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SUMMARY OF THE
SPRING 2006 ISSUE
Volume 14, No. 1, Spring 2006
Slovak
Heritage Live
A quarterly newsletter
published by Vladimir Linder
Spring issue was published in
May 2006 and it was mailed to 1200 recipients world wide.
Altar of Birth from the Church of St.
James in Levoča, by Master Pavol from Levoča
This picture is available for purchase, suitable for
framing 12x18. Cost US4 165,00 all inclusive
FROM THE EDITOR
I am a bit late with the
spring 2006 issue but you are getting the summer issue as well and on
that one, I am early.
This is our 14th year anniversary issue and so far, excluding this issue
we published 52 issues and 768 pages.
We started in spring of 1993 with four pages and doubling them to eight
in summer and again adding four pages in the fall issue and adding four
more pages in winter issue and our newsletter has been 16 pages since
winter 1993. I do have every issue kept in my archives.
I have been extremely busy, I started to study at University of British
Columbia, as I have to challenge property management exam by end of the
year. The Government made new law by which all property managers
managing strata and rental properties must be licensed by January 1,
2007, so I have no other choice and must do the exam.
I am leaving June 12 and will return on
August 22. If you have any requests for genealogical research, ancestral
village videos or photography, visit my pages for information at
www.slovakheritage.org and then call me at 011-421-918-075-291 or email
me at: vlinder49@hotmail.com. I am taking my study materials to Slovakia
and intend to study there.
In
2005, our slovakheritage.org web pages got 150348 visitors and 2.685261
hits, lindervideo.com got 5742 visitors and 278987 hits and
liptovskateplicka.com got 1564 visitors and 49539 hits.
You can find information about my services on my web pages:
http://www.slovakheritage.org/Shopping/Genrsrch/genealogical_research.htm
http://www.slovakheritage.org/Shopping/Videos/ancestral_videos.htm
http://www.slovakheritage.org/Shopping/Videos/ancestral_photography.htm
Vladimir
FROM THE
MAIL BAG
Dear Vladimir,
Just a note to tell you I enjoy reading your newsletter, however I am
sending you a copy of an outline Map of Slovakia so you can mark some of
the places you visit each time and maybe put the map location marks into
the newsletter, because you are making me dizzy traveling. I have been
to Slovakia four times and I can’t figure out how you get so fast from
one area to another also mark where your favorite Pension Dolinka is
located-we could maybe look it up and give them more business when
travelers go to Slovakia. How much would it cost me if I asked you to
look up some family history-as what I want to know is in the archives in
Banská Bystrica. In addition, do you ever tour Puchov, Beluša, Dolné
Kočkovce in the Považská Bystrica area? I would like to see some history
from this area.
Again, keep up the newsletter.
Anne Podolinsky
3894 Little Irleand Rd. RR#7
Alvinston Ont. N0N 1A0 CANADA
Dear Mrs. Podolinsky thank you for your map suggestion, however I can’t
do it as the newsletter is done electronically and I can’t paste paper
into it. My suggestion is to look up the locations on the Internet or
you can purchase Auto Atlas of the Slovak Republic in scale 1:100000
from me for US$ 65.45. To do a search in Archives in Banská Bystrica we
charge US$ 250.00 per name and you pay for the charges in the archive.
You authorize the amount you want to spend which is also to be prepaid.
We usually authorize archives up to US$250.00. You pay what they charge
and may get a refund for some of the unused funds. Research in Slovak
archives must be prepaid and they also bill for their time in case they
don’t find anything, as they have to go through the records. I have been
to Beluša few years ago as I had a research job there, two years ago I
went through Dolné Kočkovce and Púchov and I been through Považská
Bystrica many times, last time in November 2005....
MY
FALL 2005 TRIP TO SLOVAKIA
I left Vancouver on October 11.
Flew with British Airways through London to Vienna. The flight was
great. Recently the airlines reduced the weight of luggage per suitcase
from 32 kilograms to 23 kilograms, but British Airways didn’t make the
change yet, so I was safe with my two huge Samsonite oyster shell
suitcases. Funny talking about suitcases. I used to buy new set cheap
vinyl suitcases every trip, as they pretty well would be destroyed after
each overseas trip. Then when my friends from Slovakia the Dula’s family
visited us long time ago, I noticed their great suitcases, immediately I
made some enquiries and both two Samsonite Oyster Shell suitcases from
Satchel Shops, owned by my friend Larry Izen. You may remember the ads
in TV with elephant stampeding on them and nothing happened to them. It
was not fiction, they are really that good. I remember they were very
expensive, but survived by now about 30 overseas trips without any major
problems and they are still like brand new, so if you count the number
of trips they have been around the world, after all it was pretty good
deal. In addition, over the years they have been lost several times by
different airlines. I have just read in Slovak Papers on Internet that
Samsonite is closing their suitcase factory in Nové Zámky in Slovakia
and moving it to China.
