Spring in Prague: 5+1 things to do
Spring has arrived to Prague! And it's fun, colorful, happy and sunny...and gloomy and wet...and sunny and happy - yup, the weather is up and down right now, but that shall pass and we all should look forward to these spring activities in Prague.
Easter
Easter is being celebrated all around Prague. There is a really nice Easter market at the Old Town Square as well as at the Namesti Republiky, however quite frankly not many Easter related souvenirs are being offered. Mostly you can buy traditional food (which you can buy year around in Prague) like Trdlo, Prague ham, sausages and potato chips.
What would be a nice Easter souvenir connected with Czech traditions?
Easter eggs of course - there are many ways how to paint an Easter Egg (kraslice), each region used to have it's own way and specific decors. It was possible to tell where the egg was decorated based on it's look.
Easter stick pomlazka - stick made of young branches of willow trees entangled together, decorated by colorful bows. This is very popular pagan tradition in Czech, often looked at with a funny eye by tourists: on Easter Monday morning boys go around the town or village and visit girls and women to spank their butts with this Easter stick pomlazka. Girls give boys those beautiful colored eggs, some other treats or something to drink. And why do girls and adult women get spanked?? It's all for a good cause - a legend says that women should be spanked with a whip in order to keep their health, beauty and fertility during the whole next year.
1st of May
The first day of May is the day for lovers. Czechs never quite accepted the Valentine's day as the day to celebrate love, but since we love our traditions we stick to the 1st of May. On this day you MUST kiss your girl under a cherry tree (better find one ahead). In Prague it will be possible to see crowds of young and old to go visit Petrin hill: 1/ it has lots of cherry trees... 2/ there is a statue of poet K.H. Macha, who is the ultimate romance Guru.
1st of May is also the Labor day, which is being celebrated in a whole different non romantic way - with lots of political meetings, parades and protests. Better stick to the cherry tree visit that day.
The Witch Burning Night
The day before, last day of April, is also a fun holiday - perhaps even more fun than kissing among strangers. It's the celebration of burning of the witches!
