Clare Sellers
As the April days storm towards Easter this weekend, some are preparing for long standing traditions, celebrating with friends or family, whilst some are planning on putting a new spin on old customs.
People all over the world will come together to celebrate Easter, but the way in which they choose to do so differs from country to country, family to family, and person to person.
The most traditional activities of the season are obviously the most conducted: gifting chocolate eggs, having a grand meal, searching for the Easter bunny, and hunting for mini eggs around the family home.
Camaraderie centred around new life and new beginnings that embodies the spirit of the season.
For children in the UK, a staple of Easter is partaking in an Easter bonnet parade – a fun event where little ones get to decorate straw hats with eggs, chicks, and rabbit ears. These celebrations usually involve music and food, and a camaraderie centred around new life and new beginnings, which embodies the spirit of the season.
Joanne Webster, a 48-year-old mother reflects on past Easters as a child: “When I was little we would go to church the morning of Easter Sunday while my dad stayed at home and cooked a full English for us. We would pick up my little nan after church and go home to eat and have an Easter egg hunt around the house while lamb cooked in the oven for dinner.”
Reminiscent on past Easters, she now considers how the holiday has changed for her throughout the years, and explains how she now chooses to celebrate with her own children.
Easter doesn’t necessarily mean the same thing to everyone
“Now its different, we still do Easter egg hunts and make Easter bonnets, but we don’t travel to church anymore because my children have grown up and made their own choices about places of worship. I just watch the Easter mass on television. My sisters and brother in law visit for a big meal at my house and after exchanging chocolate eggs, we’ll all curl up on the couch to watch a feel good film.”
Traditions also differ with religion. Easter doesn’t necessarily mean the same thing to everyone. While Catholics see Easter as the resurrection of Jesus Christ signifying new life, other religions or people of no religion may not recognise the religious aspect of the holiday. Even if they still see it as a period of new life and new beginnings. It does fall in spring, after all!
For myself, Easter is a wonderful time of year that strengthens hope and ones ability to eat more chocolate than they probably should. Winter is finally over, the weather begins to get warmer, the days get longer, baby animals sprout up and there is hope of a new beginning for anyone who needs one.
It is fundamentally a time for family, reflection and joy, tying in with the Lent period preceding it.
I reached out to the public to talk about their traditions and found that there was a list of common traditions that overlapped between people. People expressed a love of painting eggs, eating chocolate, searching for mini eggs, and enjoying the company of their loved ones.
Lexie Boardman, a university student, explained how her Easter is relatively lowkey to others: “I basically just bake random Easter cake treats and we have a roast dinner on the Sunday.”
While Easter is full of interesting events and activities to keep young people occupied during the school break, it is fundamentally a time for family, reflection and joy, tying in with the Lent period preceding it.
Whether you’re following the Easter bunny around the local park, stuffing your face with chocolate eggs, or cooking and baking with loved ones, we can all appreciate tradition. It might be fun to take a leaf from someone else’s book and try something new this Easter.
Featured image courtesy of Giovanna Baldini on Flickr. Image license can be found here. No changes were made to this image.
claresellers
I am a 20-year-old multimedia journalism student in my final year studying at the University of Salford