Czech and Slovak Tramping Movement as a Shared Cultural Heritage

• Published in: Slovenský národopis Vol. 71; no. 2; pp. 165 - 179
• Main Author: Altman, Karel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bratislava Institute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology, Slovak Academy of Sciences 01.01.2023; Ústav etnológie a sociálnej antropológie Slovenskej akadémie vied; Slovak Academy of Sciences, Institute of Ethnology
• Subjects: Cultural heritage; Cultural history; Culture; Existential constructions; Friendship; International relations/trade; Political history; Social history; Socialism; Transformation Period (1990 - 2010); Czech Republic; Czechoslovakia; Slovakia; Bohemia; festivities; Czech Republic; Slovak Republic; tramping; cultural heritage
• ISSN: 1335-1303; 1339-9357; 1339-9357
• DOI: 10.31577/SN.2023.2.16

The aim of this article is to contribute to a critical evaluation of the history and present of mutual relations between Czech and Slovak tramps, as well as the role of tramping in Czech and Slovak history, as this specific phenomenon significantly marked the activities of broad sections of the youth of both nations. At the same time, from the very beginning there were intensive informal and organized contacts between Czech and Slovak tramps, which still applies today. Especially after the division of Czechoslovakia, mutual friendly contacts turned into a political demonstration, completely unusual in the tramp movement, especially in the previous era of so-called normalization. The contribution pays particular attention to the Czech-Slovak and Slovak-Czech annual potlach (potlatch in English) as a manifestation of the mutuality of Czech and Slovak tramps and an expression of the cultural heritage of more than a century of existence of Czechoslovak tramping.