To the Czechs, Easter is an immensely important holiday, one of the most anticipated days of the year. That may sound odd in a country in which 40% of the population identifies themselves as atheists, but Easter is seen as much more of a national- as opposed to religious- holiday.
Even though I’m Jewish, I’ve long held something of a secret fascination with Easter. It probably has something to do with the fact that I was born on Easter Sunday, 1987, a coincidence that led Rain Man to term me “a bunny” and one Catholic family friend to say that my name should have been Pasquale. So when I saw the Easter Carnival stalls going up in Prague’s Old Town Square three weeks before Easter, I was unusually excited.
The crepes and kielbasa were delicious, and the Carnival provided me with plenty of opportunities to buy “authentic” gifts for friends back home, but my main interest was a tradition that occurs on the Monday after Easter. The tradition I refer to is usually called “spanking” or “whipping,” but it might as well be, as my British friend puts it, “an afternoon of fun misogyny.” Essentially, men in the Czech Republic carry a stick called a pomlazka in their hand and use it to hit women on the legs or behind. If that wasn’t awesome enough, the women are required to give the men something in return. Depending on whom you ask, the gift is supposed to be an Easter egg, a chocolate bunny, a bottle of beer, or a bucket of cold water.
Always glad to take part in another culture’s festivities, I purchased a pomlazka for 30 Crowns (about $1.75) a few days before Easter. The stick consists of seven thin willow branches about 20 inches long braided together and fastened at the handle. A few pieces of colorful crepe paper hang off the end. In all honesty, a fifth grader could have made it as an art project.
On Monday, three friends and I headed down to the city to see what the fuss was all about. Unfortunately- or fortunately, depending on your stance on ritual domestic violence- no one appeared to be doing any sort of whipping. Plenty of people were carrying pomlazka, but, aside from a few kids sword fighting, none of them were actually used for their original purpose. The only person I whipped the whole day was my roommate, who is from the exotic city of Miami. I later learned that to get the “real” Czech Easter experience, one should go to the small, rural towns of Moravia (the Eastern half of the country). Well, maybe next year.
