Easter Monday

Apparently in the Czech Republic Monday is a bigger day for celebrating Easter than Sunday is. There are church services, and everyone has the day off (it's also similar in Germany). The day would prove to initiate us to some particularily unique Easter traditions. As Julianna mentioned earlier, very few Czechs are religious, but that doesn't inhibit their Easter celebration. I suppose these celebrations predate even the existence of Easter (difficult to get your head around on an 'American' time scale of history).

The centerpiece of the tradition is the whip of braided willow branches you see Dustin and Jachym holding below. The main idea is that the men should carry these whips around and give all the women they know a swift smack on the bottom, sometimes while reciting a traditional poem. This supposedly aides the fertility of the women, although it seems mostly like a good chance for the men to have a little fun in the name of 'helping' the women.














I was a bit timid in my participation given that I didn't know any of the women, but Julianna will attest to the strength with which the whips are used (still has a slightly painful reminder of it when she sits). The 'conclusion' of the ritual brings painted eggs from the women, and the men each receive one for the great favor they have bestowed :). The morning is basically a series of visits to different family's homes. Men travel in groups, trying to 'help out' as many women as possible. Each home also has an assortment of tasty traditional treats, not to mention the healthy serving of hard liquor that is furnished. This last portion of the tradition also provided an additional experience of the culture. It seems in addition to the whipping, Easter is considered a time to get very drunk. At each home I was offered quite a large serving of strong (80-120 proof) liquor. At each place I was told about how it was a traditional Czech style liquor, or made from apples in the family orchard, or ...



Needless to say, after visiting four homes and receiving more than a couple strong drinks at each, I was fully experiencing the tradition, and relieved to hear that by noon we were finished. The tradition has a built in finale, because the women are allowed to retaliate with water splashing if men try to use their whips after 12:00.

All of the families that we visited were very gracious, and each had a great selection of interesting food to try. Most of the young people spoke conversational English, while the older generation didn't seem to speak much English. That didn't stop them from offering food though, or me from accepting and using my limited Czech (deekway vom == thank you). One of Jachym's friends drove us around (I found out that it was a good way to avoid having to accept the strong liquor from everyone -- I think that may be another way for women to retaliate for the whipping... force lots of alcohol on the men). It was interesting to see an assortment of different Czech homes, and wonderful to meet so many kind families and watch them enjoy their traditions. Julianna may have a bit to add here about her conversations with some of them.











Following the noon cutoff, we moved on to find some lunch (at a local pub). The next hour mostly consisted of trying to recover from the drinking, and avoid the thought of being sick. Some good Czech food seemed to do the job, and we left around 2:00 for a walk around the town. It's a great town, with a still intact city wall, many older buildings, nice river, and a church (where we again climbed the tower). You can see some of the vistas below, as well as Jachym and Julianna at the city gate.