1928 Merging Of The League
Liga československých woodcrafterů (LČSW, "League of Czechoslovak Woodcrafters")
Picture from p. 92 1. The LČSW stamp, 1929. ~z~ DR
Picture from p. 92 2. A LČSW member's ID, 1931. ~z~ DR
Picture from p. 92 3. A replica of Karel Langer – Juraj's decoration from 1929, 2020. ~a~ ZPN, ~z~ TJ
Picture from p. 92 4. A cover of the magazine Vatra ("Bonfire"), yr VI, no. 2/1928–29. ~z~ AW
Picture from p. 92 5. The first common council of the merged leagues in the village Samechov, 20. 5. 1929. ~z~ AW
Picture from p. 93 6. Manoki and Woowotanna at Walden, 1929. ~z~ AW
Picture from p. 93 7. From the left: Quido, Wajikani, Woowotanna, Owatuna at Walden, 1929. ~z~ AW
Picture from p. 93 8. Tatranské pleso, Slovakia, 1929. {{{3}}}
Picture from p. 93 9. Before the LČSW Council in Samechov, 19. 5. 1929. ~z~ AW
Picture from p. 93 10. The council of Kmen Ohně ("Fire Tribe") from Husovice at "Sahara", 1. 5. 1929. ~z~ RD
At the unusual council on 21 October 1928, the representatives of LLM and LPV-ML met in the Students' home in Prague. It was decided to merge both woodcraft organizations into one – LČSW. Miloš Seifert – Woowotanna was elected the Chief of the new organization, and Ferdinand Krch – Fedor was elected the Executive. Vatra ("Bonfire") was still the official magazine, and Hlasatel ("Reporter") remained the official bulletin. Apart from domestic influences from Wallachia and Slovakia, its activities began to involve elements of American woodcraft as well: a scarf, a gown, Indian culture, etc.
Walden in Slovakia
Picture from p. 94 1. A drawing of the hut Walden, 1934. ~a~ FIC, ~z~ SI
Picture from p. 94 2. Shepherds in the Tatra mountains, 1931. ~a~ FIC, ~z~ SI
Picture from p. 94 3. Lunch at the Walden hut, 1931. ~a~ FIC, ~z~ SI
Picture from p. 94 4. A warm-up at Walden, 1937. ~a~ FIC ~z~ SI
Picture from p. 95 5. The Ojibway tribe at Walden, 1949. ~z~ RP
Picture from p. 95 6. The council site at Walden, 1931. ~a~ FIC, ~z~ SI
Picture from p. 95 7. The holy Rysí skála ("Lynx Rock"), 1930. ~z~ PM
Picture from p. 95 8. Members of Ojibway are going wandering, 1949. ~z~ RP
Picture from p. 95 9. The Chiefs of LČSW with a totem, 1931. ~a~ FIC, ~z~ SI
Picture from p. 95 10. The hut Walden, 1927. ~z~ AW
The new tribe ZLČ from the borough Radvaň near Banská Bystrica found a beautiful place at the crystal-clear river Belá near the village of Liptovský Ján, Slovakia, in 1922. It is surrounded by the peaks Smrekovica, Poludnica and Javorovica. This is where the first league camp took place under the leadership of Miloš Seifert – Woowotanna, common for woodcrafters from seven tribes from Czechoslovakia. In spring 1927, Woowotanna and Juraj slept in an old hut there. Seifert ended up buying it for the camps of his Liga pro výchovu přírodou – Moudrost lesa ("The League for Education by Nature – Forest Wisdom"), and named it Walden. From summer 1927, summer camps would take place there on a regular basis until the war (the last one took place in 1938). In 1944, German minethrowers destroyed the hut, but from 1947, woodcrafter camps of the tribe Ojibway Bratislava took place there anyway.
The campers there were drawn by the original American woodcraft according to E. T. Seton; they proudly called themselves "The Walden School". They camped mostly in teepees, and their costumes were Indian garments. The place of holy ceremonies was the near Rysí skála ("Lynx Rock"), blessed by Woowotanna, where dozens of forest wisdom supporters spent their nights of vigil.
