The XVII All-Sokol Slet will receive the highest honor. President Petr Pavel will attend the first program of mass performances. Additionally, on Thursday evening, he will continue the historical tradition and present a banner to the Czech Sokol Organization as the fourth head of state to do so.
"That just demonstrates how important the event is. We are obviously very pleased that the President accepted our invitation and will come to see the mass performances. Everyone involved in the event deserves it," said the mayor of ČOS, Martin Chlumský, and added, "I would like to take this opportunity to thank not only the President but also all the organizers, trainers, performers, and volunteers."
Not just Petr Pavel, but some of czechoslovakian and czech former presidents had attended Slet's event including Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, Edvard Beneš, Klement Gottwald, Václav Havel, and most recently Václav Klaus 18 years ago.
The current head of state has given his patronage to the event and will personally greet the participants on Thursday. He will present the Sokol with an honorary banner. The banner, one square meter in size, is decorated with national emblems used on the presidential flag, 3D embroidery (also known as thread painting) with President Petr Pavel's signature. The border is also embroidered in national colors using the same technique.
The banner was created using machine embroidery technology. Its parts were worked on separately, and the production took about a month.
"First, a computer program is prepared that sets the stitches, punctures, or embroidery density, all according to the customer's wishes. Threads are prepared, in this case, viscose and polyester," describes Luboš Hermann from the Tyla workshop, which produces the presidential standard, flags for the Senate, the government office, sports organizations, and even firefighters.
The Fourth Banner: From Masaryk to Pavel
The tradition of presenting presidential banners during all-Sokol event dates back to Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk. He was very aware of the importance of Sokol movement for the creation of the Czechoslovak state, and in 1918, Sokol members were the first guards of Prague Castle. The President presented an honorary banner during the 8th Slet in 1926. His successor, the second Czechoslovak President Edvard Beneš, himself a Sokol member, continued this tradition by presenting his banner to a delegation during the 10th Slet in 1938.
The third banner was received by the organization on October 8, 2019, from the hands of then-President Miloš Zeman during the Sokol Memorial Day. This was also the first time that the Czech Sokol Organization commemorated this day as a Significant Day of the Czech Republic.
Presidents regularly attend the event. At the first post-revolutionary Slet in 1994, Václav Havel greeted the Sokol members, and in 2006, when the event was held at the Evžen Rošický Stadium in Strahov, Václav Klaus was present.
It is necessary to mention that during the 11th Slet in 1948, Sokol members expressed their displeasure at the participation of the then-new communist president Klement Gottwald by chanting the name of his predecessor Beneš. The communists later banned the association.