My friend Milan Štefánik picked me at Vienna’s airport and soon I was on
my way to Bratislava. The border, now almost non-existent was smooth;
nobody asked us any questions, of course I went in on my Slovak passport
or the Slovak Id card. We were just waived through, as usual.
Next morning ACR-Advantage Car Rentals delivered my car to my residence.
I thought they would just pick me up, but they delivered the car to me
right in front of the apartment.
I mentioned to
you in previous issue that our daughter Julia will start studying Slovak
language in September 2005. Well she arrived in Slovakia in September
2005 and is currently studying the preparatory Slovak language class for
the Slovak university studies. However, more on Julias studying on
following pages. Next day I picked up Julia after school in Bratislava
and we went through Banská Bystrica, Brezno and Čertovica mountain pass
to Liptovská Teplička, where we stayed in at my Liptovská Teplička
residence, PENSION ĽUDMILA. Saturday morning Julia and I went for a hike
up the Smrečiny Mountain above Liptovská Teplička. I must tell you that
in all those years visiting Liptovská Teplička, I never went for a hike
up the Smrečiny Mountain and I was really happy that Julia and I went
hiking, all the way to the top. I was there on several occasions by car
and then in Spring 2005 I was skiing there and went there by the ski
lift. The views from there are spectacular and unbelievable. We had
a great time. Sunday we went for a hike to the High Tatra Mountains. We
drove to Starý Smokovec. Got free parking on my press pass as I was
there officially, taking pictures. We took the tram to Hrebienok and
from there we went on two-hour walk all the way to Skalnaté Pleso. The
weather was not so great, it was windy at times and snowing and really
cold. Julia is in great condition and I had a hard time catching up with
her most of the way. We made it to the lake, then went for a tea in
a cottage under the pleso and hiked back down to Hrebienok. It was
a great day, and we enjoyed it a lot. Monday we drove through the
mountains south to Telgárt. You see, Julia’s confirmation sponsor’s
mother lives in Telgárt and we arranged for Julia to have permanent
residence in Telgárt. Julia is a Slovak citizen and therefore now a
citizen of European Union and these days it has great advantages. She
does have European Union passport as well. We had to visit the mayor’s
office to officially put her into the residents list, got some papers
and were told to go to Brezno, where at the police office they will
issue her a permanent residency card. We went to Brezno after stop at
the Telgárt mayor’s office. Well, in Brezno we were told that the
picture we have for the card won’t do and we will have to bring a new
one, so we went to a studio and in few minutes we got new pictures, went
back to the police office where Julia got her permanent residency card
in few minutes, which was great. To be a resident has also great
advantages. Later on, we returned to Bratislava and we still managed to
get a student public transportation card for Julia. She as a Slovak
citizen, resident and student, got a pass for about CA$8.00 for public
transportation for the whole city for a month, which is a great deal.
Maria, my wife, was arriving next day in Vienna. In the morning, I went
to the study office at Julia’s school and shown them her permanent
residency card, the ladies in the office were surprised, but I delivered
on my promise. You see if she did not have the permanent residency card
and Slovak citizen status, she would have to get approval prior to her
arrival for her studies and stay by the Slovak police...
ADVANTAGE CAR RENTALS
I have been renting cars from
Advantage Car Rentals for over three years. I get great and very
friendly service and their prices are reasonable. They also offer
long-term rentals for month and more at even better prices and savings
and unlimited mileage as well. Nobody in Slovakia has better deal then
ADVANTAGE CAR RENTALS and believe me I did my research. Multinational
companies and you all know who I mean, are excessively expensive and
other Slovak car rental companies are more expensive as well. During my
last trip, I talked to Ing. Peter Moravčík and found that the Ing. Milan
Mjartan established the car rental company in 1992 as MM Car Rentals and
changed its name to Advantage Car Rentals in 1995. Since then they have
grown to 4 employees and 70 cars. Many cars are leased on long-term
basis to their corporate clients such as Volkswagen Slovakia, PVC, Jan
Becher, Price Waterhouse, Unilever, Peugeot-Citroen, IBM, AT&T, Orange,
and others. The company provides extra services such as pick up and drop
off practically anywhere in the territory of European Union, so pick up
or drop off ACR car in Budapest, Vienna, or Warsaw is not a problem at
all. They are located in Petržalka, part of Bratislava and if needed
they are open 24 hours. I guess their biggest triumph was last year
during the President BUSH-PUTIN summit in Bratislava, when they supplied
cars to the USA delegation. Quite often, they work for Ministry of
External Affairs providing service for official delegations. They are
looking forward to provide excellent service to readers of Slovak
Heritage Live.
