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Hundreds of thousands of Czech Christian celebrate Easter, the most important festival in the Christian calendar. According to the Biblical tradition, Easter Sunday marks the resurrection of the Savior Jesus Christ, who was crucified on Great Friday. The head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI, delivered his traditional Easter greeting and blessing, known as Urbi et Orbi, in Rome on Sunday in 65 languages; a message in the Czech came 15th. In the Czech Republic, where a majority of the population is not religious, people observe folklore traditions more than the religious ones; on Easter Monday, boys and men whip girls and women with elaborately braided willow sticks in exchange for Easter eggs, which was believed to ensure fertility and good health over the next year.

Eleven people have died on Czech roads since the start of the Easter weekend, despite a police road-safety operation. Traffic police said they would conduct an increased number of checks over the Easter weekend, focusing on speeding and drink driving, the most common cause of accidents in the Czech Republic. Last year, 6 people died in road crashes on Easter, and 16 were killed the previous year.

Inhabitants of Biskupice, a small community in eastern Bohemia, made a record-breaking Easter egg. The egg, which is made of willow sticks, is nearly three metres tall and measures nearly five metres in circumference. The mayor of the village said it took fourteen people four days to braid the egg.

Traffic police are expected to be out in force over the long Easter weekend and will focus on speeding and drink driving, the most common cause of accidents in the Czech Republic. Police spokeswoman Eva Miklikova said a similar road-safety operation has produced results last year, bringing down the number of accidents and reducing the number of road deaths to four from 15 the previous year.

Prague’s main Easter market opened on Saturday on Old Town Square with over 90 stalls selling traditional Easter decorations, local specialties and souvenirs. Over the next fortnight locals and tourists will be able to enjoy outdoor theatre performances, live music and workshops at which people can try their hand at various arts and crafts.

For many Czechs, Easter goes much further beyond the Christian tradition of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The popular pomlázka, or whipping of women with braided willow sticks, is just one of the customs that have survived around the country from before the arrival of Christianity. Today, they form part of original Czech folklore with roots that go back many centuries.

Tens of thousands of believers attended Easter mass celebrated in Catholic and Protestant churches around the country. Cardinal Miloslav Vlk, who is due to retire next week as head of the Czech Catholic Church, celebrated the main Easter mass at Prague’s St. Vitus Cathedral on Sunday. His successor, the new Archbishop of Prague Dominik Duka took leave of his congregation in Hradec Králove where he has served as bishop of the Hradec Králove Diocese since 1998. He was appointed the 36th Archbishop of Prague in February of this year.

Easter Monday is a public holiday in the Czech Republic, though unlike Sunday’s church celebrations, it is linked to pagan traditions celebrating the arrival of spring and the birth of new life.

Easter masses are being celebrated across the Czech Republic on Resurrection Sunday. The morning mass at St. Vitus Cathedral was led by Cardinal Miloslav Vlk, who told the congregation the Resurrection was a time of hope and forgiveness. It is the last Easter mass celebrated by Cardinal Vlk who will be retiring later this month and will hand over the office to the new Archbishop of Prague Dominik Duka. Easter Monday is a public holiday in the Czech Republic, though that is generally reserved for pagan traditions and rituals linked to spring, the birth of new life and fertility.

For Christians, Good Friday is one of the most important holidays of the year – and in many countries of the world, it is observed as a public holiday. In the Czech Republic, the holiday was scrapped by the communists in the 1950s. A group of senators has been trying for years to reinstate the holiday in the Czech calendar. But the way things look, it seems that Czechs will go to work for many Good Fridays to come.

Another Easter has come and gone, and like every year I have to remember the day I learned about the odd tradition that is the favourite of many Czechs – male and female alike. I’ll always remember it as “the day they beat Jana”.