In what is perhaps the most bizarre of all the Easter traditions, men ceremonially whip women with a stick of willow branch.
In the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and some parts of Hungary, the Easter Whip is used as part of a tradition of spanking or whipping on Easter Monday.
In the morning, men spank women with a special handmade whip or switch called pomlázka or karabáč (in Czech) or korbáč (in Slovak) or siba or korbács (in Hungarian). The pomlázka consists of three, four, eight, twelve or even twenty-four withies (willow rods), is usually from half a meter to two meters long and decorated with coloured ribbons at the end.
This is apparently to ensure fertility and vitality as the willow is the first tree to wake in spring. How kind. Apparently it’s more symbolic now and the whipping is more of a “light brushing” but still, we’d rather stick to rolling eggs down a hill.
In the past, young boys would chase young girls on the village streets with the whips, and vintage illustrations of people in traditional dress show girls running or hiding. Playful running around, similar to the game of tag, still occurs. Aggressive ambushing is now considered unacceptable bullying by the modern generation.
