Easter In The Czech Republic
Pictures (from various online sources)
Oh, Czechs really are weird. I do like their crazy tradition they practice here. Basically, males beat the women who then give them alcohol. Ha! I'm in heaven.
Really, what it is all about is Velikonoce (translated, "Big Nights") which occurs during Easter. Czech males make long sticks which they've made by weaving together long thin branches of new willow or birch. These are called pomlazka from pomladit or "make younger") and were traditionally used to prod geese, cattle, or other livestock to guide them down the road or into a pen. Depending on who you talk to, either the males tie colored ribbons on the sticks themselves or the beaten women tie them on to the sticks and the number of ribbons indicates the number of conquests.
On Easter Monday (Pondělí velikonoční), from early in the morning until noon, bands of males roam the streets looking for females to beat. After the male beats the female (by the way, its supposed to be a "symbolic" beating - not serious one), she presents the male with eggs or chocolate, but usually alcohol in the form of slivovice. Slivovice is strong, colourless alcoholic beverage primarily made of distilled fermented plum juice. After noon, unfortunately, women can retaliate by spraying or throwing water on the men.
Easter Monday (Pondělí velikonoční - it is a day off, the day of the pomlázka) and is more of a practiced tradition in the Moravian part of the Czech Republic (Brno is located in Moravia). According to what I've been reading, it doesn't occur so much if at all in Prague. I knew there was a reason I liked Brno. During the communist regime, the Christian aspect of Easter was suppressed and the pagan part was impressed.
The Czech Republic, along with Estonia, has one of the least religious populations in the European Union. According to the 2001 census, 59% of the country is agnostic, atheist, non-believer or no-organized believer, 26.8% Roman Catholic and 2.5% Protestant. According to a 2005 Eurobarometer poll, 30% of Czech respondents do not believe in a god, spirit, or life forces. 50% believe in some sort of spirit or life force, and 19% believe in a god. (from Wikipedia)
Pomlazka is a pagan ritual that is supposed to celebrate new life, health, fertility, youth, beauty and good luck. (It seems to me beating a women would probably not help all of those things). The origin of the pomlázka tradition (pomlázka meaning both the whip and the tradition itself) dates back to pagan times. Its original purpose and symbolic meaning is to chase away illness and bad spirits and to bring health and youth for the rest of the year to everyone who is whipped with the young twigs. Boys would whip girls lightly on the legs and possibly douse them with water, which had a similar symbolic meaning. An Easter carol, usually asking for an egg or two, would be recited by the boy while whipping. The girl would then reward the boy with a painted egg or candy and tie a ribbon around his pomlázka. As the boys progressed through the village, their bags filled up with eggs and their pomlázkas were adorned with more and more colorful ribbons. *
Velikonoce begins when the children finish school on Ugly Wednesday (Škaredá středa). In the evening of Green Thursday (Zelený čtvrtek), every boy in the village equips himself with a wooden rattle (řehtačka), which is specially made for the purpose, the boys form a group and walk through the village, rattling their rattles vigorously, so the noise can be heard from afar. The meaning of the rattling is to chase away Judas. The same procedure repeats on Good Friday (Velký pátek) and one more time on White Saturday (Bílá sobota) when the boys don't only walk through the village but stop at every house in the morning and rattle until they're given money, which they then split between themselves. *
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