Photo: Barbora Navrátilová, Radio Prague International
In the English-speaking world, we know the days during Holy Week leading up to Easter as Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and so on. But, despite also sharing a Christian heritage with Anglophone countries, the Czechs call these days by pretty different names in most cases – and many of their Easter traditions are quite alien to people from Anglo-American cultures, as they often pre-date Christianity, originating from Slavic pagan times.
Palm Sunday = Blossoming Sunday
Palm Sunday, the Sunday before Easter, is known as “Květná neděle” or Blossoming Sunday in Czech. People would decorate their houses with pussy willow, and according to Czech tradition, one shouldn’t bake anything with flour on this day. Farmers would watch the weather, as the saying went that whatever the weather was like on Palm Sunday was an omen for the coming harvest.
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Authors: Anna Fodor, Barbora Kvapilová, Source:Český rozhlas