The village of Samechov
Picture from p. 96 1. A drawing of the Samechov campsite, 1929. ~a~ JD, ~z~ RD
Picture from p. 96 2. Segwun and Atahualpa shooting from a bow at night, 1932. ~z~ AW
Picture from p. 96 3. The zoologist Standa Vohanka – Hiawatha teaching youth to explore nature Next to him, wearing glasses: Ekedan, on the very right: Sůča, 1930. ~z~ AW
Picture from p. 97 4. Campfire girls with Šipka ("Arrow") during their warm-up, 1927. ~z~ AW
Picture from p. 97 5. Atahualpa with his family and friends from Milíč Home in front of his cottage in Samechov, 1951. ~z~ RT
Picture from p. 97 6. Campers of Samechov, 1932 – from the left: Minehaha, Segwun, Woowotanna, Buk, Atahualpa, Zdeňka Hlubíková and Šipka ~z~ AW
Picture from p. 97 7. A view of the campsite from the creek, 1929. ~z~ RD
The history of the woodcrafter campsite Samechov in the valley of the creek Vodslivský potok began in the spring of 1925 when Emil Vogl – Wučiček, the Chief of Prager Neupfadfinder, picked the location for his tribe's summer camping.
1926 saw the beginning of a long era of the tribe Stříbrná luna ("Silver Lune") camping there under the leadership of Karel Bukovanský – Buk ("Beech"). Along with his brother Severin Bukovanský – Sůča and wife Antonie Bukovanská – Šipka ("Arrow") they organized camps for both boys and girls until the war. In 1926, only Buk's tribe Stříbrná luna would still camp there, but the campsite's popularity among other tribes grew, and in 1927 the first chautauqua for chiefs and a league camp took place there under the leadership of Jaroslav Šimsa – Sůva. Between 18 and 20 May 1929, a Grand Council of LČSW took place in Samechov. During the summer holidays of 1929, a couple of dozens of woodcrafters from the entire country met in Samechov.
1930 was a major turning point for the Samechov meadow and the woodcrafters from Prague: the owner of the meadow decided to sell it. And so, Miloslav Vavrda – Minehaha, who wanted to keep the meadow for the purposes of LČSW camping, initiated a project in the hope that the League members would put their money together to buy it. However, after the negative reaction of members from Slovakia and South Moravia, the circumstances pushed Vavrda to invest his own finances. In order to get at least some money back, he founded Sdružení samechovských táborníků ("Samechov Campers Association"), the members of which were among others Bukovanský, Bukovanská, Vorel and so on. Vavrda offered them to purchase a part of the original meadow, which led to the division of the meadow into plots.
The cottage in Samechov had already been owned by the Marek family before 1925, with whom woodcrafters maintained friendly relations. Mrs Marková was even a cook at the 1936 camp.
Other cottages were built by woodcrafters: Jan Vorel – Orlík, obviously Miloslav Vavrda – Minehaha, as well as Emil Vogl – Wučiček after he returned from the concentration camp. In his cottage, the latter would compose music, play the cither and certainly also bring back memories of his dear Hilda, who unfortunately did not live to see the war end.
It is unknown whether there were any more tent camps in Samechov after the war, but we know that there were many illegal meetings of woodcrafters that had to do with the council fire. In 1980, Miloslav Vavrda – Minehaha was unequivocally elected the Honorary Chief of Czechoslovak woodcrafters there.
In 2019, LLM bought the plot of land and the cottage of Miloslav Vavrda, and the Lait family donated Wučiček's hut to the League. In Samechov in 2021, LLM held an anniversary council of the renewed organization – the circle is complete...
