Slovak Housekeeping

May 12, 2012

Allan Stevo

The fact that so many Slovaks smoke (or spend time around smokers) and so many Slovaks use down pillows and comforters, which are hard to launder, could lead one to conclude that Slovak homes smell.  But it’s very common to find Slovak homes 1. Spotless – you can practically eat off of the floor and 2. Devoid of odor – the indoor air smells as fresh and clean as fresh air outdoors.

Below are 4 tips from the Slovak village on making sure your place doesn’t smell.  At first, I didn’t think much of the importance of these practices, but then better understood the importance of them when rooming with an American friend who had quite a smelly room after just a few weeks.

• #1. Each morning when you rise, open the windows for 10 or 15 minutes – do this every morning regardless of the weather.  Let the fresh air come in.  When it’s not deathly cold out, you can do this for a longer amount of time.  By doing this every morning, you avoid that uncomfortable situation in which you have no idea whether or not your living space smells, but everyone else that walks by it definitely knows that it smells.

• #2. Unless the weather is rainy, each morning lay your bedding in the window. You can leave the bedding out extra long on really sunny days.  Just take the bedding off your bed and lay it on the windowsill of the open window.  These first two tips seem to be religiously followed in villages that I have visited, but I regularly see them being followed in big cities as well.

• #3. Every morning after you rise, walk around and spend 2 or 3 minutes picking up your things – never leave anything dirty laying around – like sweaty clothes, smokey clothes, or unlaundered clothes. Put away the things that don’t need to be left sitting out.  A noticeable difference between most Slovak homes I’ve been in and many American homes I’ve been in is that clutter is more acceptable on the left side of the Atlantic than on the right.

• #4. Each Saturday, spend an hour tidying up around your home – do it for an hour each week and you won’t need to spend more than an hour doing so at any one given time.  Vacuum the carpets each week, get down on your hands and knees each week to do the wood and the tile.  Many a times I’ve been told by a Slovak girl (not usually a Slovak guy) that she spent part of her day Saturday “tidying up.”  It seems to be part of the Slovak tradition to constantly tidy up.

Plus one more step from Slovak homemakers for the most diligent of you out there:

• This one might take a while to get used to, because I know quite a few people who like to wear their shoes when they are at home, but it’s a Slovak tradition to wear outdoor shoes only outdoors. Take off your shoes at the door.  This is a cultural divide that it takes Americans a while to get used to in Slovakia.  I have even heard Americans tell me they felt insulted that they were asked to remove their shoes at the door.  Based on this cultural divide, one would think that Slovaks must be used to hearing sentiments like “Those unfortunate Americans are so uncultured that they grow up learning that they don’t take off their shoes when they walk into their own homes.”  On top of that, Slovaks are so darn nice to their visitors every chance they get.  Slovaks are so nice that they will even violate one of their own cardinal rules of housekeeping by saying to an American guest “Oh, don’t worry, it isn’t too muddy outside, you can leave your shoes on if you’d like.”  That’s a way that you know your host or hostess is bending over backwards for you.  You should then bend over backwards for him or her by entirely ignoring everything they are saying to you and removing your shoes that very moment against any protest they try to mount against your shoe removal efforts.  You might be surprised how much less dusty a place is when you don’t wear your outdoor shoes inside.  Some Slovaks even go so far as to take off their shoes at work – yes, the sandals and socks combination is a popular Slovak workplace ensemble.  I even once worked at a school where all 400 students were commanded to dust off their shoes at the door, remove their shoes, and then either change into their schools slippers immediately upon entering the building or to walk in their socks to the coatroom where they would then put on their school slippers.

Those are 5 Slovak home-making tips that I’ve spied taken place and have reported back to you.  Did I get any of these wrong?  Did I miss any good Slovak tips?  Do you have any easy and logical cultural housekeeping tips of your own that you have seen done in some cultures but not others?  If so, I’d love to hear about them.  Please share them with me in the comments section below.

