empire (Second Reich), which existed in some form or another until the end of World War II in 1918, when it was abolished by the Treaty of Versailles. The Slavic people in the traditional Czech lands felt the influence of the Germanic people as early as 625 A.D., when Samo, a Frankish merchant, consolidated the Slavic tribes in Bohemia into a kingdom or empire in order to protect them from the periodic raids of Germanic tribes from the west. That empire disintegrated in 658 A.D. when Samo died, and the Slavic people once again became targets for Germanic raiders. Czech legend has it that Princess Libuse, soon after her marriage to the peasant Premysl, founded the city of Prague. However, western historians usually credit the establishment of Prague to Germanic settlers in 759 A.D. In the years that followed, particularly after the establishment of Charlemagne as Roman emperor, the German Roman Catholic church started expanding its Christianizing efforts eastward through Bavaria into Czech lands. Soon after the fall of the Great Moravian Empire in 906 A.D., Premyslide chiefs, presumably lineal descendants of the fabled Libuse and Premysl and members of the Cechove tribe, who held lands near Prague, unified the neighboring tribes and established a Bohemian Kingdom. Under the leadership of the Premyslide kings, the Kingdom of Bohemia existed under the shadow and intermittent control of the germanic Holy Roman Empire. The 1200's saw an attempt to Germanize the Bohemian Kingdom. German immigration was encouraged by Premyslide rulers who hoped to weaken the power of the Czech nobility. Before assuming the Kingship of Bohemia, Otaker II married Margaret of Babenberg, a German princess. After the death of Margaret's brother in 1246 A.D.,
'The Slavic people in the traditional Czech lands felt the influence of the Germanic people as early as 625 A.D."
Congratulations were extended to the 50-year pin recipients who were in attendance. They are, from left: Mary Ellen Kocian, Helen Kral, Ann Anthony, Martha Prasitka Hunt and Evelyn Prasifka Macek.
Members of the Lodge 84 Youth Club presented a well-received variety program which included gymnastics, dancing, recitations and musical performances.
(Continued on page 10)