The “Birching”

 At midnight on 27^th of December, young man in Kászon gather in groups to walk around the village. They gather in the home of the “king” (leaders of the group), make their bundles of young shoots and visit every young girl in the village. In this night young girls are birched to wish them health and fertility in the new year.

 This costume has religious roots, commemorates the infanticide in Jerusalem in the time of Herod the Great, but this was the time when the young man returned from military service could get a picture of the single girls in the village. Despite the fact that nowadays military service is not obligatory, this costume is still alive.