Easter Monday Sprinkling
I don’t know if you ever feel this way, but sometimes we just have to get in our car and drive until we find open fields and… men in aprons?
Easter Monday provided the perfect opportunity for a sprit-refreshing visit to the village of Hollókő about 2 hours outside of Budapest. Their annual Easter Festival features their famous hand painted eggs, folk dancing and a glimpse into the 18th century life of the Palócz people. The Palócz are a subgroup of Hungarians who retain distinctive dress and traditions which they display in a restored village overshadowed by castle ruins. One tradition the Palócz share with other Hungarians is the sprinkling or spraying of young women with water or perfume on Easter Monday. What originally started as a pagan fertility practice has now evolved into a playful spring-time celebration. In modern times, men and groups of boys spritz girls with cologne or water so that the females don’t wither away in the coming year. In turn the ladies give the fellas painted or chocolate eggs and other treats which to me seems like an unfair trade for smelling like a department store fragrance counter all day.
In Hollókő however, the traditionally-aproned men sloshed buckets of water on the young ladies and nearby tourists with mischievous glee diminished only by the snow flurries. If you’ve seen our winter dress video (click here to watch), you can understand our surprise at seeing Hungarians voluntarily getting wet while snow fell. I think maybe the girls were consoling each other over their surely coming death by pneumonia.
We loved taking in some more Hungarian traditions and history, hiking and eating pretzels the size of our heads, but we still haven’t figured out the apron. I guess that just goes to show that we have a lot more to learn!
Pray With Us
Dave's student teacher, Miss Holman, has finished up her stint at I.C.S.B. She was a big asset to the middle school floor and we will be sorry to see her leave! Please pray with us that God will clearly guide her in her next steps, that he will provide mentor teachers to shape her professionally and that she will transition back to the States well.
