Marianske Tynice

Last weekend we took a side trip to Marianske Tynice, a church and pilgrimage site that is now a museum for the Plzen region of the Czech Republic. The poor church fell into disrepair in the 18th century, and the cupola even collapsed into the middle of the sanctuary. But it is somewhat restored and had items from pre-history to the Communist era relating to this area. One of my favorite rooms had mannequins wearing various uniforms from the different armies and wars. The mannequins were clearly just store dummies with funny hair and make-up and poses. I think that one of them was a female mannequin, and she must have had noticeable eye makeup because they had put modern sunglasses on her. So there she was, in a WWII uniform, cocking her hip and smiling in her shades.

Here is one side:

You can just barely see the cupola of the church in the middle left. The church houses various exhibitions now, and there was a sculpture of 82 children gassed by the Nazis from this region. They were life size and it was terrifying and moving.

A storm was blowing in (the weather changes every 3 minutes), and I liked the forbidding grey clouds against the religious statues.

This church has been de-sanctified, along with others in the country. Many churches are used for concerts or other secular things, and others look like they are falling apart. The Czechs are some of the least religious people in Europe, which is saying something. Apparently, 49% of Czechs are atheists. "Why do you think that is?" I asked my Czech informant. "Natural skepticism," she replied. "And we don't like being told what to believe." The Czech people were constantly being forced to be one religion or another. This country has been rather relentlessly controlled when you think about it. It has switched from one empire to another, from one ruling family to another, from one regime to another. So it sort of makes sense that people would not look kindly on organized anything, and especially religion.

Some random observations. People don't talk as much at meals here. Lunch and dinner are fairly silent. I thought that maybe it was just my family, but I have had the chance to observe other groups at meal times, and there is not much talking. This makes me uncomfortable. I feel like something is wrong! That someone is in big trouble or someone is so tired or mad that they refuse to speak. At first I attempted to fill the silence but no one really jumps in to help me keep a conversation going. So I think it is just a cultural difference, and I am trying to get used to it.

People take off their shoes when they enter a house and slip on "indoor" shoes. I have checked and this is a Czech custom, not just an isolated tradition in my village. I did not pack any indoor shoes, so right now I use a pair of Eva's. I don't mind following this rule, but it can get tricky when I am going in and out of the house fetching juice or a diaper or a bicycle helmet or whatever. I didn't bring any easily slip-on and slip-offable shoes, so I have to untie or unbuckle and then re-tie or re-buckle. It slows me down. People wear socks almost constantly, too, so flip flops are also tricky. You don't walk around in bare feet. I need to get some Crocs or something.

Table manners are different. They use their knives much more. I suppose some of that is more broadly European. They don't transfer knife and fork from one hand to the other, and they hold their knife almost all the time. They use it to push food around and pile it on their fork. It is not uncommon to lick the knife to get all the sauce. Overall, the eating style is more aggressive than what I am used to. I am sure they are appalled at my Southern American manners. I bet I seem slow and wussy.

I get very confused when I look at maps of where I am because the scale is so different. The Czech Republic is medium sized for Europe, comparable to Austria and Ireland. But it could fit into the US about 12o times. It is almost half the size of North Carolina. So my scale is all messed up. When I look at a map and see that we are going to Plzen, for instance, it looks really far away. It is on the other side of the country practically. I brace myself for hours and hours in the car. But it is only an hour of driving. It seems really far, but things are actually quite close here. I am so used to a monster-big country with vastly different geography and weather that it is weird to be in a country that is the size of a small state. When they do the weather report on the news, they show the entire country behind the meteorologist.