Czech Republic
Hey, What’s the News?
On Friday 20 December 2024, the Jaro Dance Group and the Jara Band presented their traditional Christmas performance Hey, What’s the News? in the Great Hall of the Municipal Library of Prague. All members of the ensemble – from the youngest children to the adult dancers – took part in an evening of dance, song and Advent customs.
The performance opens with traditions held before Christmas: the masked processions of Saint Lucy, Saint Nicholas, Saint Ambrose and the Perchtas. It then moves to Chodsko in western Bohemia, with dances accompanied by Czech bagpipes, and on to the dance of the Virgin Mary, which marks the birth of Jesus and the start of the Christmas celebrations with Bohemian carol singing. The second part brings dances and songs from Lachia in north-eastern Moravia.
The poster illustration was created by the painter Ondřej Halata.