Kmen Stříbrné Luny (Tribe of the Silver Lune)
Picture from p. 98 1. The emblem of Kmen Stříbrné Luny, 1928. ~z~ PM
Picture from p. 98 2. A memo of Kmen Stříbrné Luny, 1927. ~z~ RD
Picture from p. 98 3. The section Severka ("North Star") with Arnošt Lněnka (on the very right), 1924. ~z~ PM
Picture from p. 98 4. A cover of the magazine Svit ("Shimmer"), no. 2/1928 ~z~ PM
Picture from p. 98 5. Kmen Stříbrné Luny in the rock Prachovské skály, 1928. ~z~ PM
Picture from p. 99 6. Members of Kmen Stříbrné Luny and Kmen Živěny ("Tribe of Živěna") resting after preparatory works at the Samechov campsite, 1928. ~z~ PM
Picture from p. 99 7. An archery competition at a LLM council near the village Oseček, 2. 5. 1926. ~z~ PM
Picture from p. 99 8. Javelin throw, 1928. ~z~ PM
Picture from p. 99 9. A cover of the entire year's volume of the magazine Svit ("Shimmer"), 1928. ~z~ PM
Picture from p. 99 10. Jula Kozmačuk and the boys practicing dancing with Wallachian women, Samechov 1929. ~z~ AW
The Prague-based Kmen Stříbrné Luny ("Tribe of Silver Lune") was founded by Karel Bukovanský – Buk in 1922. They published the tribe magazine Svit ("Shimmer") in 1927–29. In an issue from 1929 it says that the tribe had 33 regular members: the section Severka ("North Star") – 7 younger boys – led by Sůča, the section Vlčí máky ("Poppies") – 9 girls, led by Antonie Bukovanská – Šipka, a section of 12 older boys, led by Ataman, the Chanteclér family – 2 brothers, their parents – Mr and Mrs Müller.
The tribe anthem:
The Lune is climbing higher and higher over those woods, over those peaks, where our people camp in the valley, in the valley.
The ash-gray totem, our totem, the light of the moon, you know it too.
That is the totem, our totem.
Get up, boy, if you will, so you can see the forest realm, bathing in the shining Lune, its face is the shining Lune.
Who is the son of the Silver Lune, would not wait for the day,
so let's go out, boy, before the dawn.
Kmen Cedrů ("Tribe of Cedars")
Picture from p. 100 1. Kmen Cedrů camping in Subcarpathian Rus, 1929. ~z~ AW
Picture from p. 100 2. A chronicle with Kmen Cedrů emblem, 1928. ~a~ KJ, ~z~ AW
Picture from p. 100 3. Camping in the "Bay of Bliss" by the Adriatic Sea, 1929. ~a~ KJ, ~z~ AW
Picture from p. 100 4. On Stoh, the highest peak of the Borzhava pasture, from the left: John, Biminiji, Franta, Ola, Vašek 1929. ~z~ AW
Picture from p. 100 5. Crossing the snowy Alps in mid-summer. Biminji is in the front. 1929. ~a~ KJ,~z~ AW
Picture from p. 100 6. Skiers in the Tatra mountains – the Vyleta brothers, 1930. ~a~ KJ, ~z~ AW
If only the Tribe of Cedars were just like the cedars in Lebanon, so solid, compact, genuine, deep and stern... (from Woowotanna, the Chief of LČSW, October 1928). Two conflicted Leagues under the leadership of the Chiefs Jaroslav Šimsa – Sůva and Miloš Seifert – Woowotanna found common ground and merged into one large woodcrafter family. In the fall of 1928 a large number of woodcrafters from all over Czechoslovakia met at the departments of the Charles University and other universities of Prague. Jaroslav Vyleta – Biminiji, one of the most prominent people of woodcraft in Pilsen, initiated the founding of a tribe the members of which where students of medicine and natural sciences, lawyers, teachers, mechanical engineers as well as construction engineers. All of them were outstanding young people of forest wisdom, influenced by the high-school teacher Seifert during the summer camps at the Slovak Walden under Smrekovica in 1927–28. The Chief of the tribe was the naturalist adislav Vlk, other members included Karel Jaroš – John, „James“ Hrbek, Ola Vyleta, Marie Hofmannová, Pantaleon Sazama, Josefína Jirková, Bohuslav Fott, Jan Antoš, Antonín Slivoň – Bajadera, Ľudovít Klibáni – Wapiton, František Čada, Václav Čada, and others.
