Different Countries have different traditions at holiday time and Easter is no exception.
In Finland friends are greeted by being brushed gently with bunches of small willow twigs to bring them luck and in return, eggs, money, or candies are given as a gift.
In Greece as everyone is at Midnight Mass the priest enters the darkened church bearing a single candle flame. He walks to the front of the Church and lights the candle of one person, they in turn pass on the light and so around the Church until it is ablaze with light, a light that represents the Resurrection.
In Bulgaria a ceremony is made of cracking the Easter Eggs. The first one is cracked on the Church wall, each egg is then cracked against a neighbors until only one remains – and that person is alleged to have good luck all year.
In Poland the Easter Basket is a hugely important tradition, they are made by the older members of a family or group for the younger ones. They are filled with sausage, ham, butter, bread and of course – Easter Eggs.
In England a Simnel Cake is eaten. This is always decorated with eleven balls of Marzipan to represent the Apostles – Judas is not included.
In America the Easter Bunny brings Eggs and Easter Trees are decorated.
In Scotland the children decorate hard boiled eggs and roll them down steep hills to see who gets to the bottom first.
In Hungary the children swap hardboiled eggs and then they try throwing coins at it until one of them sticks into the egg.
There are so many traditions around Easter, and not just Christian ones – it’s good to keep these traditions and festivals alive.
More Easter Traditions – From Parades to Pace Egg
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