A paper at a 2002 conference in Turku, Finland, quotes an interesting report from 1937:
There was something they called Good Friday whipping. Crazy youngsters in disguise with masks and ugly clothes went around the whole neighbourhood in big groups…
They went into every house and everybody, especially young women, were supposed to get whipped with a big birch rod or with twigs. Some were satisfied with beating over the fur rug on the bed. Others took it more thoroughly.
Old people told that one or the other who had an especially bad tongue got a spanking on their bare bottom. But otherwise this was usually done just for fun.
Girls, bent over fur rugs on beds to be birched thoroughly on their bare behinds? Sure beats handing over chocolate eggs as an Easter tradition!
Well, *I* thought it was an *interesting* report!
Abel: Mmmmm…..Haigh’s marzipan chocolate or a spanking, a spanking or Haigh’s marzipan chocolate….decisions, decisions……any chance we could have a bit of both???….perhaps both at the same time….now that could be interesting…..
Well, that’s the Norwegians on Good Friday, and the Czechs, Slovaks and Hungarians on Easter Monday. There must be more around – there’s surely quite a cultural leap from Central Europe to Scandanavia – perhaps these are just the last survivors of a much broader older custom.
Perhaps we should revive it.
When being berated by a young woman, just whisper “I’ll remember this come Good Friday” in her ear as you leave.
It’ll give you both something to look forward to.