A Foreigner’s View on ‘Hody’

Hody refers to the traditional festival or feast that is specific to villages in Moravia. It usually involves people of the village dressing up in traditional costumes called ‘kroje’. The festivals include traditional Folk dancing and music. Hody festivals are a way of preserving regional customs and promoting community spirit. The dates and specific traditions can vary depending on the region.

My Vvillage (Topolná) which is located inin the Moravian area, participates in this tradition. A lot of the people dress up in the traditional Kroje and prepare pastries, as well as Slivovice and wine. The purpose of the festival in my village is to celebrate the end of the season where all the hard work is done. A group of young adults prepare dances and are the ones that normally dress up in full kroje.

Me in kroj

My host sister, host dad, and I in kroje before the festival

This year I was able to participate in the village Hody with everyone. We started off the fist day of Hody by putting on the kroje which takes a very long time (about an hour) and preparing for the walk around the village. We start off the celebration with a quick mass at the local church. Once we finished with that the celebration really began.

Dancing during the festival

Host sister Terka and friend Ondra during one of the toasting of people during the festival

There was dancing and music right off the bat! We began by walking and singing in the streets and celebrating different important people in the village. We would stop at their houses, dance, sing, and toast them, all while they would offer us refreshments! This went on for many hours, and I got to dance and be apart of this celebration with everyone!

The dance group on the second day of hody at the church

The celebration went on all day and well into the night… and a repeat the next day! We even got to toast my host parents as my host day was the previous mayor of Topolná. I was very tired after the weekend to say the least, but it was some of the most fun I’ve ever had in my life. It was very interesting to see and experience this since I’ve never seen anything like it in my life. I am very grateful for how included and part of the culture I felt during this weekend and I’m sad that it only happens once a year!

Kloe Zyp, District 7010, Kanada → RC Zlín