Hat tip to Ms. Betty from the Yahoo group Ladies Who Spank Men (registration and sign-in required) who sent us this piece on the decline in the Czech tradition of Easter fertility whippings and the resulting decline in the sale of pomlázkys, the traditional braided willow rods used for the whippings. We read from The Prague Post:

Tradition takes a whipping

Based on shopkeepers’ reports, there may not be much pomlázka whipping going on this year.

Or maybe it’s just the bad weather putting a damper on sales of the braided willow sticks, according to kiosk proprietors selling them at Easter markets in Old Town Square and Wenceslas Square. … The pagan fertility rite of whipping women to keep them fertile and beautiful on Easter Monday actually dates to the Middle Ages. Boys and men go from house to house reciting Easter rhymes to get treats such as chocolate, eggs and shots of slivovice. …