It’s That Time

Happy Easter everyone!

The timing of reading Inferno couldn’t have been any more perfect. This epic was set around the time of Easter, which is being celebrated today, and we just finished the book; coincidence or perfect planning by our professor??

I love Easter and all its festivities. It’s a time to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, to spend time with friends and family, and to eat really good food. It got me to thinking, however, what traditions other countries had, if any, for this religious holiday.

United States

The U.S. has adopted the tradition of the Easter Bunny. This bunny delivers Easter gifts to children, and it lays eggs…weird right? This tradition of the Easter Bunny bringing Easter Eggs to kids is one that was brought to America by German immigrants. The bunny represents life because it gives birth to a lot of baby bunnies, and they reproduce often. It was also the belief that bunnies could reproduce without a mate, having virgin births. So, the bunny was also chosen to represent Mary, the virgin mother of Jesus. The Easter Egg represents the stone sealing the grave of Jesus, and when it’s cracked, it represents his resurrection. Although these things are symbolic, the meaning often gets forgotten, and it’s just a fun thing for families to do with their kids. One thing that is very traditional is Easter Egg Hunting. This is where adults hide plastic eggs filled with goodies, and the kids go and find them. I wish I wasn’t to old for this fun festivity.

Japan

Easter isn’t widely celebrated in Japan, and it’s not a national holiday. It wasn’t until around 2010 that things relating to Easter began to show up in the country; however, it is only a commercialized festival at this time, but it continues to grow.

Italy

Easter, known in Italy as Pasqua, is a weekend long celebration. It young people tend to go and celebrate this holiday with friends instead of family. One of the traditions is making hollow chocolate eggs with surprises inside, as well as painting or dying boiled eggs. In some parts, it is tradition to make a dove-shaped bread consisting of almond, sugar, and egg whites. This dessert is called Colomba. Other parts make Casatiello which is a salty cake that has cheese, sausage, salami, and  hard-boiled eggs in them. These are few of the many traditions held here.

Denmark

In Denmark, Easter, known as påske, celebrates the death and resurrection of Christ. There is Maundy Thursday(skærtorsdag), Good Friday(langfredag), and Easter Sunday(påskedag) and Easter Monday(2. påskedag). It is tradition to paint and decorate eggs, then roll them down a hill, and the owner of the egg that stays in tact and rolls the longest gets all the eggs. It is also a tradition for Danish children to write and send out a kind of “guess letter” (gækkebrev). The sender reveals at most the initial of his or her name, writing out the missing letters with dots. The recipient has to guess who sent it in a maximum of three attempts. If you don’t get it right, you owe the sender an Easter egg. The traditional food in Denmark is lamb.

Czech Republic

In the Czech Republic egg rolling, egg tapping, pace egging, cascarones or confetti eggs, and egg decorating are popular traditions. Hand-painted or decorated eggs (kraslice) are usually decorated by girls and given to boys on Easter Monday.Children finish school on Ugly Wednesday (Škaredá středa), which is a good idea because they need to spend some serious time on making Easter what it should be. In the evening of Green Thursday (Zelený čtvrtek), every boy in the village equips himself with a wooden rattle (řehtačka), which is specially made for the purpose, the boys form a group and walk through the village, rattling their rattles vigorously so the noise can be heard from afar. The meaning of the rattling is to chase away Judas. The same procedure repeats on Good Friday (Velký pátek) and then one more time on White Saturday (Bílá sobota) when the boys don’t only walk through the village but stop at every house in the morning and rattle until they’re given money which they then split between themselves.

Brazil

In Brazil, Easter traditions are much like the ones celebrated in the United States, but there are no Easter Egg hunts. A traditional food made during the holiday is fish, especially Bacalhau, a salted codfish with and rice and potatoes…YUM!

Happy Easter Everyone!!!!!!