Old traditions, new habits: countries adapt to Easter during coronavirus

Record ID: 1469263

  • Title: Old traditions, new habits: countries adapt to Easter during coronavirus
  • Date: 13th April 2020
  • Summary: MEZOKOVESD, HUNGARY (APRIL 13, 2020) (REUTERS) MAN FILLING BUCKET OF WATER MAN DRESSED IN MATYO GOLD COSTUME CARRYING BUCKET OF COLD WATER/ ASKING WOMAN IF HE COULD WATER HER AND THROWING WATER TOWARDS HER (SOUNDBITE) (Hungarian) MATYO FOLK DANCER, TOTH SZABOLCS, SAYING: "We cannot go out to water the girls now. We cannot now water them fully, pouring perfume on them is also cancelled, and we don't even get red painted eggs." SZABOLCS FILLING WATER BUCKET SZABOLCS THROWING WATER TOWARDS WOMAN
  • Embargoed: 27th April 2020 15:58
  • Keywords: Andrej Babis COVID-19 Czech Republic Easter Hungary Pomlazka coronavirus folk dance tradition
  • Location: PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC/ MEZOKOVESD, HUNGARY
  • City: PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC/ MEZOKOVESD, HUNGARY
  • Country: Various
  • Topics: Health/Medicine
  • Reuters ID: LVA002C9BRAD5
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: When celebrating Easter during the coronavirus outbreak, some traditions in Eastern European countries had to change to comply with social distancing measures. In some cases, those changes came from the top.
    On Monday (April 13), the Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis posted a video of himself lurking behind a wall and chasing his wife Monika with a two-metre-long whip, known as Pomlazka.
    Babis urged everyone to make sure the Easter whips were long enough to comply with social distancing rules.
    On a traditional Easter Monday, men and boys would chase and spank women with short willow sticks in order to keep them healthy, beautiful and fertile for the next year.
    In Hungary, the old tradition of Easter was to "water women", giving them an annual soaking with buckets of cold water. In several villages, festivals were usually built around the watering traditions but because of the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions all major Easter traditionalist villages were closed for visitors.
    In Mezokovesd, the home of the so called "Matyo" folk tradition, the folk dancer Toth Szabolcs still proceeded with the watering ritual in his garden with his wife.
    Hungary recorded 1,410 cases of coronavirus and 99 deaths. In Czech Republic, 5,941 cases were registered and 138 people died.
    (Production: Bernadett Szabo, Vanessa Romeo, Kriszta Fenyo, Gabriela Boccaccio)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2020. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
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