Easter Traditions in Czech Republic

When talking about Czech traditions during Easter, it is important to mention right at the beginning that they can differ from region to region and there are regions where Easter isn’t celebrated in any traditional way at all. That is partly because Easter is not only Christian holiday but also the time of spring-arrival celebration. Taking into awareness that about 70 per cent of Czech people are atheists as well as the fact that there are two days of national holidays during Easter in Czech republic (Friday and Monday), it is kind of understandable that a lot of people in my country are holding more on to the spring-celebrating part and, therefore, use Easter time to go on holidays or to throw parties and don’t bother with many traditions. I am lucky enough to be from one of the few regions where traditions still matter a little and, most importantly, from a village in that region which still raises its children to honor some traditions. However, it is needed to admit that not all of those traditions have religious basis.

Christians’ Easter Day is on Sunday following the first new moon of spring which is usually somewhere in between 23^rd March and 26^th April. Christians have a lot of meanings and traditions that precede and follow Easter Day. However, I am just going to shortly introduce the three days preceding the Easter Day and one day following it. That is mostly because I do not want to bore you here with tons of information you can google yourself as well as because I am no expert in that stuff and don’t want to mystify you by mistake. ;-)

Thursday

For me, personally, Easter starts on Thursday that precedes the Easter Day. That day is called the Green Thursday and it is the day of the last supper of Jesus with his apprentices where he informs them about his unpleasant fate, establishes the Eucharist, washes their feet, prays with them later in the Getsemans garden, and is betrayed by Judas and taken away for crucifixion which takes place the following day, on the Great Friday.

There are no traditions, that I know of, which I could relate to the story of Jesus on Green Thursday. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any traditions connected to that day. The first one, which is not exactly an old tradition but which needs to be mentioned here (as we speak about Czech Republic), is a special green beer that some Czech breweries produce exactly for the occasion of Green Thursday and which can be found in many restaurants and bars around my country during that day.

If you want to be sure to find the green beer somewhere during Easter, there is a good chance they will have it in all bars that are included in a project called “Cesta pivních znalců“ (The way of beer experts), among others. Green colour of those beers is caused by addition of herbs to the process of beer production, not by artificial colouring.  

Going closer to the older traditions that actually have some religious background on Green Thursday, there is a tradition of 'bells flying to Rome for Easter'. They start their flight at Thursday noon, after a Mass service, get blessings from the Pope in Rome, and head back to be ringing to Czech people at Saturday noon again. This trip of bells should bring happiness to the locality the bell is from. During the time the bells are symbolically out of their belfries, children in some villages take their Easter rattles and go with them through the village, making noise, and in that way replacing the bells a few times each day until the bells return (see the video bellow). Some stories say that apart from replacing the bells sound, the rattles should be symbolically chasing Judas away for his betrayal of Jesus as well.

Friday

It is believed that on Great Friday, as the day of Jesus’s sacrifice and crucifixion, people should be fasting in order to honour that sacrifice. Further, they should not be moving with the ground so that Jesus would not be turning in his grave as well as should not wash clothes so that it would not be soaked in Jesus’s blood, among other beliefs...

Saturday

White Saturday is a day full of Mass services and is also called as a Day of Silence. It is the day when Christians mourn at the grave of Jesus and many christenings take place. I think there are no other special traditions for this day or the day after that, the Easter Day which is the reminder of Jesus’s resurrection, except for lighting up fires near to churches which symbolises light of the resurrection. Sometimes, Easter meals are sanctified in churches on the Easter Day as well. Me and my family, we usually use those days for Monday preparations. 

Monday

Monday after the Easter Day is filled with joy, reminding of celebrations that probably followed Jesus’s resurrection (although Monday activities are not based in Christianity and are more bound to the folk customs of spring welcoming). At this day, guys go to visit women they know and symbolically whip them with braided whip made from pussywillow twigs decorated with colourful ribbons. While doing that they also recite some Easter carols. Women reward them for that by coloured and painted boiled eggs and sometimes even with another colourful ribbon and/or a shot of alcohol. 




Are you wondering why on earth would a woman give presents to guys after they whip her? It’s because the youth and life from the young pussywillow in the whip is supposed to bring the woman health, youth, and keep her fertility for the following year. 

Other Easter food/symbols:

Eggs: are used as a common symbol of life, fertility, and resurrection. Some cultures take egg as a symbol of Jesus’s closed grave, and some interpret red painted eggs on Easter as a symbol of his blood.


Apart from eggs, there are other eatable products connected to Easter... 


Baked dough ram: is baked for this time as a reminder of Jesus as a ram who sacrificed himself for all the sins of the world. 





Hare: baked out of dough/cinnamon bread, in chocolate form, etc. belongs to Easter no matter what, but there are many very different stories about the reason why ... some of them even say that hares are the ones bringing eggs during Easter. 




Easter cake: is a sweet yeast cake filled with raisins and sprinkled with almonds.





Stuffing: is salty meal baked in roasting pan made out of bread, meat, and some green stuff (among other things) … as the green stuff, we usually use fresh spring nettles.

Do you have different Easter traditions? 

Share them with the readers. ;-) 

And do not forget to mention the region you are from. ;-)