Easter tradition

We are going to Prague for this Easter. It is just for a few days and mainly just to visit my parents and relatives. They live just outside of Prague.

It will be fist time when my husband will see Czech Easter traditions. It is so different from here in UK that I am quite excited how he will take it. Like with everything in Czech Easter originally Christian is now more folklore tradition. Especially at the countryside.
It starts on Sunday when every women or girl will start to colour and decorate hard boiled eggs. Designs can be quite beautiful and complicated.

Different area has different type of decorating. These chocolate looking ones are actually coloured by onion skins + plants.

Decorating is not just paining, eggs can be decorated with intricate wire!

 Or look like a lattice.

So we will decorate a few eggs with my mum + grandma.  We usually colour them with food colouring and then make some nice simple flower design with wax. We also do colouring in onion skins.

Then on Monday morning when it is the proper Easter, males (especially not married ones) will get up very early and cut some willow sticks and braid them together.

Also design can go from very simple to quite difficult and very pretty. After that they will go house to house and symbolically "smack" young girls on the bottom. It is suppose to keep them young for a year! Girl will then put ribbon on they willow stick and give them some decorated eggs (or shot of alcohol :-)

It is a nice way of how boys can meet girls. Tradition is more "live" at the country side and also every area has something different about it.

There is also something for children too. They will go also house to house with willow stick (their dads usually make them for them) and will "symbolically" bang on the door with it and say little rime about Easter and eggs. Female (mother or young girl) will then open the door and give them again some of the decorated eggs. It is similar to Halloween. (only in Czech there is no any Halloween tradition).

I always remember from my childhood that we had piles of nicely decorated hard boiled eggs. I have two brothers so we brought quite a lots of them. Then every child had to have egg spread for a lunch box at school for about a week! :-)

We always eat the "least" pretty ones first.

I will try and make a lots of photos. It will be our fist Czech Easter together (with my husband) :-)

My mum also bake traditional Easter raisin bread and very nice cake in shape of lamb.