Allan Stevo writes on Slovak culture at www.52inSk.com.  He is from Chicago and spends most of his time travelling Europe and writing.  You can find more of his writing at www.AllanStevo.com.  If you enjoyed this post, please use the buttons below to like it on Facebook or to share it with your friends by email.  You can sign up for emails on Slovak culture from 52 Weeks in Slovakia by clicking here.

Paying the Bill

May 4, 2012

Allan Stevo

Tip: In a face-to-face competition, you will always lose.  No matter where you are from, no matter how poor your host is, you will have the bill paid by the Slovak you are visiting with.   A Slovak is like a well-trained cowboy from the Wild West – he’s always the first to the draw.

Before you even realize that the waiter has brought the bill, the Slovak will have already paid for the bill. You’ll still be trying to figure out where your wallet is, and the waiter will already be walking away, money in hand.  Without fail, the Slovak will always beat you to the bill.  If there were an Olympic discipline in who can pull out his wallet most quickly, Slovaks would win the gold, silver, and bronze each time.

Once the bill has arrived at the table, you are too late.  That’s all there is too it.  I know.  It’s not fair, but that’s how it works.  Go out with a Slovak host and you’re gonna have a hard time paying for things.  At least that’s been my experience.  Here’s a technique on how to beat a Slovak to the bill.

• Step #1. Get up from the table and say that you are going to go to the washroom, which you should do, so as not to lie.

• Step #2. Stop at the cash register and say “zaplatim vsetko.”  “I am paying for everything.”  I have no idea whether or not this phrase is grammatically correct.  I only know that it works when I say it.

• Step #3. Pay and leave a good tip – 10% or more.  If you are paying, it’s not nice to stiff the waiter or waitress, who your host may know.  Therefore, it’s good to err on the side of generosity.

• Step #4. Go back to the table and inform your host that it’s time to leave or if you’re more of the passive aggressive type, just sit there and keep enjoying yourself, letting him ask for the bill only to find out from the waiter that the bill was already paid.  Either way, you will have a slightly angry Slovak on your hands, but you will have successfully beaten him to the bill.

Do you have any experience with these techniques?  Do you have any advice to offer me in paying that bill before a Slovak host?

Allan Stevo writes on Slovak culture at www.52inSk.com.  He is from Chicago and spends most of his time travelling Europe and writing.  You can find more of his writing at www.AllanStevo.com.  If you enjoyed this post, please use the buttons below to like it on Facebook or to share it with your friends by email.  You can sign up for emails on Slovak culture from 52 Weeks in Slovakia by clicking here.

Šibačka Videos

May 4, 2012

Allan Stevo

Some videos inevitably made the rounds a few weeks back as Easter Monday approached and Slovak youth – instead of going out into the wild to braid willow chutes and socialize with male and female friends alike by visiting houses whip in hand – chose to get on Facebook and watch videos of other people doing exactly that.

Embedded below are some videos from šibačka. What I like about the videos is the way that they, in sum, show a few different aspects of the šibačka.  With every few videos of šibačka that you come across on the internet, you are sure to see a new aspect that you might never considered to be part of the tradition.

Though some of these videos may offend, I figure it’s only fair to share some footage of what generally happens during šibačka.  It can appear brutal or can also appear cute.  The camera though tends to remove the viewer from the situation and makes it easier to criticize.  Though there is much I like about the šibačka, I even cringed a little when the gal in this first video, who really appears to be happy to be the center of attention kept getting bucket after bucket dumped on her on an overcast day.  A friend commented on this video in a compelling email that I thought I’d share here.

Just a couple days before Eastern this year I was thinking to myself how incredibly difficult it would  be to properly explain this tradition to my friends abroad.

The tradition consists of splashing girls/young ladies with water and whipping with a willow tree wand/whip. During old times the wand was cut of fresh wood, nowadays a fancy stock whip is used. The meaning of the tradition is not to terrorize women, but just the opposite. The water has a purifying  character that should ensure girls will be healthy, beautiful and stay young. Contact with willow tree wand is supposed to symbolically transmit its natural power to girls, so they are flexible, young, full of life and fertile.

