 Easter Around the World This year, Easter Sunday is March 23 (unless you’re Eastern Orthodox, in which case it’s April 27). You probably have your own Easter traditions, but did you ever wonder how people celebrate in other countries? Here are a few of the more interesting traditions:
However you choose to celebrate, enjoy the season – and the reason for it! |
Greece: On Good Friday all the flags in Greece are lowered to half-mast and a funeral service is held for Jesus. Saturday night everyone goes to church; at midnight the priest intones the paschal hymn, "Christ has risen from the dead and in so doing has trampled on death and to those in the tombs he has given life." Church bells ring in celebration, fireworks go off, ships sound their sirens and we’re told the celebration makes our 4th of July seem tame in comparison.
Bulgaria: Eggs are dyed red to symbolize the blood of Christ. People take their eggs to church to be blessed, then crack them on the wall of the church. Alternatively, they may tap their egg against someone else’s; the person whose egg cracks last is believed to be in for a year of good luck.
England: In what is possibly the strangest custom of all, the town of Hallatonengages in a traditional Hare Pie Scramble and Bottle Kicking. Apparently hundreds ofyears ago a woman was saved by a hare running acrossthe path of a bull on Easter Monday. As a token of her appreciation, she bequeathed a piece of land to the rector of the church. The sole condition to this bequest was that the rector had to distribute a hare pie made to his parishioners (along with a large quantity of ale) every year. And the Bottle Kicking? It’s a sort of extreme rugby/football game with no real rules where the men of Hallaton and the next village over attempt to capture the ‘bottle’ (actually a small wooden barrel).