Osmadvacátý říjen

Today is October 28, or Osmadvacátý říjen, Den vzniku samostatného československého státu, Independent Czechoslovak State Day, the anniversary of the creation of Czechoslovakia in 1918, and still a public holiday in the Czech Republic, even after the Velvet Divorce. I don't have time today to blog very much on the topic of what turned out to be a mismatch (though not nearly by far as rancorous - or for that matter, murderous - as the union of the south Slavic peoples). All I will say is this: despite the best intentions of the world-improvers, indelible traces of the past keep returning like a palimpsest. In the case of Central Europe, the parchment has been scraped more than once.