What was shown in the video was the really old tradition that is nowadays practiced mostly by members of folklore groups in smaller villages. Guys, wearing traditional clothes are visiting girls from same group or real good friends. Everyone is aware of the tradition, part of which is the play-acting of the girl that makes the whole experience “vivid.”

This tradition, however, still does have its firm place in modern Slovakia. It is a time when fathers and sons leave in the morning to go visit close friends and families while mothers and daughters stay home to welcome other male friends and family members. Splashing water and whipping have a place, however it is definitely not so “brutal” as the very traditional scene shown in the video. Overall, it is tough to imagine that anyone would splash several buckets of water indoor apartment. Splashing and whipping is usually matter of seconds. Afterwards, guys are invited inside for a drink and refreshment while kids are rewarded with candies and pocket money. An  important part of the tradition is that guys are also rewarded with the gift of a ribbon being tied to their whips and may also be given painted Easter eggs. During old times when a girl gifted a ribbon to a boy, it mean she took an interest in him, often in a romantic way. Nowadays ribbons are gifted away more loosely.

This tradition is greatly appreciated by kids, both boys and girls who, according to my experience, really do have fun.

I do not agree with this tradition being called humiliating. I know people who do not like it and therefore decide not to follow it. In the worst case scenario there is still the option of not opening the door. I can ensure everyone reading this that nobody will break inside somebody else’s residence and make them follow this tradition by force. Also please note, as I mentioned in the beginning, only good friends and family members visit each other nowadays, so it also cannot happen that random girl walking down the alley is attacked by “water thugs”.

I can imagine this tradition is hard to understand in its nature without experiencing it with close male and especially female friends, but trust me, it is not here to demonstrate male’s dominance over innocent women. I am sure many Slovaks could view American tradition of Halloween to be stressful and humiliating. They can call Halloween barbaric, disgusting and dishonoring and see nothing funny about scaring the hell out of innocent victims who may suffer heart attacks or to develop psychological issues.  I do not view Halloween like this, I am just saying someone who does not know the whole tradition could view it like this.

With that much appreciated explanation from Maroš S., let’s move on to watch a few videos of footage from the šibačka.

Familial Approval
This next video was sent to me last week by Fred G. with the following note attached “At the very beginning, there is a woman at an upstairs window. You might have to pause to catch it…what I think to be an adult woman (a mother?) at an upstairs window. The duration of that scene is but a second or two and I did not go back to look at it a second time. But it registered to me that this was indicative of adult (societal) approval of the tradition.”

This note especially caught my eye, because I realized that I was taking for granted this aspect of the tradition despite the fact that many readers of these pages have likely not participated in this traditions.

In Slovakia female beauty is held at a high standard and considered important.  Female beauty is regularly pointed out with great pride by people of both genders, young and old with phrases like: “Slovak women are very pretty - aren’t they?”

When a person has a daughter or granddaughter he or she will regularly gush about her beauty, even with her in earshot.  Along the same vein, having a daughter get visited during šibačka shows positive signs, but mainly that she’s popular and that she’s pretty.

And just like it might be fun to watch a daughter play basketball competitively or cheerlead, it might be fun to see how she handles herself in this trying situation – will she be firm, yet polite?  Will she smile through the process?  The parent will not always be there and this is a moment for the mother or father to see what a good daughter they’ve raised and to evaluate the fitness of the men who have paid their daughter a visit.

Like any properly raised Slovak, she will invite these guests in for refreshments – some appetizers, some cakes, some homemade alcohol, beer, or Kofola, some Easter eggs, and maybe she’ll even tie a bow on their whips or send them away with a gift that she made herself.

Of course the mother will watch, but will not want to appear too overbearing, so she will likely only watch for a second.  She wants to see the daughter she raised behave as good as she raised her to be even though the circumstances may be surprising and out of her control.  ”Courage is grace under pressure,” Hemingway wrote.  No guns are blazing during the šibačka, but this is one of these moments that tests a girl’s mettle.

This one’s entitled “Martina.” The guy with the big whip didn’t have to whip her so much. Is Martina having fun? I don’t know. This video too might make you cringe.

