Witches Night

Thursday night was Witches Night in the Czech Republic. It is believed to date back to the iron age and it signals the end of winter. We went to Roztoky (a village just outside Prague) again this year for the celebration. The girls dressed up like witches and joined their friend, Kiera, running around and playing. They were both a little hesitant at first but then seem to settle in and have fun. There was a wooden house that was on fire (pretend) and the firemen would spray there hoses on the house knocking over the flames. The girls really liked exploring that. Kiera sang a song as did a bunch of other kids but Ali and Sofia were too shy to get on the stage. Ali decided at the last minute that she wanted to sing but by then the singing was already finished. The highlight of the night is the burning of the witch. This is a picture of the witch before she was set on fire. The kids loved watching her burn. It was exciting waiting for her to fall over! After the witch was burned the girls roasted sausages over the fire with our friend Radek (Kiera's dad). Sofia loved roasting the sausages but the fire was to hot for Ali so we had to stand a little bit back from the flames. After having some sausage there was a witches parade. All the little kids who wore witches costumes went up on stage to show their costumes and were given a chocolate bar and a small flashlight. Sofia was very shy and didn't want to go up but she decided at the last minute to go up with Kiera and Ali. I thought she was going to cry onstage but she held it together and was so excited to have her very own flashlight. Just after the kids came off the stage it started to pour so we all ran to our cars and headed home. It was another great witches night.