Easter - Sunday or Monday?

Wesołych Świąt Wielkanocnych!

Lets talk about Easter differences.

Everyone celebrates the Sunday, I know I know, and you go to church and spend time with family and that's all very nice but let me tell you how much more exciting Easter can be 😉

As you may know Czech republic is one of the least religious countries in the world so Easter Sunday and the resurrection is not so important for us (except the more less 10 procent Christians) and all the fun happens on Monday which everywhere else is just a day of rest after Sunday.

So what happens?

Men and boys go around the village, from one house to another and whip the women with a special whip called "pomlázka" made from young willow pouts, they recite Easter carols and in exchange they get painted eggs, some sweets and for the grown-ups usually a shot (or several shots) of ideally some home-made strong alcohol. So you can imagine how it gets even after the visit of just a few houses...

Pomlázky

A girl who gets whipped will stay young and fresh for the next year

And all the drunk man going around was actually the reason why my aunt started a tradition with her friends of a small Easter hike finishing with a lunch. So that's what we do in our family. There are also shots before the walk, but in moderation.

We also have the tradition of pouring water as in Poland but only the girls do it as a kind of revenge on the boys for the whipping. But it is not so common. And every leap year the roles change and girls go around and whip boys and boys can pour water on them.

Other traditions contain coloring the eggs and baking a lamb cake which has to be already ready on Monday so you usually do it during the weekend.

Kraslice

Beránek

Hmmm, doesn't it sound great?