The government declared thee days of mourning in recognition of Vaclav Havel's passing. During these three days casinos (non-alcoholic establishments) and gambling bars (alcohol is served) were closed, concerts and performances were cancelled and citizens were asked to moderate their personal celebrations. A lot of holiday work parties and other events were toned down, including the for-profit Christmas markets - they're still out there and still operating but apparently in a slightly more reserved capacity.
As I mentioned earlier a few days back I saw black flags being flown by the neighborhood schools - this turned out not to be an anomaly - local government institutions were sort of split between the Czech flag at half mast and a black flag, and some residents flew black flags as well.
Yesterday was the official state funeral. There was a bit of an political spat about the planning of the ceremony which I found interesting. Vaclav Havel and the current president, Vaclav Klaus, were not friends. In fact they were political rivals and on opposite dies of everything - Klaus was a major thorn in Havel's side, gate-crashing his parties and events in order to draw publicity, their conflicts were so infamous a documentary was made about their dynamics . (You may know Klaus best as the presidential pen thief, just in case his name alone doesn't bring him to mind.) Upon Havel'a passing Klaus took charge of planning the funeral. One of Havel's close friends, his long-term personal adviser and a current major political figure, the Foreign Minister Karl Schwartzenberg, likened Klaus's lead in paying tribute to one of Havel's absurdist plays, an unintentional homage in it's own right.
As it turns out it was a religious ceremony, despite Haven's lack of ties to Christianity, held at St Vitus Church located within the Prague Castle compound. There were over 40 dignitaries representing nations around the world. Throughout the city the emergency sirens marked the start of the funeral - we were up in an area of town near the castle running holiday errands and so heard the gun salute when it as delivered. Havel was the last Czechoslovakian president and was given a funeral in the style of the first Czechoslavkian president. While all of this state business was going on there were other events under way.
Haven's wife and his brother, along with a major support team, put together a memorial concert last night. It was a six hour event that took over the entire Lucerna complex. The top Czech bands, both current and pre-revolution played, and performers flew in the from the US, both Czech and American. The initial lot of tickets were released on Wednesday, and without publicity were gone in less than 2 hours - that is 3,000 free tickets released at no more than 2 per person without any news of the event. The second lot, another 1,000 were released on Thursday and were gone in 12 minutes. I was lucky enough to be gifted a set of tickets - and when they were delivered to me I was given a third ticket as someone had become ill.
I have never felt such an affinity with this country before. I took a friend and gave the ticket to a colleague whose family had close ties to Havel - his brother was a recent adviser wrote a book that Havel wrote the forward to. My ticket benefactor had suggested a spot to meet inside the main music venue and his suggest was excellent - my friend and I were stage level just off the foot of the stage and were located right at the backstage entrance... when bands were waiting they stood with us to watch the show and when they came out for interviews it's where the interviews were held too. We weren't crowded but occasionally had to move an inch as the press wanted our spots for photos and some video. In other words - we were had a great spot. Upon meeting she had expressed some doubts on lasting the full six hours - but each band played 30 minutes - the stage was divided in to different sections and they rotated spaces. When one band ended the next started. We got there at the beginning and nearly 5 hours went by before we knew it - it was my sprained knee that made me realize I need to sit down for a bit, so we went to the other music hall, grabbed some chairs and watched a few more amazing bands. After that we went to the movie theater and watched part of a documentary... and then it was ending. We walked outside while the final band was still playing - and watched in on the giant screen set up in the middle of Wenceslas Square.
After she left, and the commotion was over, I walked up towards the museum to look at the public memorial. It was huge - truly impressive. It had spread a bit and 2 areas are full of candles and now the front of the museum has a large image of Havel.
This week has been a little draining. Locally the country has been consumed with Vaclav Havel's passing, personally I have a friend who passed away at this time of year many years back that brings some sobriety to the holiday and that was compounded by the death of another friend this past weekend. As a family unit we were already feeling a bit low about not being with any of our rather large extended family for the first time, ever. However, the week has passed and we're ok. We've done all of our shopping and meal planning, we have options to connect with friends here and things to do together that we're both looking forward to. Tomorrow we'll connect with family and friends via skype and take lots of pictures to share.
My heart goes out to the Havel family and to my friends' family as well as all others who have lost someone during what is supposed to be a season of joy and laughter. I hope that each of you reading this, regardless of the time of year or your religious persuasion, has love and laughter in your heart and joy in your daily life. Peace. And Merry Christmas.
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