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As you can probably guess, there isn't much connection between the Christian holiday of Easter and the ritual of pomlazky. It's a pagan ritual that is supposed to celebrate new life, health, fertility, youth, beauty and good luck. Well, duh. What else could whipping women mean? Of course their are mixed feelings among women as to the validity of such a tradition. Of the 10 - 12 women I asked, only one said she liked it while the others said it was a holiday for men and many of them said they didn't know any girls who enjoyed the tradition involving pomlazky. Though one woman told me that when she was young it was exciting to see which boys would come to her home. Most men aren't intentionally out to hurt women but there can be a lot of drunken men stumbling around with the idea of whipping women on their minds. Not the healthiest situation nor luckiest for the girls. It's most common for men to go to girls they know but it doesn't hurt for all girls to have eggs handy. This tradition hardly occurs in Prague. It's much more common in Moravia which is the more traditional, religious, and "friendlier" of the two Czech lands. From my experiences last year, as well as the testimony of my students, I knew I wouldn't see any pomlazka action in Prague or probably any city for that matter. But I chose to go to Brno, the capitol of Moravia and the second-biggest city in the Czech Republic, for the weekend, and head out to a village on Monday. I wanted to go to Moravsky Krumlov, a short 15 - 20 km bus ride from Brno but because of the holiday, the buses weren't running until the evening which would be too late. However, there were plenty of buses running between Brno and Mikulov, a village of 8000 or so located in the wine-growing region of South Moravia not more than 5 km from the Austrian border. I took the early 8am bus because I wanted to make sure I was early enough to see all the action. I got off a stop early and walked along the outskirts of town in the residential area but all I saw were suspicious looking neighbors in their yard. Then rounding a corner I ran into what sounded like a pack of hungry wolves but was actually a pack of teenage guys. My first thought was that they would know where the action was so I followed them at a distance to see how the ritual would play out. Unfortunately they disappeared inside an apartment building after they turned on the next street. That street, Videnska, led to the main square, simply called Square so I followed it hoping to run into more pomlazka bandits. Instead I passed 4 or 5 Asian tourists. The square is a Renaissance Dream with highlights such as the sgraffitoed Canons' Houses and the Dietrichstein Burial Vault. It began filling with locals going egg-hunting as the ribbons of their pomlazky gloated freely in the air and they carried worn shopping bags that drooped at their sides. I found a bench
in the sun to plop myself down to absorb the beauty of the square and wait
for a woman to boldy present herself. Plenty of boys and men walked by
but it didn't take long to realize that girls weren't coming outside because
they stay home to wait (or hide) from the males. Think of it like the American
Halloween: older people stay at home to hand out candy while children and
teenagers go door to door. For Czech Easter, females stay home while the
males of all ages, usually young boys, go out. I was still optimistic though
so when I heard some cheerful screaming from the street leading up to the
square, I ran in that direction but I only found small children playing
together. But I also saw people going in and out of a small pasage that
circled the square along a wall. As I was walking up to it, I saw three
teenagers go through the passage so I followed and they ran into a girl
on her bicycle. She didn't have anything with her so they whipped her until
she had to get off the bike. She forced a smile and went along with the
whole charade. I think they were friends and the boys didn't appear to
hurt her badly. Maybe she didn't mind, but if she liked the tradition,
she probably would have been home waiting for them to come instead of riding
around town on a bicycle. For my part, I took a picture and continued walking
up the street where I found two of the girl's friends high-tailing it out
of there on one bike.
I strolled through the mini-park and up to the cemetry which had its white gate propped open. There were more people there than I would have thought so it wasn't so creepy. From there I walked up Goat Hill to a castle ruin where I enjoyed a beautiful view of Mikulov and the surrounding Mikulovske region. There wasn't much of a haze that day so I could see pretty far over the hills. And by the time I reached the top, I was sweating like I haven't done outside in the Czech Republic for months and enjoyed my time above in a t-shirt. There was even more to hike up and see but I had just opted for a small taste which could easily be enjoyed over the time span of three or four days, especially since Mikulov is so close (5 - 10 km) to Valtice and Lednice, all of which is included in a UNESCO biospheric reservation. Enjoy. After I descended the hill, I saw the last of the pomlazka ritual of the day in the resedential area of Mikulov that was on the other side of Goat Hill. I walked back through the square and it was not quite one o’clock so the sun drenched the square and toddlers ran about with mini-pomlazky. Now it was time to tackle the castle. I walked along the massive Baroque structure of the residence, first by the castle garden which was still dead from winter and I can only imagine how pleasant they'll look in the summer. However the grass was already well on its way to a dark green. There's a fountain, sculptures, and even a botanic garden along one of the lower walls. After the hike, it felt nicest just to enjoy the castle from the comfort of a wooden bench, which line the inside of the outer wall. There is a castle museum and a cellar that houses the largest wine barrel in Central Europe but that doesn't open until May. After remaining idle for far too long, I said goodbye to the castle and its gate with arches and pillars and I followed one of the gravel paths that winded its way around the castle and emptied into various streets below. From the south end of the castle grounds all the streets run into Piaristu which will take you to the bus stops. There’s a mini-square with a statue and a few pubs across the street. Everything was lively with people to celebrate the day and the beautiful weather. Eventually the bus rounded the corner and swooped me back to Brno and my final thoughts for the day drifted to the Easter traditions of the Czech Republic and I wondered if maybe I should have tried participating myself. I had come to Mikulov and saw what I wanted to see and was enchanted by an amazing town on top of that. Maybe I would have felted better about the tradition if there was a holiday where women got to spank men. What about Valentine’s Day? That’s a holiday for women, right? Maybe some spanking could spice it up a bit. Finally, when I was waiting for a bus back to Prague at the Brno station, I heard and saw two Americans in probably their mid-20s waiting for a bus with pomlazky taller than they were. That cemented my opinion that it was a tradition better left for the Czechs. The following are the previous articles Matthew wrote for the magazine:
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The
Other Franz Ferdinand ~ 