The Easter Bell

A book I recently read described the Easter Bell tradition in France,being the curious sort I wanted to learn more about the French Twist on this holiday. It turns out that it makes as much,or possibly more sense than the Easter Bunny. In fairness to the Bunny,I think it was brought on board because of the legendary rabbit fertility,thus symbolizing rebirth? In France (also The Netherlands and Belgium) church bells are silent as a sign of mourning for one or more days before Easter. The story that explains the silence says the bells fly out of their steeples to go to Rome,and return on Easter morning bringing both colored eggs and chocolate shaped rabbits and eggs. While I was looking for information on the Easter Bell I also found out that several countries in Europe also have Easter Fires which are sometimes topped with a doll representing Judas Iscariot. In The Czech Republic and Slovakia a tradition of spanking is carried out on Easter Monday. In the morning men spank the women in order to keep their health and beauty during the next year. In some regions the women get their revenge the next day when they pour a bucket of cold water on the men. You European readers probably know all this,but I had never heard of it before and am guessing some other U.S. readers had also missed out on this tidbit. Sorry I didn't time it right for Easter!