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To: Les H who wrote (9322)	3/27/1999 9:19:00 PM
From: Haim R. Branisteanu	Respond to of 99985

*OT* Are we really understanding Eastern Europe or the Balkans??? telegraph.co.uk:80/et?ac=000387808654031&rtmo=lwokQkAt&atmo=99999999&pg=/et/99/3/28/wczec28.html According to Czech folklore, the beatings should be carried out using whips made from plaited weeping willow twigs. The roots of the event are lost in history, but it may be an attempt to "pass" fresh Spring sap from twigs to women, thus ensuring their fertility. The practice is even celebrated in song. In the words of one none-too-subtle verse sometimes chanted on Whipping Day: A woman who beats a man goes to Hell, but a man who beats a woman goes to Heaven A good hiding was reputed to confer good health and cheerfulness on young women for 12 months, after which the supposed benefits expire. Another beating was then required to renew the virtuous cycle. The practice was also believed to foster hard work. Until the Second World War, west Bohemian landowners beat their servants at Easter to discourage laziness. The tradition has proved remarkably enduring, despite the decline in churchgoing and almost 50 years of communism. But the excesses of some modern-day revellers have encouraged many Czech fathers to lock up their daughters for the day. Some go to elaborate lengths. According to Anastazie Kudrnova: "My father would drive my sister and I to our country cottage and keep us indoors all day. He used to hide the car behind bushes so no one knew we were there." And why China is not accused?? telegraph.co.uk:80/et?ac=000387808654031&rtmo=rEkD2tbX&atmo=99999999&pg=/et/99/3/28/wchi28.html In reality there is little freedom of expression, religious or otherwise. Monks and nuns face daily harassment. When I visited a nunnery near Lhasa, eight cars full of police and officials arrived. I heard later that they plan to send half the nuns back to their local communities. The policy of sending monks and nuns home is spreading dissent, even inside prisons. Last May, a visit to Drapchi prison in Lhasa by an EU delegation that included the British ambassador from Beijing triggered a violent demonstration by inmates. Over a dozen died and a month later, a further seven nuns, the suspected ring leaders of the protest, were found dead in their cells.