STUZKOVA!!!!
4.E: 5 November and 4.D: 4 December

Stuzkova is a fourth year tradition that literally goes back generations in the Slovak and Czech Republics. Stuzkovas are amazing events. Stuzkova (STUSH-kova) means "ribbon," and that is exactly what this event is--a ribbon ball. This is a tradition that has existed in Czechoslovakia, then the Slovak Republic, for generations. These students' GRANDPARENTS had ribbon balls. Every fourth year (graduating class/senior) student in the country receives a green ribbon on this night during an opening ceremony. Not all stuzkovas take place on the same night, but every graduating class has one. It is similar to American proms ONLY in that students dress up and there is dancing. It is there, sadly, that the comparison ends . . .

4.E's Stuzkova was on 5 November, and 4.D's was on 4 December
Students enter the hall, dressed in what we could call "prom attire," and they go through an elaborate parade through the room (4.E to something by Depeche Mode and 4.D to Pink Floyd, finally lining up. A student thanks their parents and teachers; a parent comes up to thank the teachers; and then the class teacher (an elaborate version of homeroom teacher) makes a speech and the students are called up one by one to the podium, where they are pinned with a small green ribbon. The students will wear these ribbons the rest of the year (on their coats or jackets, usually). As the students return to the line, they pick up a glass of wine from a table, and go back and wait for their classmates to be pinned (there are about 30 students in the class). After everyone is pinned, there is a toast, and the students toast each other, the class teacher and administrative representative toast each student, and the parents and teachers at the tables toast the students from their places.

This is the first time students are "recognized" as adults. It is their first step toward university or the world of work. Now, for the rest of the year, one will be able to see the ribbons on all the fourth year students throughout the country. Almost all sophomore students in the country take ballroom dance lessons, and that is the first time that students formally dance with their children, but at stuzkova, this is the first time parents dance with their children as adults. First, students ask their parents to dance, and then there is a dance in which the students ask a teacher to dance. Peter G. asked me, and I felt, needless to say, completely inadequate dancing with him. We had a good laugh, though.

There were performances interspersed with the dancing. The skits were quite clever.

4.E parading before parents and teachers at the start of Stuzkova

Juro crosses the room to get his ribbon

Kate, Jana, Juro, Lucia, Juro, Michel, Eva, and Ivana as American high school students (I don't know if you can see that Jana is pregnant and Juro has a bottle of booze!!)

The performances were interspersed with dancing, slow and "disco" dancing. For some reason, "The Bad Touch," by the Bloodhound Gang, has become my theme song this year. I hear it everywhere and the kids love that song. So of course, the DJ played it at both stuzkovas. And I think the kids were a little impressed that I knew the words (although I think that might be a little sad!!). It was really fantastic. People dance in huge circles here, not individually, and every once in a while, someone, or some people, will get into the middle of the circle and have the spotlight for a while. It is a lot of fun-- people are just goofy and have a blast! There is also the inevitable conga line that becomes enormous.

At midnight, a bottle of champagne is poured into a very large glass and the students and class teacher get into a circle, and each student drinks from the glass and passes it to the next student. Finally, the teacher receives the glass and had to drink the remaining champagne (emptying the glass!) and then the teacher drops the glass to the ground and it breaks into many pieces. The students then scramble to pick up a piece of the glass. Dana told me that the students will keep their piece of glass for the rest of their lives. She told me that everyone keeps their stuzkova glass piece. I even got a piece of the glass that I will keep forever as well! The students give a present to their class teacher, who then makes another speech. Then the students, still in a circle, sing an international student song in Latin. After this they recite funny couplets that they have written about one of their classmates. And of course, there is more dancing.

Katarina, Jano, Jara, and Ivana playing Dust in the Wind

traditional Slovak dancers

parents' dance

Josh and Borko getting down!!>>>>

^^Josh, Sona, me, Dana, and Magda (4.D's class teacher)