Easter traditions vary around the world. In Greece, Holy Week involves special church services leading up to Easter Sunday which is celebrated with food, dancing, and fireworks. Germans dye and hide eggs for children to find, and have special cakes and bonfires. Poles have traditional family breakfasts and bless baskets of food. Bulgarians crack eggs after midnight church services believing the last unbroken egg brings good luck.

1. Theodora Kossyfa

2. Easter in Greece
This year Easter in Greece is on 16th of April. Let’s take a look into ancient-old rituals and traditions…
The faithful Christians all over Greece follow the Holy Week ritual devoutly, and finally rejoicing in His
Resurrection.
Holy Monday: The first day of Holy Week. People go to church and kiss the icon of Christ.
Holy Tuesday: The preparations for the celebration of the Resurrection start on that day. Housewives prepare
the Easter brioche and dye eggs with special red dyes, a custom that symbolizes the rebirth of life and nature.
Holy Wednesday: A special church service for worshippers to be blessed with oil. All household chores must be
finished today.
Holy Thursday: This day people decorate the Epitaph, as the tradition wants the Crown of Thorns of Jesus
Christ to be covered with flowers.
Holy Friday: On this day, the devout Christians are supposed not to eat anything. At dusk the Epitaph is
paraded through the village or town streets with a quiet procession.
Holy Saturday (morning): In Saturday morning, preparations start for the festive dinner of the Resurrection
night and housewives cook «maghiritsa» (a tripe and herbs soup).
Holy Saturday (evening): Τhe Resurrection, takes place at midnight and is the culmination of Holy Week. Τhe
Priest passes the Holy Flame and all light a candle. When priest says «Christ is Risen» people light fireworks.
Then they go home and eat maghiritsa.
Sunday of Easter: Families and friends meet up for the Easter Day roasting of lamb outside on a spit and a big
celebration party with food, wine, music and dancing all day long.

3. Easter in Greece (photo)

4. Easter in Germany
Easter is one of the most popular holidays in Germany. Many Americans might be
surprised to find how many traditions come directly from German culture. Find
out how to celebrate Easter in Germany.
You might not know that the custom of boiling and painting eggs, the symbols of
new life, began in Germany.
In the weeks prior to Easter, Germany gets ready for a new season. You will see
spring flowers on display and many traditional Ostereierbaum (Easter trees).
Easter tree is a tree that is decorated with colorful eggs.
The Easter weekend in Germany begins with a quiet Good Friday. Many families
eat fish as their traditional Good Friday lunch before enjoying a weekend
together. Easter Saturday is a great day to visit an open-air Easter market where
you can browse for artistically handcrafted Easter eggs, carved Easter
decoration, and local arts and crafts. Stop by a German bakery for a special
Easter treat like a sweet cake in the shape of a lamb. On Saturday evening,
regions in the north of Germany will light Easter bonfires, chasing away the dark
spirits of winter and welcoming the warmer seasons. Easter Sunday is the
highlight of the holiday weekend. In the early morning, parents hide baskets
filled with colored, hard boiled eggs, chocolate bunnies, sweets (like Kinder
Surprise), and little presents for the kids. Many families attend an Easter service,
followed by a traditional Easter lunch, lamb, potatoes, and fresh vegetables.

5. Easter in Germany (photo)

6. Easter in PolandPoland is a country full of unique traditions and customs. As Easter is the most important holiday, even more than
Christmas, we would like to tell you a few things about it so you won’t be surprised if you get a chance to celebrate it in
our country. As you might know the entire week before Easter is called Holy Week, and during that time there’s a lot of
things going on here.
Palm Sunday: Exactly 7 days before the main celebrations take place, people gather for a procession with palms in their
hands. This is the moment when they begin to celebrate. Some of the Polish villages and small towns organize artificial
palm competitions.
Holy Sunday: The time has come. Sunday morning in this case means the big, traditional, family breakfast. It starts with
sharing of the blessed food between family members. It’s also a time of small talk between each other during which
everyone wishes each other and themselves all the best. After that, the main activity takes place – eating. Some people
may say that Easter is all about tradition, celebration, meeting with family but deep down they know that it’s also mainly
about food. After the breakfast is finished, people take a walk and enjoy the rest of the day.
TRADITIONS AND CUSTOMS:
Wet Monday: This is a wonderful day of fun. It was traditionally the day when boys tried to drench girls buckets of water.
The more a girl is sprayed with water, the higher her chances are that she will get married. Now Wet Monday is usually
celebrated by everyone drenching or sprinkling each other. Kids use water guns and water toys.
Easter Eggs: In Poland eggs are not only used as food on the table. Children decorate them with paints, crayons, stickers,
tissue-paper etc. After they’re ready they are used as a decoration for the Easter table and they’re also a part of the
Easter bucket.
Blessing of the Easter baskets: The name of this custom might sounds mysterious but it’s nothing more than blessing the
food that will be eaten during the Easter feast. Of course, you won’t spot people bringing tables full of many traditional
dishes right to the front of the church instead, a small amount of the most important food like eggs, bread, meat and
butter are put inside the basket.
Easter Bunny Easter: Easter in Poland isn’t really about gifts like Christmas is for example but there is a little room for
small presents for children. It is said that the giant Easter Bunny travels from house to house and he hides sweets
somewhere in the children’s room during the night before Holy Sunday.

