Sun, 4. 12. 2022, 3.30 p.m.

D1 HERBS & ADVENT

Venue: Zlín Congress Centre  |  Organizer: Filharmonie Bohuslava Martinů, o.p.s.  | 

Herbs: in a manner of speaking they're rather like people. They each have their own scent and their own story to tell. Our stories-in-music evening tonight, a "Pot-Pourri of Herbs", offers the chance to get up close and personal with the power of herbs and even go on a marvellous adventure or two with them. Take the bumble bee: the first insect astronaut, it lands on the Moon (well, "Pot Marigold" - it's the same word in our language). That's one small step for a bee, one giant leap for insectkind. Then there's the Dandelion: we'll find out what happens when a gnat collides with a car. Then listen out for the Common Stinging Nettle: you'll have butterflies in your stomach when Count Dracula turns up in that song. We'll also hear how Plantain Weed helps the Russian Orthodox Church's Saint Seraphim of Sarov to cure his predilection for "the hard stuff". And there are plenty more herb stories to surprise us too!

Světlo ve tmě svítí or Light Shining in the Dark tells the story of a girl who is bullied and a little star which is pushed out of the sky and down to the ground by the big stars. The girl finds the little star in her garden and the two of them join the other children of the village in a journey through Advent. At one point, the little star hides in the Rorate Caeli lantern, then in the light of the candle on the Advent wreath, and then on the forehead of the angel accompanying St Nicholas on his rounds. Meeting all these people and making friends with the little girl is a transformation for the little star, and a transformation for the little girl too. In the same way, Advent should be a transformation for us. On the Christmas Vigil, this coming-together with mankind brings the little star back to the sky, and brings mankind back to God and to himself. Let Christmas begin.

This recital takes our listeners back in history to an unspecified time in the countryside when the local children play out their advent journey to the Christmas crib in folk style. It brings the earthliness of mankind together with the spiritual values of the preparation for the coming of the Saviour. The contrasting atmospherics of the spiritual and temporal world demonstrated in the spontaneous interaction of the young people with folk traditions and spiritual preparations for Christmas potentially contains a message even for mankind today.