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Easter around the World
Ancient Spring Goddess
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In the 8th century, the Christian scholar the Venerable Bede, claimed in his book, De Temporum Ratione, (The Reckoning of Time) that Easter was derived from the Saxon Eostre (Northumbrian Old English) or Ostara (Old High German).
In Northern Europe, at the time of the Spring Equinox, Saxons worshiped the Goddess Eostre who represented the sunrise, spring-time and fertility and the renewal of life. Painted eggs and white rabbits were said to be sacred to the Goddess.
It’s possible that by the second century A.D., Christian missionaries seeking to convert the tribes of northern Europe noticed that the Christian holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus roughly coincided with the Teutonic springtime celebrations, which emphasized the triumph of life over death. Christian Easter gradually absorbed the traditional symbols.
In 722 B.C. a Chinese Chieftain gave painted eggs as gifts in celebration of a spring festival. Throughout the World, Easter is celebrated in different ways. Children in Finland go begging in the streets with sooty faces and scarves around their heads, carrying broomsticks, coffeepots and bunches of willow twigs. In some parts of Western Finland, people burn bonfires on Easter Sunday, a Nordic tradition stemming from the belief that the flames ward off witches who fly around on brooms between Good Friday and Easter.
Pouring water on one another is a Polish Easter tradition called Smingus-Dyngus. On Easter Monday, boys try to drench other people with buckets of water, squirt guns or anything they can get their hands on. Legend says girls who get soaked will marry within the year. The refreshing tradition has its origins in the baptism of Polish Prince Mieszko on Easter Monday in 966 AD.
In the southern French town of Haux on Easter Monday a giant omelette is served up in the town’s main square. The omelette uses more than 4,500 eggs and feeds up to 1,000 people. Apparently Napoleon and his army were travelling through the south of France, they stopped in a small town and ate omelettes. Napoleon liked his so much that he ordered the townspeople to gather their eggs and make a giant omelette for his army the next day.
On the morning of Holy Saturday, the traditional ‘Pot Throwing’ takes place on the Greek island of Corfu: People throw pots, pans and other earthenware out of their windows, smashing them on the street. The custom is said to come from the Venetians, who on New Year’s Day used to throw out all of their old items.
An Easter Monday tradition in many Eastern European countries is for men to spank women with handmade whips made of willow and decorated with ribbons. According to legend, the willow is the first tree to bloom in the spring, so the branches are supposed to transfer the tree’s vitality and fertility to the women.
On Holy Thursday in the Medieval town of Verges, Spain, the traditional ‘dansa de la mort’ or ‘death dance’ is performed. To reenact scenes from The Passion, everyone dresses in skeleton costumes and parades through the streets. The procession ends with frightening skeletons carrying boxes of ashes. The macabre dance begins at midnight and continues for three hours into the early morning.
‘Sprinkling,’ a popular Hungarian Easter tradition, is observed on Easter Monday, also known as ‘Ducking Monday.’ Boys playfully sprinkle perfume or perfumed water on girls. Young men used to pour buckets of water over young women’s heads, but now they spray perfume, cologne or just plain water, and ask for a kiss. People used to believe that water had a cleaning, healing and fertilityinducing effect.
In Germany the summer day parade, or Sommertagszug, is celebrated three weeks before Easter. The Easter market (Ostermarket) also takes place, where people can pick up Easter-themed products and crafts. The ‘egg dance’ is often played – eggs are laid on the ground and people dance among them while trying not to damage them.
The crucifixion of Christ is reenacted in the Philippines at Easter time. This practice is not encouraged by the church, but takes place on Good Friday and involves the real-life nailing to the cross of volunteers.
Hawaiins believe that the world was created from a giant egg and that the sun was the yolk of the egg. The ancient people of Hawaii thought that this giant egg burst and its pieces formed the Hawaiian Islands.
In Papua New Guinea at the Easter Sunday church service a small tree is placed at the front of the church with sticks of tobacco and packets of cigarettes hung on the branches. After the service, these are distributed amongst the congregation. The people then return to their homes for a feast of leftovers usually from the Friday feast.