Allan Stevo writes on Slovak culture at www.52inSk.com.  He is from Chicago and spends most of his time travelling Europe and writing.  You can find more of his writing at www.AllanStevo.com.  If you enjoyed this post, please use the buttons below to like it on Facebook or to share it with your friends by email.  You can sign up for emails on Slovak culture from 52 Weeks in Slovakia by clicking here.

The lead photo comes from this Hungarian Roman Catholic website.

Anti-Šibačka

April 14, 2012

Allan Stevo

I once hated the šibačka.  It is, after all, the ceremonial whipping of women by men.  Need I say more? Once I challenged myself, by bring myself out of my comfort zone to better understand the šibačka, I learned to see the šibačka from a different perspective.  There are aspects of it I dislike, but unlike many non-Slovaks, and some Slovaks, I can make sense of the tradition and have found many reasons to like it.  Below are some of the reasons I have heard people dislike the šibačka.

1. Superficiality
On its surface, and only on its surface, the whipping ceremony is an abuse of women.  If you can’t get beyond the possibility that it isn’t an abuse of women, then you aren’t going to be able to interact with the tradition enough to understand what is happening.

2. Unwillingness to Challenge Themselves
The Hinlicky Rule is often cited by me.  It encourages one to challenge opinions they intend to argue in favor of, especially when they hold a belief that they understand to be an unimpeachable and obvious conclusion. Again, I was once uncomfortable with the šibačka.  It sounded barbaric.  When I challenged myself, I started to see a different side.

3. Bad Experiences
Bad experiences with a situation lead to bad reactions to a situation.  Does hot coffee burn you or does spilling hot coffee burn you?  Do guns kill people or do people using the guns kill people?  Does this tradition harm a person or does misuse of the tradition harm a person?  Some young ladies that I taught six years back hated the šibačka because they have had such bad experiences with it.  Some mother daughter pairs spend Easter Monday locked up safely in a room or apartment, or they make sure that they are away from town.  This is terrorizing, no doubt about it, which brings me to a related point.

4. Real Jerks Misuse this Tradition
There are jerks in Slovakia who misuse the tradition.  Any tradition, any situation can be misused by a jerk.  That’s the kind of person who can’t “feel” the unspoken agreements in a situation.  When McDonald’s offers free ketchup, you don’t take home free ketchup to use for the next three months.  Only a jerk would do that.  Yeah, the ketchup is free, but you just don’t do that.  There will always be a jerk who can abuse a situation.  Wouldn’t that make the jerk to blame, not the tradition?  When I see a jerk, I call that jerk out.  I would like more people to join me in calling jerks out.  Maybe the tradition is to blame, but I think it works for so many that it does not seem to be the case.  Those who don’t want to participate in the tradition generally don’t.

5. Unfamiliarity with Šibačka
I used to love gun control.  I thought people really shouldn’t own guns.  I lived in Chicago where it was illegal for anyone to own a gun in their home and I thought that was A-OK, since I had no interest in owning a gun in my home.  One day, a friend of mine from Chicago took me out to his farm and taught me to shoot.  Over the course of some 6 months, I gradually started to understand a perspective that I would not have had access to any other way.  I believe I thoroughly understand the pro-gun control side and the 100% no regulation of guns side and many sides in between.  Because of this understanding of the situation and the multiple perspectives, whether or not I personally want to own a gun, I can’t justify gun control the way I used to.  This level of understanding would have been impossible had I not experienced that other perspective.  Until you are in the middle of the šibačka, I think it is impossible to experience this other side.  Many who read this will be in favor of illegalizing gun ownership and for all I know might also be in favor of illegalizing the šibačka.  If we want to be honest with ourselves, it’s important to understand that there can be some good reasons why a person disagrees with us on an issue and that we are usually benefitted by learning as much as we can about that other person’s perspective before we open our mouths on that issue.  And yes, that might even mean joining your intellectual opponent as he goes whipping and watering and joining your intellectual opponent as he goes and shoots guns at paper targets posted in front of his berm on his farm in the middle of nowhere.

