Traditions of the Czech Republic: Happy Maundy / Green Thursday!

Hi everyone,

Today is the Maundy Thursday, the last Thursday before Easter, so I decided to provide you with a little insight into how we celebrate this day in my homeland, the Czech Republic.

Source: Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons)

First of all, we actually called this day Green Thursday (Zeleny Ctvrtek in the Czech language). The origin of the name dates back to medieval times when priests were wearing green vestments to the mass.

It might have also been inspired by the fact that on that day, people were supposed to eat only vegetables (mainly spinach, pea and other green vegetables).

There used to be many traditions observed on the Green Thursday in the past – housewives would clean the house before the sunrise, people wouldn’t borrow anything on that day as it was believed it would bring prosperity to them. It was also believed that washing yourself with fresh morning dew on the Green Thursday would bring you good health etc.

These days, however, few of these old traditions are observed in the Czech Republic. The most popular modern tradition is related – unsurprisingly – to beer. Most Czech breweries produce special batches of green beer on that day. Drinking several bright green beers might seem weird to some but it is definitely much easier to practice than cleaning your entire house before the sunrise :)

Source: Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons)