Getting Ready to celebrate Easter Monday




Sarah & Sofia, baskets
and whips in hand,preparing to visit
their neighbors homes on Easter Monday

 
As an age-old Easter tradition, Czech males braid their willow whips and visit neighboring homes whereupon they are supposed to whip the females on the backside and legs, which is supposed to bring the females annual good luck, then the female is supposed to give the male a decorated egg for the gift of her whipping.  Additionally, the female ties a piece of colored ribbon onto the end of the male's willow whip and if the male is old enough he must be offered a shot of a Czech alcoholic drink.  Oh yes, and a whip of many ribbons appears to signify the male's prowess.  (We concluded that this tradition was probably not created by the females of this culture.)

In reality, what we participated in was the observation of well dressed Czech children visiting village homes, standing in the portals singing acapella a traditional Czech verse (Sofia and Sarah both know the verse and recited the verse at every home we visited) and then the children were offered a beautifully decorated egg and candy for their baskets.  When females allowed the whipping it was only a cursory touch prior to the ribbon tying.  Indeed, more to the point of the tradition was the warm and friendly socializing that took place between neighbors -- a nice community building custom!



Easter Monday wasn't sunny and
the road wasn't smooth but the
wind was at our backs



We followed Michaela and the two girls down the road from their house and into other village homes -- unfortunately Justin had to stay home, not only was he ill with a sinus infection, but he had to answer the door when other villagers visited their household.



When we returned to Justin and Michaela's home, we were privilaged to greet many of the villagers and their children as they came by for their traditional song, whipping, eggs, food, drink, and socializing.  







Returning home from
Easter Monday's trek

 

Grandma and grandpa had a great time and were warmly welcomed into several village homes.  To our surprise one homemaker cooked on a beautiful, old, wood fueled, kitchen stove.  We saw 200-year-old homes weathered by time, old homes that were a mixture of old and new because they had been or were being remodeled, and new homes with all the latest amenities.

Villages are places of great community and aggregation; for example, in the middle of your farm someone else may own an acre of land that you rent/ lease from them in order to keep your property complete.  In some instances the owner of that acre may come over to your farm and plant a home garden on their land.  It is nothing like American suburbs.

Laws exist but much is done for the sake of neighbors accommodating one another; likewise, money is widely used  but  people do not hesitate to do some bartering for goods and services.