Hoppy Easter everyone! We all know Easter is a popular tradition centered around the resurrection of Jesus, but also the Easter Bunny and Easter eggs. People in America celebrate by going to church in the morning, having lunch or dinner with family, coloring/decorating eggs, eating Easter-themed candy, and hiding eggs in your backyard and searching for them. But the question is, how do other countries celebrate Easter?
In Australia, Easter is not in the spring, but in the fall. Many people enjoy eating hot cross buns (a spiced sweet bread marked with a cross). Some Australians don’t use rabbits for Easter because they are considered pests. Instead, they use an endangered Australian animal called a bilby, nicknamed the “Easter Bilby” due to its likeness to a rabbit.
Christian churches celebrate Fasika (the 55 days leading up to Easter) in Ethiopia. During Fasika, people spend 55 days fasting from meat and animal products. Fasika is even considered a bigger deal to some than Christmas.
In the Philippines, Easter morning begins with two separate processions. Two groups of men and women meet at the church as a symbol of Jesus comforting Mary after he had risen from the dead. The men go into one procession and follow an image of Jesus risen from the dead, and the women follow an image of Jesus’ mother, Mary. Women who are dressed as angels take off Mary’s veil (called a lambong), and everyone celebrates.
Where Christians make up a small percentage of the population in India, people celebrate Easter as a spring festival. Dyeing and decorating eggs is not common in India; many buy detailed eggs and give them as gifts to their children.
On Easter morning in France, volunteers in the town of Bessières gather together and cook a giant omelet. Tradition says that Napoleon and his army were travelling through the south of France and stopped in this small town. They ate omelets there, and it is said Napoleon liked them so much that he ordered the townspeople to gather eggs and make a giant omelet for his army the next day. Bessières has been doing this tradition since 1973.
Families fly colorful kites on Good Friday in Bermuda. The tradition started one year ago when a teacher wanted to teach his students about Jesus ascending towards heaven. So he took a kite, decorated it with Jesus’ face, and set it up in the air to represent ascending.
In Colombia, Holy Week draws thousands into the streets for church services. Many people go on vacation during Holy Week; some travel to bigger cities, but some travel to smaller Colombian towns for traditional Holy Week processions and to observe decorations in churches.
No matter how you celebrate, or in what way you celebrate Easter, we all seem to celebrate it around Jesus. Whether it be Australia, Ethiopia, the Philippines, India, France, Bermuda, or Colombia, we all celebrate with family and Jesus’ resurrection.
