Christmas passed just a few weeks ago and my mother started to panic, along with 51 percent of the Slovak female population. This might seem strange to somebody who does not know our traditions. The end of February is the time of year when people are getting ready for one of the most important holidays in Catholic tradition, Easter Holiday. In fact, most of the Slovak population practices Roman Catholicism and its holidays are strongly connected with traditions, especially in the small towns and villages. My family and I happened to live in one. The very first step in a long process of preparations for Easter starts about two months before the actual holiday. My father and his two faithful friends kill a pig in our backyard. This might seem cruel but this “Easter murder” is part of a traditional Easter meal and supplies us with meat, bacon and sausages for several months. My mother gets busy the following month. As an owner of a little convenience store, her main responsibility is to order enough food supplies for the population of fifteen hundred people settled in our village. First of all she looks through the magazines with the topics of upcoming holidays and writes down the best recepies. Based on their ingredients, she orders the food that is required to prepare them. Experience taught her to do this long ago. Not surprisingly, many of these often unusual items will be sold out within a few weeks. Orders of chocolate eggs, rabbits and other animals are equally important. The second step in her business Easter preparation is to decorate the store. Since she is the only employee of her shop, and my brother is the only one of the three children still living at home, this task must be done by the two of them. Meanwhile, the teachers in the elementary and high schools require their students to decorate school buildings and classes.
The most important time for all the women is the week before Easter Monday. Everyday they come home early from work to clean their houses. First of all they would clean the attics of their houses. Unwanted articles of clothes, furniture, and old magazines often stored there for years, would go to the charities or would get burned in the back part of the garden. In my family, this has always been a task for my brother. Mother would then proceed to clean the windows of the entire house, which can take more than two days. Afterwards, everybody does their part in vacuuming, dusting, polishing and organizing.