Easter in the Czech republic

Have you ever heard of or experienced any odd traditions? Jumping over babies in Spain? Toe wrestling in the UK? Carrying wives through an obstacle course in Finland? Whipping women on Easter in Czechia?

Yes, that is indeed a tradition in Czechia and Slovakia, but it sounds way harsher than it actually is. Let me introduce it to you.

One of the many traditions is painting empty egg shells, called "kraslice"

First, I would start with some useful information: Easter here is a national holiday, so a lot of places will be closed on Friday and Monday. Check your stores beforehand so that you're prepared!

Another rarity is the green beer that some breweries make especially for Easter. There's a day connected to it, Green Thursday (this year April 17th), and traditionally, people should consume as much green foods as possible. But if you've lived here for some time, you've had to notice the Czech love for beer, so of course we had to make green beer. Here is a nice older article from Czech Radio International that talks about the origin of this specialty. On this page, you can find the recent list of all the breweries that will take part this year. The page is in Czech, but Google Translate does a decent job translating it:)

Now, finally, what was it about whipping women? The oldest mentions come from the 14th century, when men took young willow branches and braided them into a whipping stick.

Given stick is called "pomlázka," some translations state that the purpose of this stick is to give the youth and freshness of the young branches to the women. Youth is translated to Czech as mládí, and if you do some word play, pomlázka makes sense. We're not talking about grammar, so I won't get into why it makes sense. But I promise it does!

The tradition has held on until today, when women are getting whipped to be healthy and young for the upcoming year. As a thank you, there are many possibilities ranging from putting colourful ribbons on the pomlázka, giving out painted or chocolate eggs, or even shots.

Not everyone is a fan of this tradition, though. Some call it just meaningless violence, while others are not fans of socializing in this way.

Personally, the main idea is to enjoy the holiday in your preferred way and soak up the spring atmosphere. After all, Easter was a celebration of the spring equinox (both day and night were equally long) after the long and cruel winter.

The process of braiding a pomlázka

So, however you want to spend Easter, trying out some new traditions or not, just have a great time and enjoy the time off from work!

If you're interested in reading more about some traditions, there's a nice article you can read here.