Central Europe's peculiar Easter tradition (pictures)

ICE ^ | 14.4.2006 | Katarina Richterova

[Lukasz]

Wesolych Swiat!

[dfwgator]

One of my goals is to visit Poland during Easter, thank God there is at least one country that still celebrates her Christian heritage.

[KarinG1]

They'd best not try that here. I'll go Dick Cheney on them.

[Revolting cat!]

thank God there is at least one country that still celebrates her Christian heritage.

Thanks to our own holy tradition of Outsourcing, I learned this past week that Good Friday is a holiday in traditionally Christian countries like India and Hong Kong, while Easter Monday is celebrated in numerous countries around the world. So let's just be thankful this isn't another Shopping Holiday here in secularist paradise.

[chilepepper]

"...beating women with whips and pouring water or perfume on them..."

sounds kind of kinky!

[Grzegorz 246]

Wesolych Swiat everybody.

[68skylark]

Thanks for the ping to this thread. I'm not familiar with some of these customs and it's interesting to learn more.

I wonder about the tradition of symbolically beating women with a bundle of twigs. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't there a somewhat similar tradition in Central Europe around Christmas time, where children or teens will try to beat others with a bundle of twigs? Sorry I don't know more about the traditions in this part of the world -- is the Easter beating related to the Christmas beating?

[Lukasz]

WS to you too

[lizol]

I'll tell you honestly, that this article was the first time, I've heard of such a tradition.

I've never heard of anything like that in Poland (beating anyone with a bundle of twigs).

Pouring water on others (Smigus - Dyngus) is a different thing. I've experienced it many times - on both sides of a bucket of water :-)))

[68skylark]

Thanks -- I really enjoy many of the Eastern Europe pings I get, even though I don't always make a comment. The pictures on this thread are great.

[snippy_about_it]

Happy Easter friend. :-)

[dfwgator]

We do that to winning football coaches, instead of water we use Gatorade. :)

[Gosh I love this neighborhood]

Happy Easter to you and thank you for the article and wonderful pictures.

[hummingbird]

Thank you for the post, lizol. Do you have a regular PING list...there is always something beautiful and/or educational in your posts!

At our sunrise celebration of The Great Vigil of Easter, the Church was dark and everyone coming in got a candle.

My vision without glasses is difficult sometimes, especially in the dark, but when those candles were all lit, each person having lit the candle of the person to the next of them, they didn't look like candles anymore, they looked like angels.

It was a most awesome and unexpected sight to see so many of these tiny angel-like lights being the only light in the Church until the sun rose.

The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!