7. Easter in Poland (photo)

8. Easter in Bulgaria
Easter traditions in Bulgaria are a derivative of the Eastern Orthodox Church
rituals. As the Bulgarian name implies "Velikden" (Great Day), Easter is one of the
most significant holidays in the Bulgarian calendar and starting with Palm Sunday,
the holy week leads up to the Great Day. In tune with worldwide Orthodox
traditions, bright red colored eggs and Easter breads known as "kozunak" are the
prominent symbols of Easter in Bulgaria.
At midnight on the Saturday before Easter Sunday, people gather at the church
with red painted eggs and bread. The priest proclaims three times "Christos
voskrese" (Christ has risen) and the congregation replies "Vo istina voskrese"
(Indeed he has risen). After a special sequence of services, the clergy blesses the
breads and eggs brought by the people.
The Bulgarian good luck crack is a unique Easter tradition in Bulgaria. Eggs are
cracked after the midnight service and over the next few days. People take turns
in tapping their eggs against the eggs of others, and the person who ends up with
the last unbroken egg is believed to have a year of good luck.

9. Easter in Bulgaria (photo)

10. Easter in Italy
Palm Sunday: On the Sunday before Easter, palm leaves and olive branches are placed outside
houses and on Easter cakes, while the Pope addresses the crowds in St Peter's Square in Rome.
Scoppio del carro: In Florence, on the morning of Easter Sunday, an antique cart is packed
with fireworks and set on fire.
Ruzzola: On the day after Easter the small Umbrian town of Panicale has a cheese-rolling
competition. Competitors must roll huge wheels of Ruzzola cheese around the village as part
of a game known as "Ruzzolone".
Colomba di Pasqua: Τhis is a traditional Easter cake often made with candied peel and
almonds and is in shape dove.
Easter eggs: Chocolate eggs are also part of Italian Easter tradition and they often come with
a surprise in the middle.
Misteri di Trapani: Lasting a whopping 24 hours, this is the longest Easter parade in Italy. It
takes place on Good Friday in the town of Trapani.
La Madonna che scappa in piazza: In the town of Sulmona after the Easter Sunday service,
priests carry the statue of Mary and run it to the statue of Christ at the other end of the
square.
Good Friday parade, Chieti: A procession with torches and masks is held throughout the town
on the Friday before Easter. Only men and children are allowed to participate.

11. Easter in Italy (photo)

12. Easter in England
Easter is very important festival in Great Britain.
Easter Bunny: The symbol of Easter is an Easter Bunny, happy rabbit with a basket
of chocolate eggs. He brings these eggs to children on Easter Sunday. On Sunday
morning kids take a basket, got out and look for the eggs. It’s a very exciting egg
hunt.
Chocolate: For these days chocolate bunnies are very popular in Great Britain, but
chocolate, too.
Eggs painting: English children like coloring and decorating eggs for Easter. Eggs are
very important because they mean spring and new life.
Easter egg tree: Kids and parents make a very nice decoration: they put branches
in a vase and hang eggs on them.
Easter bonnet: At Easter people use to wear special hats. They are called bonnets.
The bonnets are always new. It some British primary schools they organize an
“Easter bonnet Parade” where the best bonnet wins a prize.
Maundy Thursday: In Britain, the Thursday before Easter Sunday, the Queen goes
to Westminster Abbey and she gives money to some poor people.
Hot cross buns: On this day people eat “Hot cross buns”. These are small loaves of
sweet bread with fruit and spices and they have a cross on top. They are best hot.
Easter egg rolling: People decorate eggs with different colors, then they take the
eggs to the top of a hill and the eggs roll down. The first egg to get to the foot of
the hill, is the winner.

13. Easter in England (photo)

14. Easter in Denmark
In Denmark, the Easter decorations in homes and shops are
green and yellow and often feature daffodils or newly-grown
branches. Eggs are colored and are often added as
decoration.
There is a unique Danish Easter tradition: The custom of
sending teaser letters. A few weeks before Easter (generally
done on Valentine's Day), Danes cut out letters on which
they write a secret poem.
They send the letter anonymously and only sign it with dots
for their name. If the recipient can guess or find out who
sent the Easter poem, he or she receives the reward in form
of an egg at Easter.
Denmark's traditional Easter food consists of types of eggs
and Danish locals often add to this chicken, fish, or lamb at
Easter.

15. Easter in Denmark (photo)

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