The Czech Republic was our country on the final day of religion week, sort of. We already covered the six most popular religions
....with Vatican City and Brazil for Christianity....
....Nepal and Bangladesh for Hinduism...
....India for Sikhism...
...and Israel for Judaism.
So what's left? Well, there's some smaller religions here and there: Jainism, Shintoism, or Confucianism. (They are all in our world religions book, and the boys are reading it, so they will get a mini lesson from the book on it, just not a country and a lesson by me).
But I did want to talk about (pretty much just define) Atheism, and Agnosticism.
What better country to pair with that than one of the least religious countries in the world: the Czech Republic.
Only 23% of the country's population regard religion as an important part of their lives. But this land of fairy tales and castles isn't entirely without a belief system. Many believe in magic and fortune tellers, and magical properties of lucky charms!
The Czech Republic, like I said, is known for it's castles. Our landmark was the Prague castle complex. It dates all the way back to the 9th century. It's the largest ancient castle in the world, and it has been home to kings of Bohemia, Holy Roman Emperors, and kings of Bohemia. (The Bohemian crown jewels are kept within a hidden room at the complex!)
A country since 1993, the Czech Republics split from current Slovakia is considered the most peaceful division of two nations in history. Czechoslovakia broke into two after peaceful demonstrations, influenced by the dismantling of the Berlin Wall. The peaceful split is known as the 'Velvet Revolution'.
Other fun facts:
You can thank Czech Republic for the polka. It was first introduced in Prague and 'Polkamania' took over.
We can also thank them for the word 'Robot'. It was first introduced in a play there in 1920.
You know that Christmas song featuring 'Good King Wenceslas'? Well, he was a real guy, and the ruler of the Czech Kingdom! He was the Duke of Bohemia who risked his life to feed the poor, until he was eventually murdered by his brother. That's not so Christmas-y.
We did talk about the definitions of Atheists, Agnostics, and (per Asa's request, despite my arguments) Apatheist.
I know that religion is a sticky subject. Like I said in my first blog, we don't practice a religion here. We'd rather the boys pick and chose what they want to believe in or put their faith in, if anything at all, when they are old enough to really wrap their heads around what they are practicing. For our family purposes, there isn't a 'right' religion, rather you should practice what works for you, and what connects with you.
But practicing a religion or not, just be a good person. You don't need to believe in any god, or karma, or reincarnation or even an afterlife to be kind and understanding to each other.
Ultimately, we do just want them to know a little about everything, no matter what. I think it today's world we could all use a little bit more understanding where people are coming from, and educating yourself is never a bad idea.
And that's my two cents, hopefully we didn't offend anyone with this theme week, and hopefully I did it justice.
Here's the boys postcards for Czech Republic:
We had dinner outside for the Czech Republic (thus the different table and lightning). We've had some lovely weather around here lately.
The cuisine in the Czech Republic is like a German/Polish combo.
Our meal was perogies, apple sauce, apple strudel, and Czech Roast Pork
No table picture since we ate outside.
But for those of you keeping track at home...
that's 35 countries down, 158 to go!
Next Up: Religion Week is over, we're back to alphabetical order with Belize!
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