Happy Whipping Day?
April 13, 2009
Easter Monday is a national holiday in the Czech Republic. Students, teachers and government workers all have the day off.
But the day is special to Czechs for another reason.
It’s “Whipping Day!”
This is perhaps one of the strangest Czech traditions I’ve heard of yet – and believe me, they have some strange traditions. On this day, boys and men whip women with sticks braided from pussy-willow branches (called pomlazka). In gratitude, women reward them with beautifully decorated eggs, chocolate, fruit and for the older guys – even alcohol.
The tradition is said to bless women with youth, beauty and fertility for the next year to come.
Luckily, I have not been whipped today….yet. However, my Czech preschool students gave me quite a good beating on Thursday. Ha ha. 
For more on this strange tradition, please check out this article in the Prague Daily Monitor.
