Easter traditions in the USA, Ukraine, Guatemala, and Australia

Posted on March 29, 2024

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

Happy Easter!

Easter is the most important holiday after Christmas for many people around the world.

Easter is considered both a religious and non-religious holiday. For those who follow religious tradition, Easter is special because it celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. For non-religious people, it celebrates new beginnings, longer days, and time spent with friends and family.

Whether you’re celebrating Easter in the USA, Ukraine or elsewhere in the world, Clever Hedgehog wishes you and your family a very happy Easter.

Clever Hedgehog asked his friends about how they celebrate Easter in their countries. Let’s see what they say:

Easter celebration in the USA

Timmy, the USA – “If you ask me what I like the most about the Easter celebration in the USA, it is friends, fun, and tons of chocolate eggs!

The Easter egg 🥚 is a huge symbol of Easter. Easter eggs represent new beginnings and new life. We dye eggs at home to make them look nice and colorful on the Easter table.

I like Easter egg hunts. Easter egg hunts are events where adults hide colorful plastic Easter eggs, filled with candy, treats, coins, or toys for children. Some people do Easter egg hunts with their family in their backyard, but larger Easter egg hunts are organized in parks, fields, and churches.

Those people for whom Easter is a religious holiday go to church. There are different types of church services offered around Easter time.

Chicks 🐣 are icons of Easter, as well as the Easter Bunny 🐰. When children fall asleep on the night before Easter, the Easter Bunny visits your house and leaves an Easter basket filled with candy, toys, and treats. Then on Easter morning when the children wake up, they open their Easter baskets to find surprises. I remember getting so excited to find out what was in my Easter basket! Once, we ate so many chocolates that our faces and clothes were covered in chocolate!

flickr.com/photos/mdgovpics/7038792759

Here you can see me looking for Easter eggs. I remember getting so excited when I finally found one!

Easter celebration in Ukraine

Julia, Ukraine – In many regions of Ukraine, Easter is celebrated as one of the most important religious holidays, as well as in the city, of Kolomyia, where I am from.

Preparation and festivities begin three days before Easter. The most important preparation begins with baking a special Easter bread, called paska. My mom uses an old recipe passed down through generations in our family.

But my favorite Easter tradition is coloring eggs. All my family will dye Easter eggs, krashanky, in different colors to make them look nice.

Ukrainians also make special Easter eggs – pysanky 🥚. You need to be very creative to do that. Pysanky come in various colors, unique patterns, and ornaments, where every dot has its meaning. You can paint symbols of the sun, moon and stars, water and fire, earth, leaves, etc. Each pysanka is a real piece of art.

Then my family fills a special Easter basket for church with paska, krashanky, pysanky, sweets, and candles. We bring Easter baskets to be blessed in church.

On Easter day, people exchange special greetings, saying, “Christ is Risen,” to which the response is “Indeed, He is Risen.”

Later, families gather around the festive table, where the main dish is paska, symbolizing the resurrection of Christ, accompanied by pysanky, symbolizing new life.

Some people gather to sing and dance haivky, traditional spring songs and dances, performed only during Easter.

My sister and I help decorate paska.

This pysanka I made this year.

If you visit me in Kolomyia, we can visit the Pysanka Museum. The museum has the shape of a pysanka. It possesses a collection of over 10,000 pysanky.

If you travel to the town of Vegreville in Canada, you can see a giant sculpture of a pysanka, a Ukrainian-style Easter egg – the largest pysanka in the world.

Myke2020, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Easter celebration in Australia

Sam, Australia – You can see Easter bunnies 🐇 around, but here in Australia we also celebrate the bilby (or macrotis) as the Easter icon.

Bilbies have been hopping around Australia for millions of years, but are now sadly a threatened species. Look out for chocolate Easter bilbies to buy to help support bilbies in Australia.

Another popular Easter activity in Australia is enjoying sweet hot cross buns filled with dried fruit.

Easter celebration in Guatemala

Carlos, Guatemala – The week leading up to Easter is a very special time in Antigua, Guatemala. During this time, people work together to decorate streets with Alfombras De Semana Santa, the Easter sawdust carpets that decorate roads that lead to churches.

People make colorful patterns and pictures, sprinkling them with flower petals, pine needles, fruits, vegetables, and brightly dyed sawdust. They work for hours to make their alfombras unique and perfect. With this tradition, people show faith in the Supreme Creator.

On Easter day, the Statues of Jesus and Mary are carried out of churches on people’s shoulders. They walk through parks and neighborhoods on the cushion of the alfombras.

The Alfombras are made of natural materials that are not meant to last. The carpet falls apart as people walk through the streets.

Clever Hedgehog would love to hear from you what Easter traditions you have in your family.

Send Clever Hedgehog an email at ebooks4ukrkids@udel.edu!

Fun Facts about Easter

Did you know that the date of Easter changes every year? In different countries, people use different calendars and ways to count days. This year, Easter 2024 will be celebrated on March 31st in many countries around the world, except for some countries, like Ukraine, that will celebrate Easter on May 5th.

Did you know that ornamented stone and clay eggs have been discovered from ancient times throughout Ukraine? The oldest eggshell pysanka was excavated in Lviv in 2013 and was found in a rainwater collection system that dates to the 15th or 16th century. The pysanka was painted on a goose egg with a wave pattern design.

Did you know that the Hutsuls — ethnic Ukrainians who live in the Carpathian Mountains highlands in western Ukraine — believe that the fate of the world depends upon the pysanka? As long as the egg-decorating custom continues, the world will exist. If, for any reason, this custom is abandoned, evil will overrun the world.