Travel Mysteries: Solved Edition

On our first night walking around Telč I noticed some chalk markings on a door in our neighborhood. "Stupid kids," I grumbled. "Always marking things up with graffiti."

The next day, I noticed the same graffiti above another doorway. And then another. "Wow, those kids really got around this place," I said to Tom. He wasn't particularly upset about it.

We headed to Slavonice a few days later... and the graffiti followed us. "What the heck is going on?? Did these kids really go to the next town over to graffiti everything?"

Later, when we got to Prague, I noticed the markings again. That was when I thought that maybe this wasn't your average graffiti.

So, I turned to the inter-webs and learned that these markings aren't graffiti at all. Actually, K, M, and B refer to the names of the Three Wise Men (Kaspar, Melchior, and Balthazar). On the Epiphany, (popularly known as the 12th day of Christmas), it's common for Catholic families to bless their homes by writing "K + M + B" and the year above their doorway. I've never noticed this in the United States, but based on our quick travels through the area, it seems to be a popular blessing with families in the Czech Republic and in Poland.

So there you have it: travel mystery solved. I'll return the trench coat and giant magnifying glass when I'm back on American soil. You never know what other travel mysteries are out there!

-R

For more information:
1) http://www.inyourpocket.com/poland/poznan/basics/National-holidays/Three-Kings_103193v
2) http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/prayers/view.cfm?id=49http://ausis.gf.vu.lt/eka/customs/epiphany.html