Flower Communion, Czech History in Brooklyn

ORGANIZER

Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences, New York Chapter, with support of BBLA

DATE
June 4, 2023

VENUE
First Unitarian Congregational Society, Brooklyn

ABOUT

Celebration of the 100th anniversary of a ceremony introduced in 1923 by Dr. Norbert Capek, founder of Czech Unitarian in Prague. The ceremony included a flower exchange. The congregation members brought flowers that were exchanged and taken home after the ceremony.

We visited the historic First Unitarian Congregational Society in Brooklyn Heights, the home church of Charlotte Garrigue Masaryk (1850-1923), the Brooklyn-born First Lady of newly formed Czechoslovakia in 1918. Both her husband, Tomas Masaryk, and her son Jan spoke from this church's pulpit. Charlotte Garrigue Masaryk was instrumental in developing close ties of this church with the Czechoslovak Unitaria. The ninth of this Brooklyn church, Rev. John Howland Lathrop, headed a relief program in Czechoslovakia following World War II. Some memorabilia and photos can be found in the church.

The song “Aj lúčka, lúčka široká” is traditionally sung on this occasion in Czech. Its text was available to non-Czech speakers in phonetic transcription.