Easter is known to be one of the most heartfelt feasts, thanks to its deeply Christian soul but also for its unequivocally pagan implications, although joyful and welcome to young and old.
As we await the gifts under the tree on the occasion of Christmas, for the day of the Resurrection of Christ they are given chocolate eggs and many other delicacies.
But we are sure that it is the same in the rest of the world.
What are the Easter Traditions in the world
? Let’s find out!
Italy
Photo by Emiliovillegas24. Let’s start with our country. Here the crucial days are 4, with Thursday and Good Friday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday . On the first day the tombs are celebrated , on the second day mourning is observed and on Saturday, at midnight, the bells ring in celebration to announce the resurrection. On Easter morning there are many processions that recall the joyful meeting between Jesus and the Madonna , and in the churches as well as in the houses olive branches are collected.
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The main desserts are Colomba and chocolate eggs .
Germany
Here, tradition dictates that only green foods are eaten on Holy Thursday. During Holy Week, houses and gardens are decorated with decorated eggs, twigs, etc.
Here too the eggs are the masters, but these after being painted are inserted inside the Easter Bunny (Osterhase), which is hidden for a treasure hunt for children on Sunday.
The lunch is based on lamb .
Sweden
Photo by Eleonora Gianinetto. Here she usually adorns the birch twigs with painted eggs and feathers. It seems that these decorated twigs can accelerate the arrival of spring. At the table you can not miss the eggs, provided they are very colorful, to be distributed to the little ones at the end of the meal.
In Swedenthe boys and girls for Easter dress up as steghe , and do a sort of “trick or treat” carrying Easter postcards from door to door, obtaining sweets or coins in exchange. This is because according to the Swedish tradition, in addition to the Christian resurrection, this day also symbolizes the departure of the witches towards the Blue Mountain .
The typical dessert and the Chocolate Rabbit .
Finland
Photo by Anneli Salo. Here, more than a Christian meaning, a pagan significance is attributed to the feast . And I would like to see well, in a country where there is snow one day and one day as well, the return of Springdeserves big celebrations! Who steal the scene from the risen Christ, uniting the Christian with the pagan. Here, too, you are decorated with birch branches and paper flowers , and even here you dress up as witches collecting sweet door by door. Also here in Finland on Sunday the “Kokko” are lit, large bonfires that repel witches and magical inhabitants of the woods.
Typical Easter foods are Pasha, a pudding made with ricotta, cream, sugar, butter and eggs (boom!), And Mammi , a rye pudding.
Denmark
Source: wikimedia commons. On Easter day the Danes try their hand at a treasure hunt : the eggs are hidden by the Rabbits (the adults), and whoever finds more, wins an extra one!
For adults, the treasure and instead the beer , or rather the Paskebryg, a special version produced only in this period.
Another curiosity: at Easter everything is yellow ! Table cloth, dresses, decorations, even candles!
Spain
It will be for its history and ultra-Catholic tradition, but here this festival is very heartfelt, and in all regions re-enactments and processions are organized with great fanfare that last throughout the Holy Week. Hooded penitents (Nazarenos) in the streets, music, palm trees hang from the windows against the evil ones: a true melting pot of traditions.
SEE ALSO : WHERE TO GO FOR EASTER IN EUROPE
Latypical cake is called Mona , but this too is decorated with chocolate eggs.
Israel
Here the celebrations are twofold: there is in fact the Christian and the Jewish holiday , the Passah. In Holy Week the Via Crucis is retraced , and the Thursday before Easter commemorates the exodus of the Jews and the liberation from slavery in Egypt.
SEE ALSO : THE PLACES WHERE JESUS LIVED
Romania
During the midnight mass the end of Lent is celebrated always with painted eggs, which are broken by banging them against each other while repeating a chorus of back and forth: Hristos a Inviat! (Christ is risen) and Adevarat a Inviat! (Truly he is risen!).
Here too the houses are decorated, the new party clothes are worn , and the children receive painted eggs. The menu of the party is based on ciorba (a sour soup), baked lamb and the “drob” cake, made with lamb liver and parsley.
Russia
In the land of Vodka it is customary to celebrate the day of the Resurrection with a family picnic , but with rather macabre connotations … on the grave of a relative. The menu, for those who manage to swallow it, is based on meat, fish and mushrooms. The centerpiece of the festival is the city of Sagorsk , where the Pope of Russia resides , with a procession around the Cathedral.
Here too the hard-boiled eggs are colored and the dessert of the party is the Kulitch, a panettone with sweet ricotta.
England
Photo by Garry Knight. Easter in England has very altruistic traditions, in full “welfare” style . In fact , much attention is paid to the most needy , with offers of food, help for the elderly and washing of the feet.
Even more carefree moments, with the ” descent of the eggs ” and the ” treasure hunt“: the first consists in rolling colored eggs from the hills of the parks, the second in the classic treasure hunt, which are the eggs, by children, among the bushes and flowerbeds of the parks.
The typical sweets are the” Hot Crosses. Buns “, brioche with cinnamon and raisins with a cross of icing.
Mexico
Traditionally a very religious country, and the traditions reflect this aspect. representations of the Passion of Christ , and on Saturday the Pyre of Judas is staged , where a cardboard figure is set on fire
.the eggs are colored and then break on the heads of friends . It is a sign of good wishes.
And then Easter Monday… well, it’s almost summer there, so everyone on the beach !
Greece
Photo by ΙΣΧΣΝΙΚΑ-888. Here the rites are Greek Orthodox. And in fact there is no correspondence in the calendar, generally here the celebrations begin already on the Monday before Lent with the flight of kites.
On Good Friday they fast, on Saturday at midnight the “pope” announces the resurrection and the faithful light a candle which they will then take home.
The typical menu is made up of sweets and Easter bread, of course the inevitable colored eggs, a lamb soup, the “Maghiritsa” and the “kokoretsi”, grilled entrails very similar to the Palermo stigghiole.
United States
Photo by Virginia State Parks staff. All in all in line with the rest of the world, even here Easter is full of colored eggs and the joy of children. Extraordinary the Egg Roll event , in which children are invited to enter the White House lawn to roll their eggs in a speed race!
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There is no shortage of parades, including the most famous in New York on Fifth Avenue .