25TH ANNIVERSARY OF FOLKLORE GROUP BYSTRINA
The
folklore ensemble
BYSTRINA from Banská Bystrica was established in October
1980. It has more than 50 members, mostly students of high schools and
universities. What unites the members of the group is the idea of
preserving Slovak folklore for next generations.
BYSTRINA
is an amateur ensemble, but in spite of that, the performances of
dancers, musicians and singers are of a very high standard. They cover
all Slovakia, presenting typical folk traditions of different Slovak
regions.
You
can see this group on stages all over Slovakia with more than 30
performances a year. It has already danced in almost every country in
Europe as well as in other parts of the world-Asia and Africa. Manager
of the folklore ensemble BYSTRINA, Ján Pivoluska, has also been the main
choreographer of the group since its very beginning. They cover all
Slovakia presenting typical folklore traditions of different Slovak
regions.
In their 25-year existence, they visited: Hungary (1985, 1994, and
1996), Germany (1986, 1992), Poland (1987, 1991), Italy (1987, 1990),
France (1991, 1992, 1996, 1999, 2000) Belgium (1993), Turkey (1993),
Greece (1994), Holland (1994), Portugal (1995, 2003, 2005), Egypt
(1997), Spain (1995, 2003), Lybia (2005)...
50th ANNIVERSARY OF
FOLKLORE GROUP MOSTÁR
On November 4 and
5, 2005 folklore group MOSTÁR was celebrating its 50th anniversary with
their fantastic Gala Program. Friday’s program was for public and
Saturday program was for member’s families and former members and
invited guests. I was filming and taking pictures during both
performances. The stage was set very simple. Giant dried flower heart
with Mostár’s logo was hanging on black backdrop
high above the stage.
The program started with songs from Heľpa, followed robber’s party and
former members The Senior Mostár dace “by the
music.” Between the dances, we witnessed a birth of a young boy and the
folklore guided him through his youth all the way to adulthood, getting
married and having his family. What I really liked that Mostár stuck to
the folklore of Upper Hron region and that they were not trying to
perform folklore from other regions. The only non Upper Hron number in
their program was “Gypsies from Örkö.”
Over all I really liked both performances as they were not only great,
but they were perfect and I had tears in my eyes during both
performances, as I really like the Upper Hron Region folk songs and
dances...
SLOVAK
HISTORY
CHRONOLOGY
& LEXICON
This
book is in English
The book (350 pages) is divided into two sections.
The
first section, the calendar, presents Slovak history from the first
evidence about human beings on Slovak territory up to the events that took
place in 1998 with notations summarizing important historical events and
phenomena.
The
second section is an encyclopedic dictionary with three hundred
alphabetically arranged entries characterizing the most important
concepts, institutions, and events. It includes genealogical tables of the
longest reigning dynasties on the Hungarian throne, a list of all rulers
and presidents of states to which the lands of Slovakia belonged (Great
Moravia, the Kingdom of Hungary, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Slovakia).
Six historians from Bratislava prepared this chronology of Slovak history
(J. Bartl, V. Segeš, V. Čičaj, D. Škvarna-main author, R. Letz
and M. Kohútová).
It is said that the way to the knowledge of the present leads through a
knowledge of the past. Therefore, this book can be recommended to all
readers, who are interested in the Slovak history as well as to those, who
are involved in genealogical research.
We can only welcome this book trying to fill the gap because until now,
Slovak history was not sufficiently covered and to a very limited extent
in the English language.
It
is not frequent to mention the translator’ s name, but an exception in
this case is allowed, thank you David P. Daniel for your excellent
translation.
Reviewed
by: Miroslava Dulová
COST
US$99.95
plus US$9.95 shipping and
handling
TOTAL
US$109.90
Please mail personal check to:
3804 Yale Street
Burnaby
BC V5C 1P6
CANADA
Obrázkový slovník slovenčiny
ILLUSTRATED
DICTIONARY OF THE SLOVAK LANGUAG
Author:
Oľga Škvareninová
This illustrated dictionary is intended for each and everybody with
the intention to improve his or her knowledge of the Slovak language.
