Jan Karafiát (4 January 1846 – 31 January 1929) was a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

clergyman of the

Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren The Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren (ECCB; , ČCE) is the largest Czech Protestant church and the second-largest church in the Czech Republic after the Catholic Church. It was formed in 1918 in Czechoslovakia through the unification of th ...

and

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

. He is best known for his classic

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

Broučci ''Broučci'' is a children's book by Jan Karafiát (author), Jan Karafiát published in Czech language, Czech kingdom in the early 1870s. The title is the Czech word for beetles, and the word is also used for "traditional Czech figures of fairyli ...

'', the

Czech language Czech ( ; ), historically known as Bohemian ( ; ), is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group, written in Latin script. Spoken by over 12 million people including second language speakers, it serves as the official language of the ...

word for

Fireflies The Lampyridae are a family of elateroid beetles with more than 2,000 described species, many of which are light-emitting. They are soft-bodied beetles commonly called fireflies, lightning bugs, or glowworms for their conspicuous production ...

, that was first published in the early 1870s. Traditional Czech

figurine A figurine (a diminutive form of the word ''figure'') or statuette is a small, three-dimensional sculpture that represents a human, deity or animal, or, in practice, a pair or small group of them. Figurines have been made in many media, with cla ...

s of fairylike insect peopleRaul A. Barrenech
3 friends transform a Czech getaway
Arts & Leisure September 15, 2006 International Herald Tribune] are based on the characters in the book. He is also known for his poetry, which often reflected his religious beliefs, additionally he was one of the reviewers of

Bible of Kralice The Bible of Kralice, also called the Kralice Bible (), was the first complete translation of the Bible from the original languages into Czech. Translated by the Unity of the Brethren and printed in Kralice nad Oslavou, the first edition had ...

– the first Czech protestant translation of the Bible.

Life

Karafiát was born to a wealthy family in

Jimramov Jimramov () is a market town in Žďár nad Sázavou District in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 1,200 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monume ...

in 1846. He went to school at

Gütersloh Gütersloh () is a town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in the region of Ostwestfalen-Lippe and the administrative region of Detmold (administrative region), Detmold. Gütersloh is the administrative centre for a Gütersloh (distric ...

. He studied theology in

Litomyšl Litomyšl (; ) is a town in Svitavy District in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 10,000 inhabitants. It is a former bishopric and Latin Catholic titular see. Litomyšl is known for the château-type castle complex of the Lit ...

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

(1866–1867),

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

(1867–1868),

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

(1866–1869) and

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

(1871–1872). He became

Vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

Roudnice nad Labem Roudnice nad Labem (; ) is a town in Litoměřice District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 13,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an Cultural monument (Czech Rep ...

and in 1874 an administrator of the Protestant theological seminar in

Čáslav Čáslav (; ) is a town in Kutná Hora District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 11,000 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an urban monument zone. Administrative division ...

. From 1875 until his conflict with the

consistory Consistory is the anglicized form of the consistorium, a council of the closest advisors of the Roman emperors. It can also refer to: *A papal consistory, a formal meeting of the Sacred College of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church *Consistor ...

in Vienna in 1895, he led the parish of Velká Lhota (that time called Hrubá Lhota). From that point until his death in 1929, he lived in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

. Jan Karafiát was buried in

Vinohrady Cemetery Vinohrady Cemetery () is a large cemetery in Vinohrady in Prague 10 which contains Strašnice Crematorium. It is the second largest cemetery in Prague and is registered in the state list of cultural monuments. The remains of two Czech presidents ...

.Cemeteries
, Perfect Prague, 21 November 2013

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karafiat, Jan 1846 births 1929 deaths People from Jimramov Writers from the Margraviate of Moravia Czech Protestants Czech children's writers Czech male writers Burials at Vinohrady Cemetery