Zvuky Prahy / Sounds of Prague

The rhythmical percussive sound of beating carpets, alongside creaking of hand pumps, has for a long time been on the list of endangered sonic urban species. On Sundays, beaters would go out, (or were persuaded to go) into yards to beath carpets or mattresses, hung on "beating frames" -- a wooden or iron structure which was a part of the house, just as a clothesline in the attics or a laundry in the cellar. Beating carpets is a rather noisy activity and it was conducted by means of a rattan stick or beater or knocker, a domestic weapon -- undoubtedly an archaic form of artistic handicraft making.