6. Talking to Meat-Heads
Slovakia is mired in this sometimes very uncomfortable set of morals that boils down to “might makes right.”

If I spent a year interviewing 1,000 meat-headed idiots from Petržalka about šibačka, I would probably get 800 of them chuckling at me and saying some idiotic thing like “Yes, but it is good because man is more powerful” or “We bring many friends so they cannot stop us.” Or “Their father’s even help us.”

You see, in all of these situations, the reason for why šibačka is good boils down to “because we can.”  Talking to an idiot about šibačka may leave you understanding that šibačka is the equivalent of rape, since their logic of  “if nothing can stop us, then it is good to do” could be used to justify rape, šibačka, and a slew of other heinous behaviors.

Just because I agree with some meat-heads about the continuation of the tradition, does not mean I agree with their logic on the tradition.  At the same time, I don’t really blame them for not spending years researching the issue and being able to craft a more eloquent defense of it.  Lots of people just have better things to do with their time.  On the other hand, this is exactly the kind of article that I am grateful to be able to write.  It speaks to looking beyond what is comfortable.

If I had not had a strong resolve, I would have been turned off by the numerous meat-heads who advocate in favor of whipping women on Easter Monday.  I mean, just looking at some of these thick-skulled fellows is enough to have a distaste for them before they’ve even spoken a word.  I understand how some people might confuse a distaste for meat-heads with a distaste for things that meat-heads like.

Generally, those 800 meatheads from Petržalka are not the ones who go out and even participate in šibačka.  First of all, it’s not that popular of a tradition, and secondly, in an increasingly urbanizing Slovakia, it increasingly takes a considerable amount of planning to organize such an Easter Monday whipping ceremony.  When I find that a person (such as one of these meat-heads) has never participated in šibačka, I generally disregard anything they have said on the topic, whether they agree or disagree with me.  If one hasn’t participated in something he’s lecturing me on, then it’s not likely that he’ll have anything to say that I couldn’t just read in a book.

7. Confusing Diversity With Comfort
It’s cool now to be gay.  It’s cool to be black.  It’s cool to be a woman. It’s not cool to be a Slovak guy in a village whipping women who are willing participants in the process.  Diversity is only acceptable to some if it is comfortable.  Only cool groups of people get to be diverse.  If diversity and tolerance are among a person’s personal goals, then tolerance for the Slovak tradition of šibačka should be included as part of that.

8. Sensitivity to Domestic Abuse
Physical violence in the home (something that both men and women can be guilty of) can have disastrous consequences for all involved.  I fault no one for being sensitive to domestic abuse.  The šibačka looks a lot like domestic abuse and looks a lot like an attack on a particular woman in addition to feeling like an attack on women in general. I have repeatedly, many, many times seen and heard of the šibačka taking place in good spirit and in a way that does no harm.  My experience has been that the ritual is not misogynistic and is not abusive.  In fact, the whipping ceremony can have such a festive atmosphere around it for all involved that the one time I neglected to water a loved one was in the midst of a fight.  Only in good spirits would I want to engage in this ritual.  If a female friend is being mean to me, then I will not pay her a visit on Easter Monday, just as I would not play Scrabble with her, ask her out to a trivia night at our favorite café, or offer my shoulders in a chicken fight with friends at the local pool, because, like the Olympics friendly games are best enjoyed when a spirit of friendship prevails.  When the šibačka becomes abusive (and it does), it is the exception to the rule rather than the rule.

9. The Non-Aggression Principle
The non-aggression principle is essentially – do not harm a person who has not harmed you.  This principle is very important to me.  Ultimately, I believe that what happens in the šibačka is a game and that participants follow the rules.  There are steps to the ritual.  It is not an example of one party harming another.  If one is looking at times where one is abused by another in culturally acceptable fashion, contact sports are much more deserving of criticism than this šibačka.  However, I think those too fall under that category of not being an attempt to harm, but being a game in which rules are followed.

