Monday, April 5, 2010

Self Defense or Hippity Hoppity, Easter's on its Way




I'm fascinated by learning about and participating in cultural traditions from around the world. I make an altar for the Day of the Dead, leave my shoes out for St. Nicholas, and wear a Bulgarian martenista to welcome Spring. So imagine my conundrum when I found out about the Slovak Easter Monday tradition of hitting women family members and friends with a korbac, a switch made of tree branches, and dousing them with water. And to literally add insult to injury, the women are expected to give gifts of money to the boys and men that hit and wet them. In this case, the feminist in me had to win out. I marched to the Easter market and bought my own korbac. Just try it, boys. I dare you.

Stay tuned: 30 Again

1 comment:

  1. :) Lubos from slovakcooking.com here. Yup, it's an amazing tradition. Can't wait for it to catch up here in the States. But yeah, as you surely know, it's all about flirting with the girl (or girls?) of your liking. Sort of an old fashioned icebreaker. Plus girls get their chance the next day, in many town girls would go around switching the boys the following day.

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