The tribe's activities were not very different from those of other League tribes; every weekend it organized trips to nature, espiecially to the nearby woods of Brdy, it passed woodcrafter tests – coups, the members were busy with creating handmade products, music, painting, or sport.
Some years ago, Karel Jaroš's daughter donated a beautiful chronicle of Kmen Cedrů, preserved by the family for eighty years, to the LLM Archive. The chronicle is full of beautiful photographs and drawings by John who also bound it manually.
Woodcraft magazines
Picture from p. 101 1.–3. Covers of the official magazine Vatra ("Bonfire"), LLM 1923–1927. ~z~ AW
Picture from p. 101 4. A cover of the magazine Stopa Černého Vlka ("Black Wolf Footprint"), Kmen Sov ("Tribe of Owls"), Prague 1926. ~z~ AW
Picture from p. 101 5. A cover of the magazine Lom ("Quarry"), Tribe Antares, Benešov 1926. ~z~ AW
Picture from p. 101 6. A cover of the magazine Brázda ("Windrow") Tribe of Táborité, Prague 1924. ~z~ AW
Picture from p. 101 7. A cover of the magazine Perličky ("Little Pearls"), Kmen Vlčí Máky ("Tribe of Poppies"), Prague 1923. ~z~ PM
Picture from p. 101 8. A cover of the magazine Jiskra ("Spark"), Kmen Jiskra ("Tribe of Spark"), Řevnice 1930. ~z~ AW
Picture from p. 101 9. A cover of the section magazine Přítel přírody ("Friend of Nature"), Kmen Ranné svitanie ("Tribe of Morning Sunrise"), Zvolen, Slovakia 1934. ~z~ AW
Picture from p. 101 10. A cover of the magazine Smršť ("Whirlwind"), Děti Živěny ("Children of Živěna"), Beroun 1925. ~z~ LA
Picture from p. 101 11. A cover of the magazine Rýč ("Spade"), Děti Živěny ("Children of Živěna"), Beroun 1925. ~z~ LA
Picture from p. 101 12. A cover of the magazine Svítání ("Daybreak") Tribe of Táborité, Prague 1923. ~z~ JB
In the 1920s and 1930s, most LLM tribes would issue their own magazines. This page presents examples of some of them that have not fit elsewhere in the book. There were, of course, many more tribe magazines, but the numbers of printed copies were very low, and in many cases, not a single existing copy has been found.
Karel Bukovanský - Buk, Miloslav Vavrda - Minehaha
Picture from p. 102 K. Bukovanský, 1928. ~a~ AW
Picture from p. 103 M. Vavrda, 1940. ~a~ AW
Picture from p. 103 Seifert and Vavrda in a car, 1935. ~z~ PM
Picture from p. 104 A camp totem of the tribe Želvy ("Turtles") Příbram, 1924. ~a~ PS, ~z~ AW
- Karel Bukovanský - Buk
- (* 25. srpna 1900, Praha – † 27. ledna 1976, Praha).
In 1919 he founded the tribe Děti Ostražitosti ("Children of Wariness") along with Jaromír Bělor in Prague, which joined Junácká Obec Psohlavců ("The Dogheads Scouting Community"). At that time he would use the nickname Lumír. Later on, he belonged to long-term chiefs of LLM with many roles.
The Chief of the tribe Stříbrná Luna ("Silver Lune") and the association Táborité.
During Prokop Koudela's first term as the Chief (1924–25), he represented LLM in front of the authorities as its official chairman. After breaking away from LLM in 1932 (expelled by Valovič), he remained active among the woodcrafters of Samechov and in the Walden group.
In 1933 he arranged woodcraft programs within city sections, and held a camp for working-class youth called "With a Blue Sky". He also presented his project to Seton and his wife during their visit in Czechoslovakia in 1936.
His first wife was Antonie Konopásková (Šipka – "Arrow") who led the girls' section in the tribe Stříbrná Luna ("Silver Lune").
