Vars dress up for Halloween. The garden on Plzeňská street | Video: Jana Kopecká
The Halloween holiday is becoming more and more popular in the Czech Republic as well. Originally a Celtic folk holiday, which falls on October 31, it is observed mainly in Anglo-Saxon countries. So far, Czech followers of Halloween have not come close to the form it has there. It is probably hard to imagine that children dressed in spooky masks will go caroling from house to house.
Halloween is mainly joined by various restaurants as well as schools and kindergartens, which come up with various Halloween programs for children. Few gardens are decorated with carved pumpkins and Halloween accessories. That is why the one that is located on the main route from the center of Karlovy Vary to Doubí on Plzeňská Street stands out, and its decoration is unmistakable even from a moving car. It has been like this for several years.
In the garden, the Boháčeks also have several replicas of tombstones, skeletons climbing out of the flower beds, of course there must be pumpkins, and the atmosphere is enhanced by the cobwebs wrapped around the trees and bushes. When it gets dark, the eyes of the ghostly creatures also light up. “I buy most things through the e-shop. The pumpkins are ours, I grew them myself. I have to think about them already in the spring and I must not forget to plant them,” says Karlovaračka.
She enjoys not only making her children happy, but also the people who walk or drive by. The responses are great. “Passers-by stop by us. Recently a car was parked here and the family walked around our garden. It makes me happy that someone else is happy about it,” notes Marie Boháčková.
However, the reactions are not always positive. Many people still consider Halloween rather a novelty copied from America, which has no business in our regions. “Why can’t we enjoy Halloween too? That does not mean that I deny the tradition of All Souls,” adds the young Karlovaračka.
