Easter Monday Traditions Pandemic Style

It is a traditional Hungarian Easter Monday fertility ceremony of men sprinkling women with water. This year, people were advised to avoid visiting other households.

The male members of the Marcal Dance and Folk Art Ensemble – wearing a mask due to the coronavirus epidemic and keeping proper distance – sprinkled a close relative of one of them, a girl from the same folk dance group, in Ménfőcsanak near Győr, NW Hungary this Easter Monday.

In Hungarian, the custom is most commonly known as 'locsolkodás' ('sprinkling'). Traditionally, young men splashed young women with water, though today, young women and girls are more likely to be sprayed with perfume. In return, women are expected to provide men with either painted eggs or pálinka.