The Easter Sunday is called Velikonoční neděle or also Boží hod velikonoční (“God’s Easter Time”). It is a time of great celebration after the long Lenten period.
The Lenten peaked on White Saturday. It didn’t have just a religious meaning, it was also practical because people’s pantries were empty after the winter. Anyway, it was over by Easter Sunday. Not only was this day the time for Christians to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus but also first plants were starting to grow and animals were having their young.
People who had preserved food from the Czech pig slaughter called zabíjačka could finally eat it. Another typical meal was and still is the so called nádivka (stuffing). And it was time to eat the mazanec made the day before! Young girls followed the superstition which said that if a girl gave a piece of her mazanec to the boy she liked, his heart would be hers. It was also believed that all those who eat a piece of the lamb-shaped pastry made the day before, would always find their way home should they even get lost.
Those who could afford it attended the church in new clothes.
Housewives were not supposed to clean, do laundry, wash up or do any other work around the house. However, it wasn’t a day of rest, there were merry celebrations, dancing and feasting. And of finally coloring the eggs for Easter Monday!
Many people were giving small gifts of something new to their friends and some regions held their traditional horse rides to bless the fields.
