CKL's HotSheet What Non-Aardvarks are Pondering
	[Previous entry: "Five minutes is a long time when you're single"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "Who are Genodix?"] 03/31/2004 Archived Entry: "Easter? I didn't even know 'er!" Posted by CKL @ 09:08 AM PST As if you needed more evidence of the patriarchal (and, let's face it, misogynic) nature of modern Christianity: On Easter Monday everyone gets up early; boys and men to set of[f] on a whipping trip through the village, girls and women to prepare, hide, or run away. Boys stop at people’s homes and whip the legs of every girl and woman who lives in the house. They sometimes catch the girl still in bed. Little boys say an Easter 2004 carol while whipping, usually asking for an egg or two. A popular custom is also to grab the girl and throw her in cold water, the "Easter dousing". The whipping and dousing is supposed to chase away bad spirits and illness, so this is actually good for the girl! -- easter-2004.com Okay, so a web site registered in Texas and featuring a banner ad for amigos.com probably isn't the most authoritative resource on religious tradition. You can Google [Easter Monday] yourself. For a woman's perspective on this, check out Easter Monday Blues, wherein Sarah Ellen Hinlicky (now Wilson) proclaims: "I would not shed one single tear if Easter Monday and all its traditions were permanently eradicated from Slovak memory. In fact, I might even jump for joy."
	CKL's HotSheet Copyright © 1997-2005 by Curtis C. Chen. All Rights Reserved. Additional content copyright © 2005 by Loren A. Cheng