Easter traditions

Here we go again.

As if the Christmas crafts weren't enough, the Czechs are at it again - and this time it's for Easter.

Beautiful hand painted eggs, home-made flower decorations, and hand crafted Easter symbols.

The magazine I freelance for asked me to write an article about in Easter in the UK, how we celebrate and in particular my most memorable Easter.  I had to own up, Easter just isn't that big a deal back at home - mostly it involves stuffing your face with more chocolate in a few days that you would normally consume in a year.  Nowadays I do an Easter egg hunt for the kids, but that's a recent import from the USA.

At a push I can remember one particular Easter when I told my younger sister that Creme Eggs were made from real eggs (which she hates) so she gave me all 6 of her eggs, upping my stash to 12.  Years later I confessed....but I'm not sure that's what they really meant by memorable.

On the other hand celebrating Easter is incredibly popular here. There are decorations and Easter markets everywhere -  maybe it's because the tradition is enjoying a revival post communism when most religous festivals were stamped out, or perhaps it's just because the Czechs are so desperate to celebrate the arrival of spring after a harsh winter.

Either way I really like the fact that Easter means something here, it's nice to celebrate it, decorate the house and do something other than eat chocolate.

Kids finish school on 'ugly Wednesday', 'Green Thursday' and 'Good Friday' are holidays then on Easter Sunday the boys get making their 'pomlaska' a kind of whip made from willow branches, while the girls get decorating their special eggs called, 'kraslice'.

Yes....boys make a whip out of fresh willow branches and girls sit at home painting beautiful eggs for them.

The boys come around on Easter Monday and whip the girls and in return they get given these intricate hand crafted eggs, - and if you're old enough you get a shot of alcohol too!

What to say to your 7 year old son who's eyes light up at the thought of whipping his older sister? Or to your daughter who protests about how unfair it is?

Hmmm.  How to explain this very ancient fertility ritual thought to bring health and youth to the fair maidens of the village?  The politically correct brigade would implode.

Luckily for the girls feminism has kicked in a little bit these days and they are allowed to retaliate after Easter and throw cold water at the boys (to quosh their testosterone perhaps??).

All I know is that in our house it's going to cause a huge amount of trouble....and there's going be some very wet boys!

Prague with friends...

Some things are best done with friends.

And visiting the beautiful old town of Prague is one of them.

For 48 hours there was an invasion of 8 Wanstead Women .....

....and it was a great excuse to hire a guide for the morning and see the sights through fresh eyes.

For such a little country the Czech Republic sure has a lot of interesting history – I suppose that’s what happens when you’re bang smack in the middle of Europe, you keep getting invaded by your neighbours, and then your neighbours neighbours.

First inhabited by the Celtics and Germanic tribes, then the Slavic people onto the Romans for a bit, then it became part of the Habsburg Empire (Austrian), onto the Nazi’s and finally the Russians.  It’s frankly a wonder that the Czech’s have managed to hold onto their language and culture.

What's not quite as well known is that fact that the Czech Republic was one of the richest countries in the roaring twenties and thirties, with an art scene and a cafe culture (I like the sound of that!) and Prague was its thriving capital - think Cool Britannia in the 90s.

After the war and Nazi occupation the communist party was voted in.  No one could foresee that the Russians would invade, and the country would lay dormant under the communist dictatorship for nearly 50 years - all those businesses, shops, factories and any entrepreneurial spirit would lay gathering dust or fading away until the Velvet Revolution.

Here's a picture of us at the John Lennon Wall which started as wall of silent protest against the regime where graffiti would spring up like wild flowers.

But since the revolution the city of a 100 spires has relcaimed its place in Europe and now is one of the top tourist destinations, and it's a great place for a city break.

  

It was a wonderful to share some of Prague's gems with friends, to re-connect and to share a glass of bubbly on a rooftop bar overlooking the city.


Cheers girls!  and thanks for coming.

