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also hop growers. He is often called upon against
eye and skin diseases, against fever, and for the rich
harvest of grapes and hops. According to available
information, no other hop growing country celebrates
such special day. On August 10, on which the feast
of St. Lawrence is honoured, Czech growers gather
for an informal discussion before the hop harvest. It
is forbidden to enter hop fields on this day. The hop
growing tradition of celebrations in the nominated
property is represented by the statue of St. Lawrence
on the gable of the gate of the farmstead in
component part 01 (See also Chapter 5.h2).

Other traditional activities within the professional
hop-related work taking place in Žatec
Every year there are seminars for growers focused on
the protection of hops against diseases and pests,
and seminars on the latest types of agricultural
technology. Also, there is training for growers and
operators of hop picking machines and hop drying
kilns, purchase of hops from growers with a rating of
hop samples, selection of hops by breweries, so called
the acceptance of hops from offered samples, to which
breweries come, for example, from Belgium, the USA or Participants of the Hop-Growers’ Day, Stekník, 2020
Japan. Other activities and institutions based in Žatec
include hop certification and the Central Institute
for Supervising and Testing in Agriculture (ÚKZÚZ) –
a hop department based in Žatec, which provides hop 75
certification based on the Hop Protection Act.

Evaluation of hops – on the basis of concluded
contracts between the grower and the trading
company, the grower will supply dried hop cones.
Samples are taken from each batch of hops (approx.
1–2.5 t of dry hops). These samples are analysed for
the content of bitter substances, impurities (the
content of leaves and stems), and the moisture of the
hops and for assessing (evaluating) their appearance
(colour of the hop cones, damage by pests, the color of
lupulin or weeding). This evaluation then determines
the final price of hops in connection with the content
of the contract.

Selection of hops by breweries - this act is also called
acceptance of hops. Based on concluded contracts
between the company and the brewery, the brewery
selects according to the submitted samples of hops,
the corresponding amount of hops according to the
concluded contract, which will be further processed
for the brewery. The acceptance of hops takes place
in Žatec at the headquarters of companies, usually
from September to the beginning of November
and belongs to modern traditions confirming the
recognition of Žatec as the centre of the hops quality. Participants in the celebrations of St. Lawrence’s Day, Stekník, 2016