Tanoé, a new addition to the Bojnice zoo. (source: Facebook/Zoo Bojnice)
Every week The Slovak Spectator brings you a selection of three short stories from across Slovakia from which pessimism and negativity are absent.
Slovak zoos welcome new rare species
The zoo in the town of Bojnice welcomed a new addition in early December – a female Roloway monkey, called Tanoé. She is nine years old and arrived from France.
The species is classified as critically endangered due to habitat loss and continued hunting to supply the bushmeat trade. It is estimated that only about 2,000 individuals remain alive.
Tanoé currently lives in a separate room, but the zoo plans to unite her with another Roloway monkey in the future.
Meanwhile, the zoo in Košice also welcomed a new addition in mid-December: a female red panda called Nerissa, who arrived from the zoo in Lodz, Poland. The 1.5-year-old is expected to create a breeding pair with one of the male red pandas who arrived at the zoo in May 2020.
Curious about Slovakia’s regional stereotypes?
Regional mental map (source: Authentic Slovakia)
Forests full of mushrooms in the far west, Catholics, builders and lumberjacks in the north, makers of good spicy goulash and unsettled prairies in the south, and pretty girls, old grannies and even smugglers in the east.
These are just few of the stereotypes that appear on a regional mental map put together by the alternative tour company Authentic Slovakia.
“For a Slovak, to travel around Slovakia's regions means to confront his or her stereotypes with reality,” the website reads. “For foreigner with a lack of information, the stereotype has to be created. Talk and listen to Slovaks – and stereotypes will pop up, no worries.”
Peace Light of Bethlehem to travel across Slovakia
The Peace Light of Betlehem will be brought to about 300 municipalities across Slovakia. (source: TASR)
Slovak scouts received the Peace Light of Betlehem – a candle lit in the bithplace of Jesus – from their Austrian colleagues on Saturday, December 9. They subsequently handed the flame to scouts from Ukraine and Poland.
It made one of its first stops in the Presidential Palace, and will now be distributed across the country. It will arrive in more than 300 municipalities, and will be brought to homes, hospitals, social care facilities and churches. It will even be taken to the peak of Lomnický Štít in the High Tatras.
“Light, by its very nature, brings hope and brings awareness to all the good and essential values that we need so much in society,” said President Zuzana Čaputová, as quoted by the TASR newswire.
Five feel-good stories published by The Slovak Spectator to read:
In a newly opened support centre for foreigners, the western Slovak town of Trnava wants to provide language and educational courses, legal, social and psychological counselling, workshops, community events and meetings, and other activities.
Slovakia will host the prestigious Starmus Festival, which combines science, art and music, next year. In an interview, its co-founder and astrophysicist Garik Israelian talks about how science and art is connected, and what the festival has in store for Slovakia.
The region of Rajec, situated in the northern part of central Slovakia, has invested resources to build its name as a haven for bikers.
The word for Christmas is – oddly, to English ears – plural in Slovak (Vianoce sú). But the Slovak simplicity of the holiday is a relief for American Matthew J. Reynolds.
Internet search trends in Slovakia have been mostly influenced by the September elections, with politicians making it to the top of lists even when it comes to individual people, according to an annual Google Trends report.
Political meme of the week
(source: Facebook/Zomri)
Caption: What a country – such Christmas markets!
The photo actually depicts Tuesday's huge protest against the government’s actions to abolish the Special Prosecutor’s Office and other changes to the Criminal Code, held at Námestie Slobody (Freedom Square) in Bratislava (other protests took place in Košice, Nitra, Banská Bystrica and Žilina). The real, not-quite-as-crowded Bratislava Christmas market can be found in the city's Hviezdoslavovo and Main Squares.
You can send me your tips on good news stories about Slovakia or funny memes at: radka.minarechova@spectator.sk. Thank you!
