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Subscribe to RSSJonathan Woods writes: Each year around Easter, a handful of Hungarians take part in a tradition dating back to 2nd century AD. Donning traditional garb, boys and girls take to the streets for what they call the "watering of the girls."
It's a fertility ritual from a pre-Christian time in Hungarian tribes, where boys throw buckets of water of young girls running past them.
Attila Kisbenedek / AFP - Getty Images
School girls in traditional clothes of the 'Matyo' minority prepare for traditional Easter celebrations on April 21.
Attila Kisbenedek / AFP - Getty Images
Local school girls, wearing the traditional clothes of the 'Matyo' minority, react as boys throw water on them east of Budapest on Thursday, April 21. Locals from northeast Hungary celebrate Easter with the traditional "watering of the girls," a fertility ritual rooted in Hungary's tribal pre-Christian past, going as far back as the second century AD.
Bela Szandelszky / AP
A bucket of water is poured onto a Matyo minority girl dressed in traditional clothing in Mezokovesd, central Hungary on April 21.
Attila Kisbenedek / AFP - Getty Images
Boys throw water on girls in Mezokovesd, east of Budapest, Hungary, on April 21.
In response to a comment below from Cassandra we took time to dig up some additional information on the Matyo people.
The most in-depth information we found was via a Hungarian folk art site.
Although the "watering of the girls" celebrations don't appear to be confined to one geographic region, The Matyo are said to be located in Northern Hungary in the settlements of Mezökövesd, and two smaller villages, Szentistván and Tard.
Folk Art Hungary says "The Matyo area is united and distinguished from the other settlements of the region by the colourful costumes and famous folklore art... Their lives are tightly interwoven with tradition... Mezökövesd earned its nationwide reputation based on its unique costumes and free-hand embroidery style."
Bela Szandelszky / AP
Matyo minority boys dressed in traditional clothing prepare for a Hungarian Easter tradition, when boys pour buckets of water on girls in Mezokovesd, central Hungary.
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Just watching the ritual ... it made me smile,unpopular questions played at the back of my mind..
What if i am one of those girls? how do i act or what's the real feeling... i just can't help but smile...
As a girl this ritual is interesting and exciting. The 'watering' part is not so good, but in modern version of this tradition they pour some drops of perfume on you (which means that you very soon start to smell horrible because of different perfumes, so many girls rafter choose watering)
This watering thing has a some kind of sexual relation. Of course as young girl you don't feel or understand that and because all your friends, relatives and neighbours come, you see this tradition as a friend and family gathering. But when girls get older it is very exciting that (often handsome) boys appear and you can invite them to your house. You make cake (or help your mother), paint Easter eggs (which you give in exchange for watering) and you are very proud if the preferred boy likes them.
Part of this tradition is the watering-poem, small funny poem in which boys ask for permission from girls to pour water on them.
This Easter tradition still lives in smaller villages but in cities lost their meaning and is even difficult for boys to visit the girls.
Never doubt it, the libtards will smear and and ridicule anything they deem beneath their lofty positions of arbitors of what is right and wrong.
I think it's quaint, and hearkens back to a simpler time. Good for them.
If there is a boy who wouldn't enjoy throwing water on a girl without getting into trouble I'd like to know who it is.