It includes approximately 3 000
selected words, more than the basic thesaurus.
The dictionary is divided into six individual titles and
accompanied by a register at the end.
The individual titles are:
People and their surroundings
Nature
Working environment
Transportation
Leisure and sport
Art and science
ONLY FIVE
BOOKS AVAILABLE
COST US$35.95 each
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and handling
TOTAL US$41.90
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SLOVAK
FOLK DANCES
Mária
Mázorová, Kliment Ondrejka and colleagues
This book is in Slovak.
It contains:Map of folklore regions of
Slovakia
Detailed choreographies and songs including music sheets from following
regions: ZEMPLÍN,
GEMER, LIPTOV, GORAL, PODPOĽANIE, MYJAVA, ŠARIŠ and SPIŠ, NITRA
and TEKOV, HONT, NOVOHRAD and ZVOLEN, TRENČÍN and KYSUCE, PODUNAJ
and ZÁHORIE.
The text is supplied with 106 color photographs, 159 black and white
photographs of the folk dress, folklore groups, prominent dancers and
musicians in the authentic version; 388 black and white photographs of the
dance motives performed by the members of some outstanding ensembles, 174
songs and folk scores, the folklore map of the Slovakia.
The work The Slovak folk dances is the complex and systematic publication
from the sphere of the Slovak dance folklore and with it close associated
kinds of the folk art, which were developing together with the dance, were
influencing each other and formed often one entirety.
This work is the result of the needs and requirements of all those who are
concerned with the folk dance and the folk art. It represents the picture
of the past expressing that the Slovak folk dance and the folk art have
kept substantially the form of the classic art because their
characteristic elements can be found in all periods of the development and
are preserved until the present time.
With the aim of saving our cultural heritage (folk dance, music, songs,
dress) for the contemporaries and the future generations in its full
beauty, the authors pass to the readers with high professionalism their
life long knowledge and experiences acquired in research and professional
work in the folk ensembles.
In the first chapters of the book the general characteristics of the dance
folklore, the musical folklore and the folk dress in the Slovakia is
presented so as their samples have been preserved for us since the old
times until those of the beginning of the 20th century.
In the next part twenty folklore regions are presented in detail: the
regions of Zemplín, Gemer and Horehronie, Liptov, Tatra’s highlanders,
Poľana, Myjava, Šariš, Spiš, Nitra, Tekov, Orava, Turiec, Hont,
Novohrad, Zvolen, Trenčín, Kysuce, Danube lowlands and Záhorie. The
complete typical picture of the separate regions is offered. The location,
settlement, the survey of many known dances, descriptions of the dances,
musical folklore, folk dress. At those regions where the most peculiar
Slovak dances originated, also the detailed descriptions of the dance
motives are given.
The work is intended for all who admire the folk dance, especially for the
dancing masters, young people who attend dancing schools, the amateur and
professional dance ensembles. It will be of good use for the
choreographers, dress designers and for all those who are engaged in the
folklore and want to acquire further professional knowledge and experience
in this sphere. But certainly it will please everybody who is interested
in the beauty of the Slovak folklore, its richness and variety.
We believe that the book will inspire all its readers with admiration for
the creation of unknown folk artists of the long and the recent past. At
the same time it will help all bearers of the traditions to keep and
propagate the most beautiful jewels of the Slovak national culture.
This
hard cover book is available now
in
very limited quantities
COST
US$99.50
plus US$13.95 shipping and handling
TOTAL US$113.45
Please mail personal check to:
3804 Yale Street
Burnaby
BC V5C 1P6
CANADA
SLOVAK
BETHLEHEM POST CARDS
For sample issue of
The Slovak Heritage Live Newsletter, please send US$2.00
together with your postal address to:
Vladimir
Linder
3804 Yale Street
Burnaby, BC,
Canada, V5C 1P6
Phone/Fax:
1-604-291-8065
GO
TO SLOVAK HERITAGE LIVE MAIN PAGE
SUBSCRIBE
vlinder49@shaw.ca
Copyright © Vladimir Linder 2006
3804 Yale
Street, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5C 1P6
The above article and photographs may not be copied, reproduced,
republished, or redistributed by any means including electronic, without
the express written permission of Vladimir
Linder. All rights
reserved.
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