Holy Wednesday - Customs

Customs

  • Czech Republic: the day is traditionally called Ugly Wednesday, Soot-Sweeping Wednesday or Black Wednesday, because chimneys used to be swept on this day, to be clean for Easter.
  • Malta: this day is known as L-Erbgħa tat-Tnieber (Drums' Wednesday), in the past children went to the parish church and drummed on the chairs to make the sound of thunderstorms, as their version of the "strepitus" sound at Tenebrae.
  • Scandinavia: this day is known as Dymmelonsdagen. A dymbil is a piece of wood. Historically, the metal clapper of the church bells were replaced by these dymbils on Holy Wednesday, to make a duller sound; that is the day's namesake. The day is sometimes confused with Ash Wednesday, and to the public, the days have started to apply to one another.

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Famous quotes containing the word customs:

    “If someone were to put a proposition before men bidding them choose, after examination, the best customs in the world, each nation would certainly select its own.”
    —Herodotus (c. 484–424 B.C.)

    “He is a barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe and island are the laws of nature.”
    —George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)

    “Thus far women have been the mere echoes of men. Our laws and constitutions, our creeds and codes, and the customs of social life are all of masculine origin. The true woman is as yet a dream of the future. A just government, a humane religion, a pure social life await her coming.”
    —Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815–1902)