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Every year in mid-winter, villages throughout the Czech Republic celebrate Masopust. The festival marks the beginning of Lent, and is the equivalent of Mardi Gras in Latin America or Carnival in Catholic parts of Europe (the word Masopust means something like "give up meat", as Lent was traditionally a time of fasting). Masopust was the last chance to eat, drink and make merry.

The tradition, along with many other folk or religious traditions, declined under communism, and is now restricted to a fairly small number of villages in Moravia and Southern Bohemia. Banned outright in 1969 following the Soviet invasion, the tradition was reinstated in the village of Horice na Sumave in 1993.

Despite the Christian associations with Lent, most of the Masopust traditions probably go back to pre-Christian times, and today their meaning and symbolism is unclear (even to the participants!). The day begins early, with a group of villagers dressing up in costume. The central figure is the Masopust himself (1), a different boy or young man from the village each year, who carries a flail used for threshing wheat and leads the procession from house to house.

The group stops at each house and business in the village, where the band strikes up a tune and the tancmeistri ("dance masters" (6,8), a group of about eight men in black suits wearing tall, flower-covered hats and carrying pikes or toy guns) perform a short dance. Sometimes a humorous verse is recited, making fun of the occupants and recalling any amusing or embarrassing incidents of the past year. Finally, the women of the household request a song and are invited outside to dance with the tancmeistri. Each member of the group is given a shot of something fiercely alcoholic (usually slivovice, home-made plum brandy) and some food, and they make their way to the following house.

It's a long day and many houses must be visited, and by afternoon many of the participants are starting to look the worse for wear (7,8). Masopust is also an occasion for raising money, for the volunteer fire brigade or other village causes. Apart from collecting donations (5), a road block is set up on the main road and "tolls" are extracted from passing motorists. Villagers are "arrested" and locked in a horse-drawn prison (4), and only released when their friends or family have paid a suitable ransom.

In the evening, everyone meets in the village hall. The Masopust (1) is ceremonially shot and a mock funeral is held, and the villagers drink and dance the polka till morning. And then they have a year to recover and prepare for the next Masopust.