10. I Feel Like I’m Supposed to Dislike It
The “shoulds” that occupy our mind can be hard to negotiate.  Where do these shoulds come from?  Are they whispered to us as we sleep? Do they simply soak into our unconscious mind through osmosis from the culture around us that is so filled with shoulds? Are they genuine words of concern from our conscience?  Why do so many American males and females of my age simply feel like we should be opposed to šibačka?  I know that I have many times been steered wrong by the feeling “I should not like that.”  I too have been steered in the right direction by the shoulds.  Even when the shoulds are right, it’s usually not enough to unquestioningly follow them.  I want to understand them better.  It wouldn’t be very decent of me to dismiss something that seems to work for people in another culture by saying “It just feels wrong.  It just feels wrong what they’re doing, so they shouldn’t do it.”

11. Needing to Calm Down
Some people are tight strung, ready to make a mountain out of a molehill.  These are exactly the kind of people who need to spend a few hours getting chased around by a spry son, nephew, neighbor, suitor, husband, or who need to spend a few hours chasing someone around.  It enlivens the spirit.  It gets the blood flowing.  It lets a person release some steam.  It relaxes a person.  Folk traditions often have purposes to them that are entirely contrary to the stated goals – maybe going out with some friends a few times a year isn’t bad if you work hard, live in a village, and have few other ways to blow off steam.  That’s what happens for some on šibačka.  Maybe having visitors over to your house is fun. For mothers and fathers alike, maybe watching them chase your beautiful daughters around is fun.  Maybe it’s nice to entertain.  Some people do that.  Maybe it’s nice to be silly once in a while to behave stupid and childish whether you are 84, 54, 24 or 4.  Šibačka is a time of revelry.  It’s arguably a lot more wholesome than the demonic celebration of Halloween, the sexually dehumanizing celebration of Mardi Gras, or the consumeristic commingling of Christian salvation and lots and lots of presents in late December.  It’s much less violent than any contact sport.  Yeah, I could point those things out as really lousy things to have exist in a culture, but then I too would be responsible for needing to calm down.  Sometimes we just need to calm down and accept a little levity in life.  These opportunities for levity make us smile, give us some release, and give us stories to tell with friends and family the next day or to our grandkids when we’re 80.

More Important Than Just A Slovak Holiday
Now, while I write in these pages this week about a mere whipping ceremony done by a minority of the people in some country that few people anywhere in the world care about, what I am writing here about is much more important, vitally important, maybe the most important thing I could be writing about at this moment.  Because, if you can’t look at Slovakia and give this almost entirely innocent ceremony a chance, then you are not likely to be able to hold any two opposing thoughts in your head at one time.  This is an important step to being honest in a debate – entertaining views that challenge your own views, even if that ultimately means you might lose face, might bring yourself out of your comfort zone, or might even end up finding truth in an opinion that you’ve long found to be disgusting.  As our world becomes more educated, we become more set in our beliefs, certain that we are right.  This is an established consequence that comes with education – people being more set in their beliefs and more interested in only finding information that agrees with their preconceived notions, known to some as “confirmation bias” or even the “Semmelweis reflex.”  That trend further exemplifies the importance of taking a ritual like this into consideration though it may be outside of your comfort zone.

With that, we return to where much of this website often returns – to the Hinlicky Rule.  Step out of your own culture and into another and you often enough are going to be confronted with some version of the Hinlicky Rule.  The šibačka is a simple example of how much Slovaks have to offer other cultures about looking below the surface, or at least it had that to teach this American.

I recognize that there are important sentiments wrapped up in some of these attacks of the šibačka mentioned above.  I recognize that these sentiments can block a person from looking further at the tradition.  I would like to invite you to recognize if any of these are stopping you from appreciating this tradition and to try to get beyond that.

If you can’t get beyond that, I won’t fault you, because I understand that gut reactions are important.  I might argue with you though for not being able to get beyond those gut reactions and for not being able to have a debate that goes beyond mere feelings, especially if you are vocally opposed to the šibačka instead of quietly observing.  These are some common reasons that I’ve seen people speak against šibačka. If you have a moment, I’d like to hear from you about these and others you’ve seen.