P.S if you're missing reading the blog in Czech here is a translation LOL!
http://translate.google.cz/translate?sl=en&tl=cs&js=n&prev=_t&hl=cs&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fpragueherewecome.blogspot.com%2F2012%2F03%2Fprague-with-friends.html&act=url

Domácí úkol....homework

I know it seems I’ve been a bit slack on the old blog front, but I’ve had an excuse…honest I have.

For my homework my Czech teacher thought it would be a good idea to blog about our ski trip to Austria.... in Czech.  It seemed like a novel idea at first, until it took me nearly 3 weeks to write something that I fear is probably illegible to the native speaker (and has given my husband a throbbing headache as he had to proofread it).

Don’t panic, here is a google translation....but unfortunately it seems to have made it even more unreadable!! 

http://translate.google.cz/translate?sl=cs&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=cs&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fpragueherewecome.blogspot.com%2F2012%2F03%2Fdomaci-ukolhomework.html



Sobota.

To je naš prvni den praznin, ale dneska musíme jet celý den autem do Rakouska. Vstala jsem brzy a pes je u sousedů ale i když byla jsem organizovat, to bude další hodiny před jedeme.

Ach jo, to je dlouhou cesta, musíme sedět pro 6-8 hodiny v autě, děti už si stěžují na cestu, se hádají a ptají, 'kdy dorazí me?'. Byli jsme v autě jenom 40 minut. A k dovršení všeho tam je dopravní zácpa která, nás stéla tři hodiny.

Ale, jsme odměněni - manžel našel termální lázně blízko dálnice, to je jako oáza (ale oáza je normální v poušti) tenhle oáze je v sněhu! Predstavjesi -  horkou vodu, spostu párů a kolem je sníh. Neměla jsem fotak a pak jsem si vzala obrázek z internetu.  

Po koupání ve vodě, musíme jet další 3 hodiny. Nakonec dojedeme našeho apartmán, zjistili jsme, že ho je moc menší néz jsem ocekavali. Jiří a já usneli na málem rozkaldacim gauči, a děti se natáhněte na manželskou postel.

Pondělí

Bolí mne hrozně nohy!! To je jako kdybych tancovala celou noc na vysokých podpatcích. Myslím že moje lyžařské boty jsou moc malé. Tyhle boty mě zabijou. Naštěstí mám malé dítě, které mi bude masírovat nohy.
Zítra musím vyměnit boty.

Úterý

Dneska mám nové boty, jsem nová žena...ale...dneska taky je moc ledový, ani moje nove boty nemůžou pomoct. Manžel má dobrý nápad že, pojedeme na druhou stranu s jeho kamaradami.  Jediný problém že jsou brilanti lyžaři, rychlejši než já a brzy mě nechat v prachu (nebo v prašanu). Moje sedmi létě dítě jezdí rychleji než já.

Ale to jde od desíti k pěti když se rozdělili jsme. Manžel a syn lyžuje na ledové sjezdovce a já a dcera na hlavní cestě. Přijíždíme dolů k vleků a manžel zavolá, 'Syn spadl dolů a možná si zlomil ruku'.

Zpanikařila jsem a rychle se snažila jsem získat další vlekem nahoru na horu, Ale protože nesoustředím, spadala jsem z vleke! To jenom malý pád, ale moje dceru sedí na sedačce, která se rozjela beze měn! Katastrofa!

čtvrtek
Syn neporušil ruku!  Hurrah...jedeme na lanovce.
Ano, tyhle hory jsou krásné. Máme štěstí protože každý den svítí slunce. Teplota je od -3 Celsius do +2 Celsius, to je jako tropický ostrov srovnání s Prahou kde je -18.
Můj zblazni manžela premluvil nás že to bude supr jestlich pojedeme na lyží do Itálie, a tak jedeme po cestičce. Tam jsem jedli Pizzu a pili kávu.
Jedna strana je Rakouska a druhá je Itálie!

Pátek
Dneska je nás poslední den v Rakousku, naše týden byl rychle uběhl. Děti se zlepšili, ale nevím o mém lyžování. Výlet byl moc dobrý, hory byly úžasné a inspirativní.

Koupili jsme důležité potraviny před odjezdem; vino, sýry a čokolády