Free Time in the Era of Czechoslovakia

The Sokol physical education association was established in 1863. The best activities took place at the Sokol “slet“, meetings of all active members during the joint exercise. For the new, communist regime after 1948, Sokol was uncomfortable, so it suppressed it. Nonetheless, the joint exercise was kept as a form of a demonstration of the successes of socialism. Sokol “slet“ changed into a spartakiad. They were held since 1955 and taking part in them was considered prestigious. The most important ones were held in the capital city of Prague at the Strahov Stadium. They disappeared after 1989 and Sokol was restored.

Social gathering associated with drinking good beverages has had a long tradition in Central Europe. During the existence of Czechoslovakia, modern phenomena were added to the consumption of beer, liquors or lemonades accompanying chatting about everything. People in clubs, bars and pubs danced to live or recorded music, chatted about sports events and, in particular, the men's population began to connect going to the pub with cheering for sports clubs or Czechoslovakian representation. The media, especially television which enabled watching sports and other events from the home armchair, influenced the entertainment. People were drinking and chatting with friends while watching the football World Cup as well as entertainment shows such as New Year's Eve shows.

A similar language of Czechs and Slovak gave rise to stars known across the Czech and Slovak area. Whether it was a film, music or television, both Czechs and Slovaks had their shared film and music stars that sold out theatres, houses of culture or sports halls. Male and female singers also took part in the festivals. The first year of the most famous popular music festival of the last quarter of the century in Czechoslovakia, the Bratislava lyre, was won by Karel Gott in 1966. He was a person who, as one of a few, outstretched the state borders. A joint show business in the form of Czech-Slovak duets, Czech actors in Slovak films or series and vice versa has still been alive.

Tourism as well as the exercise, acquired various forms in the 20th century. Tramping can be understood as escaping from the city and finding oneself. Tramps have been pioneers of setting up camps in the wild since the 1930s, making use of the romantic stories of the American Wild West. The organization that promoted mainly hiking was the Club of Czechoslovak Tourists. Its members travelled Czechoslovakia on foot and were preparing new trails with original colour marking. The passion for hiking in nature is embodied in a number of marches that have spread since the 1960s. The most famous is the Prague-Prčice march, which has been operating since 1966.

Board games and table games used to become an entertainment of young and old in the higher social levels since the 19th century. In the following century, they spread among the entire population, including the Czechoslovak one. Czechoslovakia became a super power in their use. The building kit that used to entertain the generations as early as the First Republic was called Merkur. In the second half of the 20th century, “Člověče nezlob se“ (Ludo) or so-called “Céčka“ became popular.