Are there other reasons you know of people hating the šibačka?  Are there other reasons that you don’t like the šibačka? Does anything written here help to soften your heart to this tradition?

Allan Stevo writes on Slovak culture at www.52inSk.com.  He is from Chicago and spends most of his time travelling Europe and writing.  You can find more of his writing at www.AllanStevo.com.  If you enjoyed this post, please use the buttons below to like it on Facebook or to share it with your friends by email.  You can sign up for emails on Slovak culture from 52 Weeks in Slovakia by clicking here.

The lead photo is from Barbora at the no longer active blog “The Heart of the Matter” who justifiably feels conflicted about the šibačka.

Translating Šibačka

April 14, 2012

Allan Stevo

It’s common that I will encounter the question “How do you say šibačka in English?”  I have yet to conclusively use a set translation for my purposes.  While English is effective at borrowing many foreign loan words, I feel like the word šibačka, as cool as it is, might not find a home in the English.  Šibačka needs a translation to make the tradition easier to talk about outside of Slovak with those unfamiliar with the practice of šibačka and the term.  Perhaps “whipping ritual” or “whipping ceremony” conveys the point.  I would argue that šibačka is ceremonious and follows some set patterns and because of that, either word might be appropriate.

1. The appearance of the whipper
2. the noticing of the whip/bucket
3. the reaction (exaggeration seems to be valued at this stage)
4. the struggle
5. the recovery and transition (which may include changing clothes and/or light banter between the whipper and whippee)
6. the invitation to the whipper to enter the home extended by a parent, family member, or the whippee herself
7. the socializing and giving of gifts
8. the farewell

Ceremony is defined by Merriam-Webster as:

“1. a formal act or series of acts prescribed by ritual, protocol, or convention <the marriage ceremony>”

The other option that I considered was ritual, but when I typed “ritual” into the web browser I was using, it completed the phrase for me and suggested the following options in this order:  ritual suicide, ritual purification, ritual magic, ritual murder, ritualism, ritual sacrifice, ritual entertainment, ritual washing in Judaism, and ritual burial.  Most of these words carry an ominous sound to them.

Ritual is defined by Merriam-Webster as:

” a : ritual observance; specifically : a system of rites

b : a ceremonial act or action

c : an act or series of acts regularly repeated in a set precise manner”

These two words being similar, I prefer the sound of “whipping ceremony” over “whipping ritual.”  One sounds appropriate, the other sounds less distinguished, so perhaps those who see value in the šibačka (like me) might go about calling it “the whipping ceremony” to convey positive feelings and those who see no value in the šibačka and find it repulsing might go about calling it “the whipping ritual” to convey that ominous tone. I’m going to try out the term “whipping ceremony” or in more formal situations “The Easter Monday Whipping Ceremony” as the English equivalent of šibačka to see how it feels.

Might any good souls out there have other suggestions to offer in this matter of how to translate the word šibačka?

Allan Stevo writes on Slovak culture at www.52inSk.com.  He is from Chicago and spends most of his time travelling Europe and writing.  You can find more of his writing at www.AllanStevo.com.  If you enjoyed this post, please use the buttons below to like it on Facebook or to share it with your friends by email.  You can sign up for emails on Slovak culture from 52 Weeks in Slovakia by clicking here.

The painting leading this article is from the website of Ondro Mihal.

SME

April 13, 2012

Allan Stevo

Good news from Slovakia.  The most widely circulated Slovak daily newspaper – SME - contacted me looking to pick up the March 30 piece from 52 Weeks in Slovakia “Is Slovakia Stuck in the 1950s?”  From what I understand, the piece caught their attention for being 1. written in English 2. long, and 3. heavily circulated among Slovaks on the internet.  An abridged and translated version of the article should run in this Saturday’s edition of SME and will appear online as well.

Update: The article can be found here in Slovak on the sme.sk site under the title “Uviazlo Slovensko v 50. rokoch?”  It will be behind the Piano paywall for the first 24 hours.

Update II: Here’s a photo of the article from J. Michalco.

