Esater in Slovakia (source: Sme archive)
My first Easter Monday in Slovakia started with the sound of my boyfriend laughing, just before he startled me out of my peaceful slumber by splashing cold water into my face.
“Happy Easter!” he shouted gleefully, while tapping me with a willow switch. A playful chase ensued.
“This is Easter?” I thought to myself. “Where’s the Easter bunny? And what about my basket of goodies?”
But in the years since that crash course in Slovak traditions, I’ve become much more familiar with how the holiday is celebrated. On Easter Sunday mothers and daughters spend all day baking cakes and making Easter eggs decorated with scratched-out paint designs or patterns from starch-hardened lace. Sunday is also a day when families can visit each other without the girls having to be afraid of an “attack”.
