Hody, hody, doprovody...

...Dejte vejce malovaný.
Nedáte-li, malovaný,

Dejte aspoň bílý,

Slepička Vám snese jiný.

(Give me a painted egg.

If you don't give me a painted egg

At least give me a white one,

The hen will give you another.)

Every Monday after Easter,  I always think back to my time in the Czech Republic as a missionary. On that day, my mission companion and I got permission to stay indoors most of the day. Why, you ask?

Well, on this day tradition has it that all the menfolk go around and whip the womenfolk with their pomlázky (whips made out of braided pussy-willow branches). The willow branches are supposed to bring youth and health to all that are whipped with them. In return, the women give these beautifully painted eggs to the men. Go figure!

 Back in the day, the whipping was more of a light swat, but in later years the guys have become more brutal. I remember looking out our living room window while I was studying Czech and watching this hoard of teenage boys hounding a couple of teenage girls. Their pomlázky were at least four feet long!

I didn't have time to dig out my pictures from that day, but we had a friend and fellow ward member stop by to give us our Easter whippings. It was hilarious!

One of my other most favorite things in the Czech Republic were the holiday markets. For Vanoce (Christmas) and Velikonoce (Easter), huge outdoor markets could be found in the town náměstí (plaza). I've seen nothing like them before, nor since! At the Velikonoce market I bought at least a dozen of the above eggs, and a pomlázka of my very own--the tricky part was figuring out how to get them home after my mission.

What fond memories!

Here's to the Česká Republika and all their amazing traditions!

And here's to all my amazing Czech friends and their hospitality!