Buk was originally a Czechoslovak Railways employee. Later he opened a photography studio where he employed woodcrafters.
After the war he became a people's judge and passed his extensive archive on to Miloslav Vavrda. Thanks to him, a lot unique evidence about the activities of pre-war woodcrafters in Czechoslovakia has been preserved to these days.
Karel Bukovanský – Buk wrote articles for the magazines Vatra and for Reporters under the names Lumír, Hradecký, Buk, Starý Buk ("Old Beech"), Starý Písmák ("Old Tally Chief"), etc. In 1929 he published an almanac dedicated to the "Memory of Jula Kozmačuk". In 1934 he published the year book S modrou oblohou ("With a Blue Sky") dedicated to city sections, and in 1937 the study "Stará a nová cesta Lesní moudrosti" ("Old and New Path of Forest Wisdom"). Buk also filmed a lot of footage at camps in the 1930s. Unfortunately, none of it has been found yet.
- Miloslav Vavrda - Minehaha
- (* 20. září 1902, Vildštejn u Chebu – † 13. října 1984, Praha).
He was a clerk, a journalist, a translator and, most importantly, a promoter of the Czechoslovak woodcraft movement. The editor-in-chief of the magazines Slunovrat ("Solstice") and Vatra ("Bonfire"). He was also a honorary member of the English woodcraft organization The Order of Woodcraft Chivalry.
He spent his childhood with two older brothers in the town of Tábor. He lived in Prague since he was about 10. Along with other friends he was a member of the Seminole tribe led by Géza Včelička (who later became a well-known tramping journalist). He did not like the troop's one-sided focus on sport, and he joined the newly-established ZLČ in the fall of 1922, where he was a member of the tribe Táborité. Thanks to his skills he soon became one of the LLM chiefs and had many roles: a representative, a foreign reporter, a vicechief, etc. The pre-war LLM had many left-wing leaders. Miloslav Vavrda belonged to those. However, during the attempted political coup in LLM in 1926 by a group led by Prokop Koudela and Josef Fischer, he stood firmly by the apolitical LLM. He established Kmen Bílého Slunovratu ("Tribe of White Solstice") which was the largest woodcraft center in Prague at the beginning of the 1930s.
Due to his disagreement with the ideology of LČSW chiefs led by Viliam Valovič, he was expelled in 1932. As a protest against this act, dozens of the most prominent personalities left LČW along with him, and founded Družstvo Walden, another unofficial woodcraft organization. In 1936 he was the main initiator of E. T. Seton's and his wife Julie's visit in Czechoslovakia. His expulsion from LČW was revoked, and Seton himself publicly expressed his acknowledgement of Vavrda's work. At that time, Vavrda was already married to his long-term girlfriend, the woodcrafter Miluše Kudělková. Alongside Přemysl Pitter, he was the closest friend of prof. Miloš Seifert, the founder of Czechoslovak woodcraft. During the Heydrichiade, when as little as the approval of the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich caused thousands Czechs to get executed, Miloslav was hiding an illegal resistance worker, intensively searched for by the Gestapo, in his small house in Spořilov, Prague.
In the renewed LČSW, Miloslav was the last Chief before the League was disbanded following the communist coup of 1948. Throughout the entire period of communist dictatorship, Miloslav never lost interest in what was going on within various youth groups that worked ilegally in the spirit of woodcraft. A significant achievement of his was the translation of Seton's book Trail of an Artist-Naturalist. The book was published by the publishing house Orbis in 1977. In the village Samechov in June 1980 there was an illegal council of former members of the Woodcraft League. Vavrda's lifetime work in the spirit of woodcraft was acknowledged, and he was named its Honorary Chief. Miloslav Vavrda collected written woodcradt-themed materials in his personal archive – not only from the end of the First Republic era, but also from the periods of the Nazi and Communist dictatorship. With his family's approval, the archive was handed over to the J. A. Komenský National Museum of Education in Prague in 1992, where it is accessible to researchers of youth education.
