HUNGARY: A Hungarian village keeps alive the old Easter custom of men chasing and watering girls with full buckets of icy cold water.

Record ID: 702046

  • Title: HUNGARY: A Hungarian village keeps alive the old Easter custom of men chasing and watering girls with full buckets of icy cold water.
  • Date: 28th March 2012
  • Summary: HOLLOKO, HUNGARY (MARCH 28, 2012) (REUTERS) TOURISTS WALKING IN MAIN VILLAGE STREET OLD VILLAGE HOUSE VARIOUS OF WOMEN GETTING DRESSED IN TRADITIONAL FOLK COSTUME MEN WAITING FOR WOMEN TO GET READY WOMEN ADJUSTING THEIR COSTUMES WOMAN FOLDING HER HANDKERCHIEF VARIOUS OF MEN WALKING WITH BUCKETS ON STREET VARIOUS OF MEN POURING WATER FROM STREET WELL INTO BUCKET MEN WALKING WITH BUCKETS OF WATER WOMEN RUNNING AND SCREAMING AND MEN POURING WATER ONTO THEM (SOUNDBITE) (Hungarian) HEAD OF THE FOUNDATION FOR HOLLOKO, ZSUZSANNA SZTREMI SAYING: "Easter is the first and the biggest holiday of spring, the holiday of the revival and reawakening of nature and people, and according to the traditions the watering as well as the egg painting had fertility magic and this is why boys went to water the girls with well water so as to make them fresh, young and beautiful." MEN RUNNING AFTER WOMEN WITH BUCKETS / WOMEN SCREAMING AS MEN POUR WATER ON THEM WOMEN LAUGHING TOURISTS WATCHING MEN WAITING WITH BUCKETS AND POURING THEM ON WOMEN RUNNING PAST POURING WELL WATER INTO BUCKET MEN HOLDING WOMAN AND POURING WATER ON HER TOURISTS WATCHING AND TAKING PHOTOS POURING WATER ON WOMAN / WOMAN RUNNING AWAY (SOUNDBITE) (Hungarian) HEAD OF THE FOUNDATION FOR HOLLOKO, ZSUZSANNA SZTREMI SAYING: "The girls have to endure it because the boys are quite relentless and keep pouring the well water on them. The girls then run into the house to dry. But of course these days the boys try to do it a little more humanely." WOMAN RUNNING AWAY DRENCHED MEN POURING WATER OVER SZTREMI MAN LIFTING BUCKET MEN POURING WATER OVER DRENCHED SZTREMI WET CLOTHES DRYING ON FENCE
  • Embargoed: 12th April 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Hungary, Hungary
  • Country: Hungary
  • Topics: Quirky,Religion,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVA2PLIF194EH3KNP0LLWH6B11AB
  • Story Text: A picturesque village in northern Hungary keeps alive an old tradition of Easter watering giving the local ladies an annual soaking.
    Holloko, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List, is famous for its Easter Festival when traditionally dressed men chase the women round the village streets and pour ice-cold water on them.
    Although Easter Monday is a few days away yet villagers are already perfecting their techniques of pouring the most amount of water on women who try to escape.
    "Easter is the first and the biggest holiday of spring, the holiday of revival and reawakening of nature and people, and according to the traditions the watering as well as the egg painting had fertility magic and this is why boys went to water the girls with well water so as to make them fresh, young and beautiful," head of the Foundation For Holloko, Zsuzsanna Sztremi said.
    The watering of women is a tradition that derives from pagan fertility and cleansing rites and was practiced widely across Central and Eastern Europe for centuries. Today the tradition of watering with buckets of cold water is usually replaced by a quick spray of perfume over women's heads.
    But Holloko sticks to the tradition of using the cold water and young women just have to bear it, Sztremi says.
    "The girls have to endure it because the boys are quite relentless and keep pouring the well water on them. The girls then run into the house to dry. But of course these days the boys try to do it a little more humanely", she said Getting soaked is a matter of pride for traditional women at Easter as it shows they have lots of men folk visiting, she added.
    The Holloko Easter Festival will take place during Easter Sunday and Monday with traditional Easter church services, processions, folklore programmes and plenty of bucket watering.
    Thousands of visitors are expected to descend on this small traditional village of the ancient Paloc minority who speak an old Hungarian dialect and preserve their centuries-old customs with youthful determination: perhaps a result of much spring watering.
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