Easter customs of our ancestors
The festive Easter week used to begin with Palm Sunday, a commemoration of Christ's arrival in Jerusalem. On this sixth and last Sunday of Lent, blooming goat willow branches - catkins - were blessed in churches. On the following Blue Monday, people should not work at all. Unfortunately, this rule does not apply to housewives - on the contrary, they should start with a big pre-Easter cleaning, which continued on the Holy Tuesday of the Easter week. During Ash Wednesday, chimneys and stoves were swept. On this Wednesday, we should also not frown or look ugly, otherwise there is a risk that our gloomy face will last all year long. On Maundy Thursday, something green is prepared for eating, but it is neither a Christian nor a pagan tradition. The name probably comes from a distorted translation from German: the original Greindonnerstag (lamenting Thursday) has changed to Gründonnerstag, which means green Thursday.
If we are going to be at home on Maundy Thursday anyway, why not to try preparing dough for yeast-raised Judas cookies the day before? They were twisted into the shape of a loop or noose on which the traitor Judas hanged himself. According to tradition, they are smeared with honey and eaten on Maundy Thursday morning, preferably before sunrise. This ritual is supposed to ensure sound health and protection against snakebites and dangerous insect stings.
The food on Good Friday should be Lentlike. According to superstition, treasures are opened on this day, as we also know from Kytice (Bunch of Flowers) collection of poems by Karel Jaromír Erben, and one should not borrow anything, work with soil or wash clothes. On Easter Eve, the house was often whitewashed, and people also used to make wicker whips, prepare hot cross buns, bake stuffing or start colouring eggs. On this day, Christians mourn for Christ, who rose from the dead during the night from Holy Saturday to Easter Sunday. This is the culmination of the Easter celebration; Monday's visiting relatives and friends with “pomlázka” (wicker whip) is a pagan custom that became associated with Christian holidays thanks to folk celebrations.
Practising Christians miss visiting the church on Easter (currently, it is possible to hold a mass with no mass singing and with a maximum of 10% of the seating capacity). Thanks to the Internet, they can attend Easter services at least via online broadcast, while some parishes are planning to hold them outside the church.
Easter weather sayings
- If Maundy Thursday is white, then the summer is warm.
- If it thunders on Good Friday, the fields will be fruitful.
- If it rains at night on Holy Saturday, there will be few cherries.
- If it is nice on Easter Sunday, start working in the field early morning.
- Clear weather on Easter – summer will begin on Pentecost (50 days after Easter).
Easter activities for children: searching for Easter bunny’s treat in the garden
Do you have small children and a garden? Make Easter Monday more enjoyable for them by hiding sweets, eggs or small toys “from the Easter bunny”. Eggs or sweets are traditionally searched for in Germany, English-speaking countries, but also in some parts of the Czech Republic. You can of course hide a treat from the bunny in your apartment. The search will be just as fun, but it will probably take less time.
Don't forget to wear something new on Easter Monday so that you don't get "pooed by the lamb"!
Family Easter get-together
Even if you're at home with just your close family, dress festively for Easter and decorate the family table. If the weather allows, move the Easter celebrations to the garden - whether it's just the aforementioned search for the bunny’s treat, a festive lunch or a small garden party. The outdoor pergola with tilting slats will protect you from any vagaries of weather. Rain and snow-resistant slats are part of all the ARTOSI pergolas.
