Hungary practices the ‘watering of the girls’ for Easter

A school girl in Kalocsa, Hungary is soaked by a bucket of water Thursday as part of a rehearsal for a south Hungary Easter tradition known as the “watering of the girls.” Tradition dictates that participating girls dress in traditional garb and take to the streets, where boys will throw buckets of water at them as they run past.

The ritual is rooted back to pre-Christian times in Hungary’s tribal past as far back as the second century AD, and is meant to promote fertility.

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