Whipping Each Other and Beeswax Egg Painting: Easter in the Czech Republic ****************************************************************************************** * Whipping Each Other and Beeswax Egg Painting: Easter in the Czech Republic ****************************************************************************************** Despite being one of the most secular countries in the world, the Czech Republic's Easter strong. Egg painting, singing and gatherings all seem to be in store for this spring celeb no church? I went along to a Czech Easter afternoon at the Faculty of Arts [ URL "http://w home/"] to find out if this was true. During this time of chocolate-induced weight gain, you can find far more to the story of E Biblical narration. I'm sure you'll come across pictures of bunnies everywhere, which is t to the festivities worshipping hare goddess Eostre. Rabbits, chicks and eggs are all symbo life, associated with spring, and various sweet treats such as hot cross buns and simnel c thousands of years before the supermarket sold them in packs of 6. The Czech Easter is mostly dominated by folk, originally Pagan traditions, rituals and cus to their Slovak neighbours, where religious festivities remain largely religious even in t this is largely limited to the country. The rich Pagan faith is thought to have originated the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD and remained the dominant spiritual and mythological world un amongst classic Celtic and Slavic communities until Christianity swept Europe under the Ro in the early Middle-Ages. It has filtered through to most modern European religious celebr we associate with, and mistake to be historically Christian – bunnies, Easter eggs and eve 25th December as Christ's birthday (according to historians, Jesus was most likely born in Pagan beliefs were cultural responses to understanding space, time, events, fate, bodies a ritual was a contested method of manipulating them and communicating with the deities embo beliefs may seem like fairytale fable to us today, but in fact they exemplify a very curio and scientifically observant community. Today, we have tended to look back at Paganism as a unified, structured fellowship. Not on highly unrealistic due to the vast geographical scale and time Paganism flourished across, religious sites and artefacts show us that values, gods and methods of worship varied dram tribes, “cults” and borders. So, the term Pagan is somewhat an umbrella word referring to a spectrum of folk doctrines and polytheistic beliefs. It was a fascination with the world the pagan faith – devoid of humankind's technical manipulation, modern measurement and sci astronomy, weather, climate and nature were unpredictable and powerful forces that determi survival. Naturally, their endeavour to understand, predict and theoreticise was engaged i wonder with Earth and with their own spiritual consciousness. Consequently, turning points in seasonal and astronomical change such as Easter / spring c were significant times for them. Spring meant the end of long, bleak winters with high mor harsh weather conditions and scare food supplies. Spring equated to activity, warmth and s daylight would increase in length. It signified the coming of a warmer climate, the growth and the birth of new animals. By the general public we find during the Czech Easter period on the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, and more on marking the start of spring in the pagans correlated with the spring equinox, or “equal day”, when the length of day and exactly equal in length due to the Earth's tilt. This, like the summer and winter solstice event for pagans during their intense study of the phases of the Moon's orbit as it indica return of the sun and the changes in season and temperature to come. The endearment and an ancient culture held towards the spring months led to the birth of traditions paying homag reproduction and joy; traditions that were to be preserved and endorsed by generations to In the Czech Republic, their pagan roots are celebrated through egg painting, baked specia mazanec, dancing and of course, the odd drink or two. It is a time of getting together, of gifts to friends and family and waving goodbye to the long winter months. The exchange of is a historic tradition practised globally in spring, adopted by pagans as an offering of for nutrients after the cold had passed. You'll find that the many of the Easter stalls ar selling real eggs, which as we were shown at the Czech Easter afternoon, require a great d and patience to decorate. Interestingly, they’re prepared by making small holes in the egg yolk and egg white out, which luckily was done for us before the session. They are then br layers of spring-time colours, red in particular, in association with health, happiness an spring. They‘re painted using thin instruments and a number of specialised methods such as and hot beeswax decorating but techniques vary from region to region; the traditional egg especially popular in Moravia and in rural areas of Bohemia. Leaves can also be stuck on t and the eggs boiled in onion peel to create natural imprints. All of this is far easier sa and quite a few disasters occurred. However, Czech festivities are all about family so I’m appreciate the effort made… Other prominent Czech traditions include the cooking of lamb, which is deeply embedded in interpretations of spring and holiness (which are culturally and religiously correlative) symbolism and diet. The timing of the lamb’s birth and their large population from around confronted people with a repeated visual presence of lambs at Easter, which naturally assi central to spring time, the cycle of the seasons and to the other emotional aspects entwin Their abundance also made them a popular source of accessible food after winter. As well as finding Easter stalls selling chocolates, eggs and tiny toy chicks, don’t be su come across the Czech Easter “whips” called pomlázka, derived from the word pomladit “to m These are bought for Easter Monday, when the men go from house to house or around the fami women and in some regions dousing them with water to bring youth and fertility, in which t alcohol, eggs and ribbons tied to the end of the whips in return. This is more prevalent i than in the city, where traditional outfits are sometimes worn and there's a day of celebr accompanied as the pagans did, with cakes, alcohol, song and dance to welcome the spring a the winter. This ritual or “whipping” may appear to be quite strange or even cruel to non- watching a video of the ritual, it seems this so-called whipping resembles tapping or pett seemed to be just as many girls taking it on themselves to chase the men around in return Czech women I spoke to on the topic also said it was fun and mostly harmless, which is wha if you have any objections you can stay central, where the practise isn't carried out near whips, made out of braided pussywillow, are soft and tend to be applied lightly to the leg The event seemed more like a mating ritual to me or competition or a game of kiss and chas I learnt later that the whips had previously been used on livestock and the men of the hou Easter, probably with the same reproductive intentions as with the whipping of the women. When researching the whipping ritual, its origins instantly stood out as characteristicall ritualistic life largely centred around forces of good and evil, and methods of preventing their effects. Pagan Easter traditions are rife with “purging“ processes, believed to rid environments and their future of evil which was associated with the harshness and darkness and the sickness it brings. Cross-culturally, anthropologists have identified a patriarcha relation of women with evil, consequently making them the focal point of the three importa rituals: whipping, the “burning of the witches” and “drowning Morena”. The pagan burning r on the 30th April, where communities gather to create a large bonfire in order to ward off again associating women (witches) and winter with demonic activity. The “drowning” practic carried out by immersing a figure representing the female goddess of death in to a river, twigs by local women. Nevertheless, I think it’s important to consider that the original essence of these ritual of women in accordance to their reproductive abilities, their affiliation with evil, mythi on seasonal change and so on – has been largely diluted and replaced by modern motives of nationalism, community and “for the sake of it”. Today for example, I imagine very few Cze believe that such rituals would bring fertility and shed evil. So as someone who is normal towards the over-emphasis of traditions, I left the Czech Easter afternoon feeling quite t dimension of loving celebration towards friends, family and heritage in the Czech Republic British Easter involved that little bit more fun and fewer tacky chocolate eggs, which are by the year… Poppy Gerrard-Abbott is an Erasmus student studying BA write for the iForum to build on her journalism skills Czech culture and life in Prague through attending loc Poppy saw the iForum as an exciting opportunity to pur fun experience that has brought some exciting opportun offer such placements to future students.