ORIGINS OF EASTER

There are a lot of people who celebrate Easter around the world and thereare different origins for Easter traditions:Christian people remember and celebrate the crucifixion andresurrection of Jesus Christ. He died on a cross on a Friday almosttwo thousand years ago and Christians believe that on the followingSunday he rose from the dead and, in doing so, proved that he is theSon of God. The day Jesus died and was buried is known as GoodFriday.

The pagan tradition says that the word “easter” can come from

Eostre, the goddess of spring in Northern Europe. In fact, thetiming of Easter coincided with the spring festivals of manypagan religions. These festivals celebrated the wakening of theworld after spring.With time, the ideas of rebirth of spring were merged with the Christianteachings of Jesus resurrection to form the Easter holiday most of us knowtoday.

EASTER AROUND THE WORLD

The following Sunday is Easter. Christians celebrate theresurrection of the Son of God each year between March 22

andApril 25

(the first Sunday after the vernal equinox). Religiouscelebrations include family gatherings and special Easter churchservices.

2Easter traditions differ around the world. Here are just a few of them:Children in the United States and Canada say the Easter bunnyor rabbit brings eggs at Easter. In Germany and England they saythe hare brings th

em. The hare looks like a rabbit, but it’s larger,

with longer ears and legs. Children play some games, for example,the Easter Egg Roll and the Easter Egg Hunt.The Easter Egg Roll is very popular in America. It is a race and the

children push or “roll” the egg between parallel lines with a long spoon.

For the Easter Egg Hunt there are some eggs hidden around the house orgarden by the Easter Bunny before the children get up. Children try to findthe eggs because they are usually chocolate eggs.In Australia the bringer of eggs is called the Bilby. TheBilby looks a bit like a cross between a mouse and a rabbit.In Italy, Belgium and France children say Easter eggs arebrought by the church bells. There, church bells do not ring fromGood Friday until Easter Sunday. Because of this, people say thatthe bells have flown off to Rome. As the bells fly back home forEaster, they drop coloured eggs for boys and girls to find.But there are more foods than eggs to enjoy on Easter! People in Russiaeat an Easter bread that is full of plump white raisins and tastes like cake.In some countries of Eastern Europe, people enjoy an Easter Cake called

“babka”. It’s shaped like a skirt (babka means “little old woman”). Easter

cakes in Italy are shaped like a rabbit, which is a symbol of birth and newlife and many other countries make cookies and cakes shaped like a lamb, asymbol of Jesus. Hot cross buns are another traditional Easter bread withicing in the shape of a cross.What can you say about the typical Easter food in Spain?