I am not sure people outside Czech republic or Slovakia understand that as this is a regional tradition.
Summary: We go out and whip girls with this thing we create ourselves (it is made from fresh osiers)…
…and we get painted easter eggs (and sweeties) in return. We whip them gently, symbolically, shall they stay healthy and beautiful.
Well, that’s the tradition. And like with any other the reality differs and it subsequently is sometimes as horrible as it sounds at first glance to someone unfamiliar to the tradition. Well there’s of course much more to Easter celebration habits but I would gladly leave this part out.
Well … furthermore the dawn of 15th century (when game takes place) church wasn’t really very happy about such things. for church this was mostly a sin, although some preachers (Jan Hus included) tried to explain this clearly pagan habit in terms of christianity… without much success. so the habit of the spring rejuvenation (in many forms) lives on.
Interesting fact; The author of the most common rhyme that accompany whipping of the girls (“Hody, hody, do provody…”) is in fact the 15th century preacher Jan Hus
Well, traditionally Easter was the most important time of the year for everyone in middle ages. It was the most important feast day and it was the time of the year in which peasants and landfolk had to pay their taxes and tributes to their landlords.
I do not want to start some historic dispute, but do you have any source to backup your claims?
I personally do not know much (only wiki http://goo.gl/D7Oc8 ), only that Easter is almost bigger for christians than christmas - so i would expect that it would be celebrated in full splendor even in middle ages…
also - why not to mix in the game the pagan and christian parts - the bloody bunny massacre on Easter eve!!!
I wrote only about the “Pomlázka” - the whipping - but that’s not the only tradition. this rejuvenation act had and has many different forms. Most of them were considered naughty to obscene by church in that time.
This has little to do with christian holiday Easter and it’s celebration.
I absolutely love this idea! It would be great to encounter some of the old local festivities in the game. Besides the mentioned (and very specific form of) Easter celebrations, or Dozhinky, there are many others to choose from, depending on the year period. Like for example the Walpurgis Night (Pálení čarodějnic) on 30th April - a form of Beltain celebration.
Also the Pig slaughter (Zabijačka), although without a set date, was (and still is in many rural areas) an important social event during the first cold days during the autumn.
Well, not necessarily a small event! For what i know - at least in a small village - when some family was performing the Zabijacka, the whole village was aware of, often the neighbours and family friends were invited to help with, and the children were often sent with the Zabijacka produce to share it with the other families (sometimes to surrounding villages too), so everybody could taste the greasy goodness… At least the decorum dictated so.
Of course this can vary from region to region. In larger towns it may not be so distinctive.
People in a small community were really somewhat closer together these days. I am thinking also about the “Draní peří” (can’t find the appropriate english term) - when the common folk (mostly women) of a village gathered in one’s house and processed the poultry feathers to be used in a pillows and duvets while sharing stories and legends. All for the sake of the profit for all of them, to have a material for a comfy and warm bedding.
Very nice article about draní peří is here, unfortunately only in czech. But with some self-explanatory pictures.
This is a great idea. There were many festivals, some of them originating thousands of years back. In particular the fire festivals, something that was held all over Europe. Watching bonfires light on the hill- tops around the town and villages, would be a cool feature in the game. With villagers competing and singing, and jumping over the fires.
Seems to me people back then were generally using fire a lot. They were using fire to clean meadows and after harvest they were setting their grain fields on fire, which is where the book http://www.amazon.co.uk/Leaping-Hare-George-Ewart-Evans/dp/0571106307 got its title from. The rabbit is escaping from the fire.
Interesting, but it cannot appear in the game since the game is set in spring/summer and this was being done during winter.
How many people back then could afford to grow a pig? I guess that back then only rich merchants or the prominent church members did. The nobility could of course get meat by hunting in forests.
At least the decorum dictated so.
