I was whipped by a stick by my friend’s dad on Easter in Czech Republic. In spring of 2011, I had the joy, which also came with a little culture shock, of celebrating the traditions of Easter in a little village called Brandlin, a population of almost 100 people. I was visiting my good friends who lived in Prague, however many Czech families own houses in the village side where they go for holidays or on their free time. Brandlin, where my friend’s parents have their cottage is about 2 hours away from Prague and it is desserted with nature all around. Not a peek of city sound, it was purely nature. The cottage was part of the castle, it was intentionally for the maids a long time ago, but now it’s renovated into a modern wooden house. The village is so small and almost everyone knows each other. There is a local farmer, local artist, and local 
ranch. The local painter was a very interesting painter. He paints these abstract images of local life like the people of the village, the hills around Brandlin, big cities, himself, but most of his art consists of women, boobs and other woman body parts.
Before this Easter, I celebrated Easter in my city of San Jose by going egg hunting with my fellow kid friends. Every year, the park would hide dyed eggs in the field and on the count of three all of us would spring off and gather as many eggs as possible. My family weren’t religious and we celebrated Easter for the sake of dying eggs and eating, it was what I always thought Easter was in my mind until I met Easter in Czech Republic of last year.
The traditions of Easter in Czech is called Velikonoce and dates back to the pre-Christian era. Now, people celebrate this day with traditional food and bread, hand-painted or decorative eggs, and whipping for a longing of the romantic past and just for fun.
On Easter Sunday, I woke up with my friend’s dad whipping my butt with these branches he made the night before. It wasn’t hardcore whipping that leaves red marks, it’s just playful hitting. Pomlázka is the woven wooden branches and it’s a tradition where the men and boys go out and gather these branches from a tree called Pussywillow trees and they make sure they make the strongest and longest whip. It is beleived that it brings youth and health to anyone who is whipped by it, mostly women, but children, men and even livestock is included in the whipping que. In most big cities, the skill of braiding 
a pomlázka is lost, so often times, it is bought in local grocery stores. I was warned about the whipping a day before, but I wasn’t warned that I would be getting whipped by her father whom I barely met that weekend. As the men whip the women, they sing a traditional rhyme and in order for them to stop, the women would give them a decorated egg in exchange. I hurriedly gave him an egg so that he can stop. Of course, they didn’t think of the whipping as anything odd because it is their tradition, but for me, I was shocked and my body froze for a second.
It was 8 in the morning when I was woken up by being whipped, first by my friend’s dad, then my friend and then the neighbors! We breakfast with Czech
dumplings, stinging nettles with beef sauce and I think beer, I don’t really remember. Giving a piece of clothing to your kids is another tradition, so my friends and I received socks and candy at the breakfast table from my friend’s mom.
I always look back on this Easter thinking it was a great Easter. Even though I was a little uncomfortable, it was nice seeing how other people from another place in the world experience traditions passed on to them from generation to generation.
Happy Whipping Easter,
dandeliontraveler 