Happy Easter

Posted Thursday, March 20, 2008, 6:16 AM by Lonely Planet

Looks like there's lots of fun in store for the Easter weekend.

In the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia, a tradition of spanking or whipping is carried out on Easter Monday. In the morning, men throw water at women and spank them with a special handmade whip called pomlázka (in Czech) or korbáč (in Slovak)... A legend says that women should be spanked in order to keep their health and beauty during whole next year.

We did not make that up! Honest.

All spanking aside, you might be interested in the Armenian celebrations. As the oldest Christian nation in Europe, the Holy See of Echmiadzin (Armenia's equivalent of the Vatican) holds a week-long series of events.

In Austria the Berliner Philharmoniker decamps to Salzburg for an Easter extravaganza of orchestral events and opera. While the town of Arles (home of Van Gogh and Gaugin and all that gang), kicks off the celebrations with a bullfight in the Roman amphitheatre.

Leading the charge though are Spain and Italy with huge festivities hosted in Lorca, Seville, Trapani, Taranto and, of course, the traditional candlelit procession along Via Crucis in Rome.

Failing all that you could always pop down to Kew Gardens for the annual egg hunt.

Buona pasqua a te!

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