While the French use 12,000 eggs to make one omelette on Easter, the Norwegians celebrate the festival reading crime stories. Here’s a list of some interesting traditions
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A mainly secular holiday in the lutheran country of Sweden, Easter is celebrated with meals of eggs, herring, and jansson’s temptation (potato, onion and pickled sardines baked in cream). The most interesting tradition to come out of Sweden is that in the days leading up to Easter Sunday, children dress up as Easter witches, wearing old and discarded clothes. Travelling from home to home in their neighbourhoods, the children trade paintings and drawings for sweets.
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It is said that Australians are the largest consumers of Easter eggs in the world but as the Easter bunny is known to have a bad history of destroying the vegetable crops, the eggs are strangely provided by the Easter Bilby (an endangered species of Australia).
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In Haiti, Holy Week is marked by colourful parades and traditional ‘rara’ music played on bamboo trumpets, maracas, drums, even coffee cans. The holiday is a mixture of Catholic and Voodoo traditions. Voodoo believers make an annual pilgrimage to the village of Souvenance. Devout voodoo believers hold a goat head and other parts, as offerings to the spirits, during a ceremony in Souvenance village, Haiti. The celebration of showing devotion to the spirits is marked by drumming, chanting and animal sacrifices.
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The Frankonian Swiss have an old Easter tradition of decorating wells in order to celebrate the gift of water — life. They decorate wells with beautifully painted eggs and spring flowers.
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The Greeks dye the Easter eggs all in red, as a symbol for Jesus’ blood. The eggs are then used in the making Easter breads.