The Pomlázka
The making of Easter Whips is an Easter Monday custom in Czechoslovakia. The whips, known as pomlázka, are made from pliable willow tree branches.
According to tradition, every young man has his own whip. The whips are ceremonially used on the legs of girls. After the whipping, the girls give the "whipper" a ribbon for his whip handle.
In areas of Slovakia the whippers carry perfume to spray on the girl after she's been whipped.
Several explanations exist for this whipping custom ranging from the renewal of life in spring, the expression of unity with nature, and sharing blessings of health, wealth and happiness. One legend holds that branches used for whipping possess youth and beauty that is transferred to the girls who are whipped. It's is also believed to be an old fertility rite, ensuring the woman stays fertile and beautiful, that dates back to the Middle Ages.
In more recent times the practice has had a bad press. Whilst the whipping is supposed to be symbolic, more a gentle tap, a lot of Czech women complain that men are abusing the tradition.
"I've hated Easter since I was a child," says Barbora Gomezova. "When I was 11 I was with a group of girls; we were attacked by a group of older boys, around 16 years old. They had been drinking, and, instead of willow branches, they were using electric cables as whips. They hit us a lot around the legs; I had bruises all over my legs. "The worst thing was that I felt so powerless, they were hitting me with electric cables and I had no way to fight back."
However there are still many Czech women defend the tradition.
"I look forward to it every year," says Daniela Furthnerova. She says there is a sexual edge to the tradition. "Young women wait for the special man, the one they like to come and whip them," she says. Sarka Rausova agrees: "It's a tradition and people don't think about it as something that shouldn't be done."
Michaila Marksova-Tominova, of the Prague Gender Studies Centre that campaigns for women's rights, says: "I can imagine we could support the idea in a society where to beat a woman is OK."
Domestic violence is a serious problem in the Czech Republic, says Ms Marksova-Tominova. Under Czech law, beating your marital partner is not a crime unless she (or he) is so badly injured that she cannot work for at least seven days - and parliament has repeatedly rejected proposals to change the law.
