Easter Celebrations around the Globe
Have you ever wondered how different countries celebrate Easter?
For many of us, Easter inspires images of Easter Eggs, bunny rabbits and pastel colours, but across the globe, countries have unique practices and traditions to honour this holiday. All across the world, different countries and cultures have different ways of celebrating this popular Christian holiday. Here are some of the ways that different countries celebrate Easter!
Easter Egg Hunt
If you’re South African, you’ll probably recognise this tradition; the Easter Egg Hunt! In various different countries like the UK, USA, Germany and South Africa, participants celebrate Easter by hosting an Easter Egg Hunt, wherein children are tasked with finding decorated eggs which have been hidden. The eggs themselves can be either decorated hard-boiled chicken eggs, chocolate eggs or artificial eggs.
Water Fights in Poland
On Easter Monday in Poland, participants celebrate Easter by throwing one another with buckets of water! A water fight is a traditional practice in Poland, where participants aim to drench one another with buckets or with water guns.
Decorating Eggs in Eastern Europe
In Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Church communities, revellers dye chicken eggs red. The red colouring is said to represent the blood of Christ, while the hard outer shell of the eggs serving as a symbol of the tomb of Christ. In the Ukraine, people decorate hollow and hard-boiled eggs with intricate designs and patterns.
Giant Omelettes in France
In the French town of Haux, residents celebrate Easter by creating the worlds-biggest omelette! The gigantic omelette is made of 4,500 eggs and serves more than a thousand people.
Floral carpets in Guatamala
In Guatamala, inhabitants celebrate Easter by performing religious parades through the streets and decorating the roads with intricate carpet-like designs made of colourful sand. The Easter festival in the Guatamal town of Antigua is believed to be the largest Easter Festival in the world, hosting a week-long celebration with thousands of revellers each year.
Red eggs in Greece
Like many countries, Greece celebrates Easter by dying eggs. But whereas many countries celebrate Easter by colouring eggs many different shades, Greece is known for its red-dyed eggs. Red is seen as symbolic of the blood of Christ as well as the colour of life.
Eating Chocolate Eggs
These days, Easter is basically synonymous with Chocolate! Hollow chocolate eggs, chocolate eggs filled with more toffee or candy, plastic eggs filled with sweet treats abound during Easter, but in previous decades Easter was commonly celebrated with hard-boiled chicken eggs, which would often be decorated with dye or by painted illustrations.
Egg Rolling in the USA
In Washington DC, in the USA, the White House celebrates Easter by hosting an annual Egg Roll, wherein children race eggs down the South lawn of the White House. This celebration has been hosted for more than 130 years and likely originated during the Presidency of James Madison, when the tradition was started by his wife, Dolley Madison. Egg rolling is also practiced in other parts of the world, like Germany and the UK. Many believe that it was Germans who brought the practice to the United States, when many Germans immigrated to the “New World.”
Effigy burning in Mexico
Across many countries in Latin America, including Mexico, traditional Easter festivities include the burning of effigies and theatrical performances.
Kite flying in Bermuda
In the island territory of Bermuda, inhabitants celebrate Easter by flying kites on Good Friday. On Horseshoes Bay Beach, hundreds of participants gather to fly colourful kites.
Celebratory Fireworks in Italy
Italian towns celebrate with a bang-literally. In Florence, a wagon is carried through the streets before being set alight by a mechanical dove; thereby igniting the fireworks within. A religious leader, the archbishop, plays a central role in this tradition, as he is responsible for releasing the mechanical dove.
How do you celebrate Easter? What do you think of these Easter Traditions?