WHEN CZECHOSI^OVAKIA PUTS A FALCON FEATHER IN ITS CAP 



49 



which won the geographic setting for an 

 accomplished fact. 



Dr. Tyrs built his dream on a drill squad 

 of 75 Sokol members, who initiated his sys- 

 tem of gymnastics on March 5, 1862. The 

 First Pan-Sokol Festival in 1881, includ- 

 ing 696 Sokols gathered from 76 different 

 units, was considered a great success. 



The Seventh Sokol Festival in Praha in 

 1920, involving the mobilization of 70,000 

 trained athletes and countless spectators, 

 was a major factor in the consolidation of 

 a new nation in the heart of Europe. Czech 

 consciousness and patriotism, fostered by 

 the Sokol organization for nearly 60 years, 

 had proved its worth. 



Shortly before the 1932 festival I flew 

 over the great stadium on Strahov Hill. It 

 seemed more like a village than an arena. 



There were 140,000 participants in this 

 year's meeting. From June 5 to July 6 the 

 athletic colony was busy. Preceding the 

 main adult festival, from July 2 to July 6, 

 first the children, then the adolescents, dis- 

 played their skill and training. From June 

 29 to July 6 the streets were a riot of color 

 in informal ot formal parades of marchers 

 in local or national dress. 



THB SOKOL ATTRACTS VISITORS 

 FROM AFAR 



Delegates from neighboring lands added 

 even greater variety to the display, which 

 took on characteristics of a fashion show 

 of peasant handicrafts and needlework. 

 Although membership is limited to Slavs 

 and a few nationals from countries which 

 fought on the side of the Entente during 

 the World War, Serbs, Croats, Slovenes, 

 and Bulgars have been allied with the 

 Czechs in the Sokol movement and recent 

 festivals have had an international aspect. 



The Stars and Stripes wave over many 

 a colorful procession and July 4 is cele- 

 brated as the "Fourth of July." 



It is hard to understand how drill teams 

 from 3,144 widely distributed units arrive 

 at such perfection ; but the Sokol organi- 

 zation has its own publishing plant and the 

 music to which the movements are set is 

 distributed long before the show. 



Special gramophone records are made 

 and sent to all parts of the country, and on 

 Sunday mornings the Praha broadcasting 

 station is used by Sokol instructors, who 

 give directions and the words of command 



which are employed in the final exhibitions. 

 Nothing is left to chance. That is con- 

 trary to the entire Sokol spirit. 



The festivals are distinguished not only 

 by mass drills and colorful parades, but 

 also by an allegorical pageant. 



In 1932 this allegory related this radio- 

 directed spectacle with the original Olym- 

 pic festivals which inspired Dr. Tyrs. 



From the central stage a figure imper- 

 sonating the Sokol founder expressed his 

 aspirations for a healthy State composed 

 of healthy beings. Time turned back to 

 Olympia, where such ideals were so nota- 

 bly exemplified. Greek champions, war- 

 riors, priests, and poets engaged in spirited 

 contests, and ancient Greece lived again. 



THE SPIRIT OF OLYMPIA IN A 

 MODERN STATE 



These representatives of antique glories 

 then turned into lifeless statues. There 

 was a pause, during which one could sense 

 the loss the world suffered when the glory 

 that was Greece became a memory. Then 

 the statues came to life, cast aside the 

 drapings of an outworn past, and appeared 

 in the Sokol uniforms which had won new 

 glory during the mass drills of the earlier 

 days of the festival. The Olympic ideal, 

 resurrected, took a place in practical, mod- 

 ern living. 



All classes unite in this great exhibition 

 of individual health and group efficiency. 

 Visitors here see a unified nation in con- 

 certed a'ction. 



Many a Czechoslovak is getting an even 

 greater thrill. Splendid as is the spectacle 

 from the side lines, a part in the big game 

 is even more moving. Every six years a 

 hundred thousand players, trained away 

 from awkwardness and self-consciousness 

 to grace and group-consciousness during 

 months or years of practice, win a rich re- 

 ward for their efforts. Small teams of ath- 

 letes cannot attain this nation-wide spirit 

 of coordination. The Sokol Festival is the 

 flower of an entire nation's growth. 



During these golden days in Praha a 

 highly industrialized and modern nation 

 lives in the fairyland of beauty and dreams. 

 Where has a dream proved more practical 

 than that of Tyrs, who, behind trained 

 muscles, glimpsed clear, clean, thinking 

 minds and the free State they were to 

 build and serve ? 



