Booze, Whips, and Witch Burnings: Just Another Holiday in the Czech Republic

I have to say I had an excellent week teaching in Mlada Boleslav. All of the kids were awesome, and all of my lessons went well. I was observed on Thursday by one of the Wattsenglish coordinators, and I think the lessons were great. I know Misa, the regional coordinator in MB, was really happy with them. It was just a really good week, even kids that can sometimes be difficult were behaving well - both my regular first grade classes were being little angels, it was wonderful.

Beautiful tulips in Kněžmost village

Mlada Boleslav

Spring has finally taken root here. All of the trees are in full bloom. The weather has been amazing. On Thursday after my classes, I went with Michaela (the coordinator who was observing my classes) to the area known as "The Bohemian Paradise". It's an area not far from Mlada Boleslav that's known for its beauty and is a popular place for hiking and rock climbing. While Michaela went for a jog, I hiked down to this sandstone "castle" - it's not really a castle, but sandstone cliffs with stairs and rooms carved in. I guess robbers (or whoever needed a place to hide) used to hide out there hundreds of years ago. It was really cool, and the views on the hike were beautiful.

By the way, while we were having a snack at a restaurant here after the hike/jog, Michaela pointed to those mountains in the background and said "That's where the residential camp is that you'll be working at this summer!"

Today was also a beautiful day. In the morning I went to an International market organized by expats.cz, a website for expats in Prague. I was a little disappointed by it - from the descriptions I read online I thought it would be a lot bigger. Still, I got a book to read. It's historical fiction about the life of Egon Schiele, an Austrian artist whose work I saw while travelling there (see my posting of Vienna, Day 3). After the market I went into the center, and my friend told me the directions to a nice park. I went there and napped in the grass along with many other people. Then, I walked along the Vltava to Old Town Square and went to an exhibition of Alphonse Mucha's work that I'd been meaning to go to for a long time. I really enjoyed it.

One of the reasons I love Art Nouveau is that it didn't only consist of paintings and drawings - it encompassed architecture, furniture design, jewelry design, textile design, you name it. It was especially interesting to see Mucha's drawings of objects: there are many drawings of elaborate silverware and serving dishes, for example. He just drew everything so beautifully. My most exciting discovery was this detail of a page full of jewelry designs. I fell in love with this sketch of a ring. I've decided that someday, if I ever get married or have some extra money lying around, I'm going to have this ring made (maybe with the stones not protruding quite as much). How cool would it be to have a wedding ring taken from Alphonse Mucha's own design? Unbelievably cool.

Also, check out this print that I saw today: do you see any resemblance to the keytag image for the necklace I'm currently working on?

I need to share with you a little-known fact about the Czech Republic: they have the most politically incorrect holiday traditions I've ever heard of.

First, there's the Easter tradition. Let's just have a look at this nice children's illustration: here, we see some Easter eggs, tulips, a couple of chicks, a rabbit... nothing out of the ordinary.

"But wait," you say, "what is this thing at the bottom? I don't remember seeing one of these before. What is it? What is it for? What kind of nice Easter tradition could it be associated with?"

Well, folks...

This is what we refer to in English as a "whip-stick". Here is a picture of a couple of kids dressed as rabbits with a whip-stick. And another picture of a traditional whip-stick being made:

Hmm, what is the purpose of this whip-stick? It looks innocent enough, especially with those pretty ribbons tied on.

Well, the purpose of the whip-stick is to run around and whip the woman-folk. Why, you ask? Well, because it's good for them. It brings them health and beauty! Traditionally, on Easter morning starting at about 8 AM, all of the men in the village fashion these whip-sticks, then go around from house to house, whipping all the girls and women in the village. What happens to the men? Well, they are given shots of hard liquor, of course! The women, after they receive the whipping, are to give the men a shot. It's like trick-or-treat, except with booze and whips! Gotta love it.

I thought that with Easter behind us, the holidays would start getting a little more normal around here, but don't worry... the Czechs have all kinds of weird-ass traditions up their sleeves. Next, we have the traditional Burning of Witches, April 30th. On this day, everyone in the village gathers to build a huge pyre, and at dark, the witch it burned on the pyre. When I first caught wind of this tradition, I was a little taken aback. Witch burning?? I thought that was, like, a dark period in European history, one we don't necessarily want to go around recreating as a fun event for the whole family.

But, when in Rome, I suppose...

Most schools will be out for Monday and Tuesday for the holiday, so the little girls at the school I teach at on Friday were celebrating early. They were all dressed as little witches and had their faces painted or spiders drawn all over themselves. I told them they could draw one on my arm, and I was suddenly swarmed by five third-grade girls and covered with spiders and spiderwebs. They even drew them on my face and chest. I got a lot of strange looks for the rest of the day, especially when I got back to Prague that evening!

I have to say, I am very interested to see this witch burning festival.