CZECH REPUBLIC: More than eight hundred Czech couples kiss in the spring as they attempt to make a new record

Record ID: 860627

  • Title: CZECH REPUBLIC: More than eight hundred Czech couples kiss in the spring as they attempt to make a new record
  • Date: 3rd May 2011
  • Summary: PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC (MAY 1, 2011) (REUTERS) PEOPLE UNDER 'PETRIN' (PATH-RZHEEN) WATCH TOWER IN PRAGUE
  • Embargoed: 18th May 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Czech Republic, Czech Republic
  • City:
  • Country: Czech Republic
  • Topics: Quirky,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA4SABQNPYSOOGUFE05WZTFP9LV
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Eight hundred Czech couples put some romantic vim into the opening May weekend as they gathered under the cherry blossom for a record-breaking kiss-off.
    The Czech's don't celebrate Valentin's Day on February 14th when, they say it's too cold to be makin' whoopee. Instead they wait until the blossom is out and traditionally gather in Prague's Petrin Hill Park under the flowering cherry tree.
    Legend has it that a girl who is not kissed under a birch or cherry on May Day, will wither and die in twelve months. 400 ladies turned up on Petrin Hill on Sunday, just to be on the safe side.
    This year the "Dobry den" (Good Day) Agency used the event as a good opportunity for establishing a new Czech Record in kissing - under the watch tower.
    "We had 841 couples kissing over a 5-hour period under the 'Petrin' today, which is a new Czech record. The record for the most people kissing at the same moment was not broken, though, because last year there were 66 couples kissing and today we had only 57 couples," Martin Jonas said, a judge from the Dobry Den Agency.
    The May Day tradition most likely started in the 19th century, when Czech poet Karel Hynek Macha (1810-1836) wrote his May poem. It starts simply: "It was late evening, first of May, evening May, the time of love…" It is an epic poem of the tragic love affair between a lady and a band. It has been an inspiration to love for generations.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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