Easter Around The World

Santa Nice Legs

In the U.S. and most of Canada, Easter is a children´s holiday in which amagical rabbit or hare comes and leases colorful Easter gift baskets filled withcandies and colored eggs resting on a bed of greens. For followers ofChristianity, it is also a sacred celebration of the resurrection of the faith´srecognized founder, Yeshua ben-Yosef, or Iesus Christos as he was named inGreek.

This time of year - at least in the northern hemisphere - has always hadspecial meaning across many cultures, however, celebrating the end of winter andthe renewal of life. Although much of the West as well as Japan celebrate theEaster holiday, not all cultures celebrate with Easter baskets. In fact, everyethnic group and nation has colored this holiday with their own customs andtraditions.

Mexico is a strongly Roman Catholic country, yet many of the church holidaycustoms have been influenced by the Aztec, Mayan and Olmec peoples who livedthere before the arrival of the Spaniards. Like many other places, eggs figureprominently in the celebration, but instead of being eaten, children actuallybreak them over each other´s heads during the week leading up to Carnivale andthe forty day Lenten season leading up to Easter. (These are really toy eggsmade from papier-mâché and filled with tiny bits of paper.)

In Russia, Ukraine, the Czech Republic and Serbia where the Eastern Orthodoxpredominates, the coloring of Easter eggs is a highly developed art. Known aspysanka, Easter eggs are carefully painted with complex and elaborate geometricdesigns in bright, contrasting lights and dark colors. In the Russian churchespecially, Easter is the most important holiday of the liturgical year,symbolizing spiritual cleansing and renewal.

In Greece, the traditional meal is roast lamb. While this suggests aconnection with the Jewish holiday of Pesach, or Passover (the Greek expressionfor "Happy Easter" is Kalo Pascha), it also represents the "Lamb of God." Thetraditional Greek Easter greeting is Hristos anesti ("Christ is Risen"), towhich the response is Alithos anesti("He is risen indeed"). At midnight, EasterSunday morning, it is also customary to light fireworks.

Christianity is practiced by less than 2% of all Japanese, however the faithhas persisted in that country since the 1540´s. Forced underground for 200 yearsby the Tokugawa shogunate, Japanese Christianity re-emerged in 1865 in theUrukami district of Nagasaki when a French priest opened a church for foreignersliving in that city. Although for most Japanese Easter is time to eat candy, thefaithful who attend mass at the Urakami cathedral on Easter Sunday receiveactual hard-boiled chicken eggs as a symbol of rebirth. Interestingly, women inthe congregation wear Portuguese mantilla lace veils in the same way as theearliest converts did over 450 years ago.

Anne Harvester is a homemaker extraordinaire with years of experiencecreating spectacular events and gifts. See her favorite Gift baskets, Eastergift baskets, childrensEaster gift.