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Although my wife and I have spent many a Christmas with her family, until this year we had yet to spend the Easter holidays together in Slovakia. I hadn't really given much thought to this, until a conversation I had with my father-in-law back in October of last year.
It was then, over a couple of pints of Pilsner in the local krcma, that I first learned of the Easter Monday tradition of keeping women 'fresh' for the coming year. With my limited Slovak, I was able to get the gist of what the tradition was all about, and by the expression on his face it was obviously a time of the year that he very much enjoyed. Later that evening, I probed my wife for more information and found that she was not very forthcoming. However, I eventually learned why we never had before spent Easter in Slovakia.
My wife explained that the Easter Monday tradition involved women getting buckets of water thrown over them and, if that wasn't enough, getting beat with a stick made from willow. In return the women, no doubt grateful that the men had made them fresh again, gave the men glasses of schnapps, chocolate, sweets, money and decorated eggs.
My wife also explained that under no circumstances would we be joining in with this tradition and that she would be making herself scarce come Easter. Although I must confess I liked the idea of lots of women serving me with schnapps and chocolate, I did think that beating women with a willow branch and soaking them to the skin with water a bit much, and so agreed that we would go away somewhere for the Easter week-end.
...
Easter came so early this year, that it was suddenly upon us before we knew what was what. We still hadn't made any definite plans to go away for the weekend by the middle of March, so by and by I convinced my wife that we should spend Easter with her parents. Eventually she agreed and even said that I could join in the Easter Monday traditions, on the strict understanding that on no account was she to get wet.
Spring had well and truly arrived by Easter Saturday in Slovakia. The sun was shining brightly and we enjoyed a lovely weekend, which included long walks, cooking gulas over an open fire, and basking in the unexpected sunshine. On Sunday afternoon, Ria and her mum made cakes and decorated eggs, in preparation for the next day.
I was woken early on Easter Monday morning by the screams of my wife. Looking up I saw my father-in-law, dressed in his best suit, with a half-empty cup of water and a wide grin on his face.
Behind him my mother-in-law, who looked like she had just taken a shower with her clothes on, was also grinning. Looking now at my wife, I realized that she had received nothing more than a customary sprinkle of water, but to hear her you would have thought that her father had drenched her with all the waters of the Danube.
I got dressed and had a hearty breakfast, before setting out with Ria's father at 8am, in search of other female members of the family to freshen, and to collect our schnapps and chocolate eggs. Meanwhile, Ria and her mum stayed indoors, awaiting the various uncles and cousins, who would be calling on them during the day.
Ria has a big family and by midday we must have visited about seven households in all. This meant that a lot of schnapps had been consumed, as well as countless cakes, sweets and savory nick-nacks that were placed out before us when we called.
There was no whipping of women with willow sticks, and my father-in-law and I only indulged in the cursory spraying of water and perfume.... honestly! However, we were presented with lots of decorated eggs, chocolate eggs and of course schnapps, plenty of schnapps.
In the end, the day turned out to be a lot different to how my wife had described it to me. What I experienced was a wonderful tradition, where the family was able to get together and talk, laugh, drink, eat and have some fun. That said, both Ria's sisters were nowhere to be found that day, and my wife herself had mysteriously come down with a cold, much to the annoyance of her cousins and uncles.
