This article deals with the constitutional developments and legal policy in Central Europe since 1989 and focuses on a temporal analysis of and the difference between the demos and ethnos concepts of the nation in the political and legal systems. Drawing on several social theories of time, identity and the codification of social traditions, the author claims that the difference between the civic and the ethnic concepts of the nation does not relate just to the conflict between the liberal-democratic aspirations and ethno-nationalistic myths of authoritarian politicians. The concepts rather represent two distinct traditions, manipulated by political officials and codified in the constitutional processes. The political manipulation of the past and the process of selecting from among different traditions are manifest at the level of constitutional symbolism and in the specific government programmes that have arisen in post-communist Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, and the Czech Republic. In the concluding part the author presents an analysis of the relationship between the abstract and symbolic language of constitutional documents and the concrete, ethnically determined legal policies in Central European countries.
The essay explains Central-European traditional forms of manpower transport, in particular the ways to transport children. Carrying children using different transport aids has a long tradition and many common elements within the researched area, but we can also find many specific techniques and ways of carrying children as well as transport aids there. We can encounter regional archaisms and specifics there which make these ways of transport special. We focus on the oldest and most common transport mean - a wrap that - as a universal mean - served for carrying children until the mid-20th century. We record the ways of carrying children on motheer´s body - in front, on side or on back. The children used to be fixed in more ways as to their age, weight, and occasion to which they were transported (to the field, doctor´s, baptism etc.). We have noticed a special way of carrying children in baskets on mother´s back. Many of these described archaic ways are being revitalised, whereby original carrying techniques, and modern transport aids and materials are used. The essay summarizes results of long-term research and it compares them with materials published in the ethnographic atlases of Slovakia (EAS) and Poland, as well as with Czech works.
Tento článek obsahuje dosavadní poznatky o tradiční amazonské medicíně v České republice. Rovněž je v něm zahrnuta klasifikace pořádaných obřadů a charakteristika jejich pořadatelů a účastníků. Terénní výzkum mezi uživateli tradiční amazonské medicíny byl realizován od listopadu 2015. Výzkumný vzorek tvoří 46 osob (23 žen a 23 mužů), které se v minulosti s tradiční amazonskou medicínou minimálně jednou zúčastnily nějakého typu rituálu. S těmito osobami byly nahrány semi-strukturované rozhovory. Cílem tohoto článku je kategorizovat jejich obsah. Za tímto účelem jsme provedli obsahovou analýzu interview metodou zakotvené teorie. V tomto článku prezentujeme výsledky analýzy prvních 15 rozhovorů. Tyto výsledky potvrzují, že v České republice je nejčastěji užívaným přípravkem z tradiční amazonské medicíny psychoaktivní odvar ayahuasca. V závěru článku jsou uvedena rizika spojená s užíváním psychoaktivních látek., This article assesses the present situation in traditional Amazonian medicine in the Czech Republic. It also classifies the types of organized rituals and characterizes their organizers and participants in the country. The fieldwork among traditional Amazonian medicine users was conducted since November 2015. A total of 46 respondents (23 women and 23 men) who had attended at least one ritual of traditional Amazonian medicine were selected for the study and we recorded with them semi-structured interviews. The aim of this article is to categorize their contents. In order to fulfill this objective, we performed a content analysis of interviews based on the Grounded Theory method. In this article we publish results of analysis of the first 15 interviews. These results confirm that in the Czech Republic a psychoactive brew ayahuasca is the most used preparation from traditional Amazonian medicine. Finally, there are risks associated with the use of psychoactive substances indicated., and Miroslav Horák, Šárka Vosáhlová
This text deals with the traditional methods of carrying materials on frame packs in Krkonoše. Like sleighs or wagons, frame packs were a traditional means of transport, used mainly in the mountains or rugged and hilly regions. Three different types of frame packs
were used in Krkonoše. Frame packs with a shelf were the most common type: they featured atypical shelf onto which the load was placed. Frame packs with a board featured a simple wooden board as the main structural element. The latter type was equipped with straps used to affix the load. It was used by professional porters who often carried 100+ kilogram loads. The third type, known as the bench frame pack, was mostly used for transporting hay. The tough
work of a porter was commonly passed from generation to generation. Porters worked in all seasons and under any and all weather conditions.