Easter Preparations

Prague has decorated itself in preparation for Easter. Easter is an important holiday in Prague, where decorations are heavy on painted eggs, chocolate, candy and small gifts, much as in the U.S. Wenceslas Square and Old Town Square have the wooden shopping booths that were present around Christmas back up, selling gifts and food. Nearby trees at the end of Wenceslas Square are decorated with ribbon and balloons.

The part about Easter in Prague I am most curious about is the Easter Monday tradition of boys whipping girls legs with willows branches. Apparently this is a good natured tradition and the (gentle) whipping passes on luck and strength to the girls and in return the boys are supposed to get a painted egg. Men taking part are supposed to be offered liquour which I'm sure makes this event all the more interesting.

I thought I would add a little to Jason's post. As you can see there is a sign for Trdlo. Trdlo is like the czech equivalent to fried dough. It isn't fried but is cooked over a fire. They roll out the dough and wrap it around a metal tube (like a metal rolling pin). They then place the tube over a fire and the tube rotates to cook all sides of the dough. When it is cooked they slide the dough off the tube and into a plate of cinnamon and sugar to coat it. It is very yummy and for some reason much more filling then fried dough (or dough boys if you are from RI!).