Easter traditions and customs

Easter traditions and customs from around the world

For sisterMAG 47, we explore Easter from all angles. That is why we asked friends, contributors and readers how they celebrate and whether there are certain traditions that they still cherish. On the following pages, we are therefore excited to offer you lots of Easter inspiration and customs from all around the world!

Olga Chuykova

Botanical illustrator living in Berlin

When I was a kid, my mom would buy hips of eggs for me to paint on. I loved that and always was so proud when my mom shared those pretty eggs with friends or put them in the middle of the dining table. Today I don’t really do it, maybe sometimes just for fun like this one ;)

Alice Williamson

Illustrator & former ballerina from Great Britain

Always a slightly hap-hazard chocolate easter egg hunt and run around the garden, every one is involved …. no rules …. just collect as many eggs as you can find; sharing of eggs upon collection – optional! ;-)

Ashley Ludäscher

Freelance photographer from California

Growing up we would go to an Easter Egg hunt, where we would search for plastic eggs filled with candy :) Now we usually make a big brunch with family and friends. 

Carole Poirot

Blogger and photographer living in Great Britain

It’s really not a »local tradition« but my personal tradition is ALWAYS to get my grandmother’s Easter plate out. Other than that it is Hot Cross Buns every Easter for breakfast – very British!

Loris Rizzo

Freelance photographer from Sicily, living in Berlin

In my life there are two main traditions for Easter: The first is a modern one: in all of Italy, the tradition is to give, mostly to children, big chocolate eggs with the surprise inside. It is a kind of Kinder Überraschung but much bigger. They are of different brands and sizes and surprises. 

The second one is a traditional Sicilian Easter thing: it belongs more to my parents generation, but, thanks to my grandmother and now my aunt, I kept receiving something called “cuddura ccu l’ova” or “aceddu ccu l’ova”, as long as a I was living in Sicily.

Cuddura = donut, ccu l’ova = with the eggs, aceddu = bird.

It looks like a bread or a donut or a homemade dough in bird shape. It is made of a harder sweet bread, a kind of biscuit and has one or two or more whole eggs (with the shells) in or better on it. It can be decorated with small sugar sprinkles. And of course, for very religious people, like my mother, the holy mass is an obligation. 

@midnightcouture via Instagram

Blogger from Berlin

First thing to eat in the morning on Easter Sunday: an apple!

Christina Rücker

Senior Project Manager, living in Berlin

We always do a hike/walk for Easter and everyone of the family must recite five lines from Goethe’s poem »Osterspaziergang« (Easter walk)

Matt Danko

»Creative monster« from Canada, living in Berlin

My family’s Easter tradition is to go for an afternoon hike through the forest on Good Friday with everyone. We bring marshmallows, graham crackers and chocolate to make s’mores, and roast sausages over a campfire. 

Beth Walrond

Illustrator, living in Berlin

Sadly I can’t show a picture, but my dad used to make us an Easter egg hunt and all of the clues would rhyme. So we would wake up really excited, find notes on our bedroom door and then follow the clues around the house. We were always so distracted by the great clues that we never noticed all the eggs were hidden in super obvious places, like the bath under a blanket *haha*. I used to think my dad was such a genius and a pretty great poet. 

Alex Kords

Autor & proofreader, living in Hungary

In Hungary, it is customary for the men/boys to come home to the women/ girls on Easter Monday and spray them with perfume. The boys recite a poem, at the end of which they’ll ask whether they are allowed to “water” the girl (»Szabad-e locsolni?«). Then each of the guys gets a coloured egg. 

Cristopher Santos

Photographer from Canada, living in Berlin

Easter egg hunting!

With some of these plastic eggs hidden around the house and outside with more candy and chocolate inside:

https://www.amazon.com/Plastic-Easter-Eggs-Unfilled-Count/dp/B00TKVLWTI

Also some Cadbury mini eggs:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini_Eggs

Then eating only half a bite of this because it’s too sweet for me but everyone else seems to love them:

https://www.myamericanmarket.com/us/cadbury-creme-egg-with-yellow-yolk

Then eating this exact white chocolate easter bunny which was my favourite, but it was so big as a child I would eat it for like a month:

https://www.candycrate.com/half-pound-solid-white-milk-chocolate-easter-bunny.html

Roberta Dall’Alba

Food photographer in Italy

In Italy people usually have a “scampagnata” on Easter Monday. A “scampagnata” literally is a “day trip to the country” but it can actually be a picnic in the mountains, hills … wherever you want. The idea is to reunite with friends and family and eat together. Unluckily I don’t have photos of these events (the more you enjoy your time with the fam without phone, the better! :))

Jenni Fuchs

Blogger originally from Germany, living in Edinburgh

I spent part of my childhood growing up in Scotland, and I remember egg rolling being popular. We would go to the local park and have a race rolling hard boiled eggs down a hill! We are now raising our two boys in Scotland and I look forward to introducing them to egg rolling.

Simone Hawlisch

Photographer from Hannover living in Berlin

As children we blew out eggs, which means putting two holes in either end and blowing out the egg yolk and egg white. That was always such a feat of strength as I remember it. Afterwards we either coloured them or painted them with little pictures. And of course we used to search for Easter eggs as children – our parents would hide them in the garden.

Olimpia Davies

Food photographer from Poland living in England

My polish tradition is that we have a competition called “who wake up first stay dry”:-), the person who wake up first on a Easter Monday run to the bathroom to fill up a cup with a cold water and then is waking up the rest of the family by splashing on them the water from the cup, while doing this is also saying “migus-dyngus”, this person stay dry for rest of the day but usual gets wet anyway.

Your English tradition is that on Easter Sunday we have egg hunt in our garden. The night before I hid chocolate eggs in deferent places in the garden, the next day our daughter is hunting it, when she finds all of the eggs she receives an Easter present, and this is usual some small toy.

Regina G.

My mom always made a wonderful braided Easter “Hefezopf” (Yeast Bread) :D and colored eggs were put in the middle. I always liked the process of dyeing eggs, especially the ones with onion peel bound in a piece of tights with a leaf tucked in between and afterwards rubbed with a piece of bacon to make them shine

Emily Westbrooks

Blogger and author from America living in Dublin

We like to get “cascarones” and let the kids crack them! Our oldest, Maya, who’s 3, is of Mexican heritage, so we love the Mexican/border town tradition. They’re just dyed, hollowed eggs filled with confetti and make a giant mess, but they’re great fun with small children! Luckily, I’m going back to Houston for a week before Easter because I’m not sure I could get them here! In southern Texas you can get them from little stands by the side of the road in the lead up to Easter.

Saskia / Oh Hedwig

Photographer from Magdeburg living in Berlin

At our family eggs were and are painted every year and one day before Easter Sunday are always the Easter bonfires!