A Strange But Interesting Easter Tradition in Czechia

April 18, 2017


Easter. 

It was a long weekend recently where Czechs can enjoy 4 days of holiday from Friday till Monday. Even though Easter is more significant for its religious reason, Czechs still celebrate it as holidays and of course with few traditions despite majority of the people are not religious. Like I have mentioned before, most of them are atheist. 

There is another tradition in Czech that is kind of interesting, but... you guys who are reading this, just try to know it simply as general knowledge yea? Ala, macam mitos orang-orang tua kita, ada yang bermanfaat ada yang tak nampak pun sebab disebaliknya. 

Once upon a time, I learned how to make this during Czech language class. 

Handmade whip - pomlázka

This whip made with willow rods (I have no idea what is the name in Malay - but you can google it if you want). It feels a bit different than normal rattan that Malaysians use and I don't think both of these whip and rattan are made from the same material.

The whip is used on Easter Monday by men to spank women, with no intention to hurt. They believe by spanking women, the women's health, beauty and fertility will be good until next year. Some even said that this spanking action can be used to show men's attraction to women. 

But trust me, not all Czech women love this. :p

In return, women can seek revenge by throwing a bucket of ice to men. Or, some said if women want to respond to spanks, women can give colored eggs to the men. 




Awkward. But, this is their tradition. I watched the spanking few times already, even in the Tesco between the workers. They are having fun on Sunday as they will have holiday on Monday. Have I told you, no shops (hmm at least 98%) are open on Monday! So, buy the groceries the day before :p 

otevreno = open, zavreno = close

I think you can read on Wikipedia for more details on Easter itself, well no harm to learn a bit about another religions. But, for simple ideas... let me share something about it.

  1. Easter is a festival where Christians celebrate as belief of resurrection of Jesus from death. 
  2. The celebration starts on Friday (Good Friday - the crucifixion and death of Jesus).
  3. Easter is always on Sunday, so most countries will have Monday as public holiday.
  4. In Czech, Easter is significant with decorated eggs (chicken eggs with some decorations with dyes on the shells). There can also be chocolates in the shape of eggs as well.

Last year, on Easter's holidays I was enjoying my solo-trip to Slovenia.
And this year, ehmmm hello books, hello notes. :D 

p/s - Czechia is the new English name of the Czech Republic. 
HK, Czech
170418

Latest Instagrams

© HANIS AMANINA. Design by Fearne.