Update III: SME is not the top circulating Slovak newspaper.  I forgot about the tabloids!  Two of them are higher circulating than SME according to this website, which says that based on audited results, two tabloids have higher circulation than SME.   Thank you to Matus B. and Miro for pointing this out to me.

Allan Stevo writes on Slovak culture at www.52inSk.com.  He is from Chicago and spends most of his time travelling Europe and writing.  You can find more of his writing at www.AllanStevo.com.  If you enjoyed this post, please use the buttons below to like it on Facebook or to share it with your friends by email.  You can sign up for emails on Slovak culture from 52 Weeks in Slovakia by clicking here.

Whips

April 8, 2012

Allan Stevo

For some, part of the Slovak Easter Monday celebration includes whipping or “watering” members of the fairer sex.

Most females seek to avoid such whippings.  Some females welcome them for a variety of reasons that I will not go in depth about at this time, but which range from good blessings of health and beauty to simply socializing with friends and family.

Some day (not today) I will sit down and write more about my feelings of the Easter Monday tradition.  It’s a topic I’ve been writing about for more than a year, but that I have not yet finished writing about.  There is much behind this celebration that is not initially apparent.   Once a tradition I considered barbaric, I dug more deeply and started to learn to see why the tradition is in fact something very special, something even under-appreciated by many Slovaks.

As for now, I will simply wish you a Happy Easter and hope that if you are female, you keep an eye out for whips on Monday – so that you can either run from the bearer of the whip or run towards him (depending on your feelings about this tradition).  For those of you who have never been chased by a male carrying a whip as you scream at the top of your lungs, I will include a few photos that you may know what to look for.  Happy Easter.

Whips being sold at Tesco in Bratislava's city center, alongside some Easter decorations.

More whips being sold at Tesco. Whips have ribbons at the top which are decorative, but which can also be used to help keep the braid of the whip tied tight.

Three sizes of whips being sold by a vendor at Mileticka.

Whips and flowers on sale at Mileticova. Some of these whips stand taller than a grown adult's waist.

This vendor at Mileticova is selling a whip that is as long as she is tall.

A basket full of handmade whips at Mileticova.

Allan Stevo writes on Slovak culture at www.52inSk.com.  He is from Chicago and spends most of his time travelling Europe and writing.  You can find more of his writing at www.AllanStevo.com.  If you enjoyed this post, please use the buttons below to like it on Facebook or to share it with your friends by email.  You can sign up for emails on Slovak culture from 52 Weeks in Slovakia by clicking here.

Hrudka

April 8, 2012

Allan Stevo

For years I heard about the Eastern Slovak Easter tradition of hrudka.  I heard much about it, but I could never get anyone to make it for me out of season.  ”Come visit around Easter time” was always the answer.  Sure enough, when I came to visit there was always some excuse for why the hrudka was inacessible – it had all been eaten, the recipe didn’t turn out right, we didn’t make it this year, I’ve come too early, I’ve come too late.

Over time I would come to wonder if such a thing as hrudka even existed, because for 8 long years I tried to taste hrudka but had no luck.

Numerous writers have written on the topic of longing.  ”Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” goes a popular English folk phrase.  ”Hunger is the best sauce” wrote Cervantes.  The more I couldn’t have hrudka, the more I wanted hrudka.  Then finally, last Easter, a professor from the East of Slovakia decided to take pity on this desperate American and to teach him the recipe for the lowly hrudka.  It was no doubt a joke that something so simple and something so commonplace in her family had become something that a person would work so hard to taste. And I finally tasted it.

This recipe has appeared on 52 Weeks in Slovakia before, but it took so much effort to get someone to teach me to make it that I figured it was worth posting once more.

Here’s a link to the original article on the elusive hrudka, complete with photos and a recipe.

Allan Stevo writes on Slovak culture at www.52inSk.com.  He is from Chicago and spends most of his time travelling Europe and writing.  You can find more of his writing at www.AllanStevo.com.  If you enjoyed this post, please use the buttons below to like it on Facebook or to share it with your friends by email.  You can sign up for emails on Slovak culture from 52 Weeks in Slovakia by clicking here.