Traditional Easter Preparation in the Czech Republic


 

Beautiful eggs prepared
 by a village neighbor

 The greatest symbol of  Easter in the Czech Republic is the egg, with its connections to spring and new life. On Easter Sunday, the girls and women of the village paint eggs ("kraslice").  This is a skilled affair with many variations on the decoration; usually a mixture of watercolours, reduced onion juice, picture stickers, bee's wax, straw and/or leaves and feathers. As girls paint their Easter eggs, the boys prepare their Easter whips ("pomlazka"),  for Easter Monday.  This is not the kind of whip used on horses, but is made from osier twigs (willow branches), braided together.  Once again, this takes some skill to make and the more twigs, the  more difficult it is to braid a whip.  (the above information is from the Internet and our experience with Easter here). 





More decorated eggs by another neighbor

 

Children of each village visit their  village's homes and a variety of decorated eggs and candy are presented to the children to pick from on Easter Monday.  This is an example of candies and eggs from which Sofia and Sarah picked at one home.



A Srbsko village table setting display

 

In addition to the beautiful eggs that a villager offered the children, she welcomed and invited us to have a traditional open-faced Czech sandwiches and pastries. The food was delicious and beautifully presented.