The Ancestor Archive

Good afternoon. 👋

We went to the same studio on the same street in Valašské Meziříčí, dressed as opposites, and stood together in front of the camera. 🎭

One of us chose black. A dark dress, dark gloves, dark sleeves you could see through, and on her head — a bird. Wings spread, beak forward. A crow, most likely, or something close to it. She is looking at the camera the way someone looks at it when they have decided that tonight they are the villain and they are comfortable with that. 🦅

The other chose white. A long pale dress with fur trim along the hem, a white hat with dark feathers, the kind of outfit that says winter queen, or snow, or something elegant and slightly untouchable. She is standing straighter. She seems slightly amused. 🤍

We came together as a pair — black and white, dark and light, crow and swan. That kind of coordination does not happen by accident. We planned this. We chose each other.

Somewhere in the same city, around the same years, a younger girl went to the same studio dressed as a rabbit with a drum. She might have been a sister. She might have been a cousin. She might have been someone’s little neighbour who everyone brought along to the merenda at the Beseda because it was early March and the whole town went. 🐰

We do not know. The cards ended up together, which means something. Probably the same household. Probably the same story, told across different evenings and different costumes and different years.

Do you recognise either costume — or either face?

Good morning. 👋

My name is Olga. On the 4th of March 1905, I went to the merenda at the Beseda in Valašské Meziříčí dressed as a rabbit. 🐰

A merenda was a unique carnival ball - music, dancing, costumes, the whole of the town’s social life compressed into one evening in early March before Lent arrived and made everything serious again.

I wore white. The dress had small round pompoms along the hem. I had rabbit ears on my head and a drum in my hands, because I was not just any rabbit - I was a drumming rabbit, which is a significantly better costume than a regular rabbit. 🥁

After the ball, or perhaps during it, someone decided this needed to be documented. We went to the studio of O. Šrůtek on Vsetínská street and I stood in front of the camera still in full costume, still holding the drum, still entirely committed to the character. 🤍

The Beseda in Valašské Meziříčí was the heart of Czech cultural life in the town - concerts, lectures, balls, theatre. On the 4th of March 1905, it hosted a merenda. Olga came as a rabbit with a drum.

That is all we know. That is also everything. 🌿

Did your family ever go to a merenda?