A Few Interesting Easter Celebrations Around the World

A Few Interesting Easter Celebrations Around the World

In the village of Bessières, France, a dozen cooks make a giant omelet each year from 15,000 eggs. Once complete, it is sliced into thousands of portions and served with bread to villagers.

The city of Antigua, Guatemala, holds a parade of huge religious floats that requires 50 to 100 citizens to carry them. They also have local artisans that take days to create intricate sand designs that line the streets. Unfortunately, they are then destroyed by a procession on Good Friday.

Bermuda has a Good Friday kite-flying festival on Horseshoe Bay Beach. The wooden sticks that provide the structural integrity form a cross or star shape, and their annual flight symbolizes the resurrection.

Florence, Italy holds a ritual called Scoppio del Carro, in which white oxen carry a centuries-old wagon to Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore. After mass, the archbishop sends a mechanical dove into the wagon, which explodes in a spectacular fireworks display followed by a parade through the city.

For Eastern Orthodox communities in Greece, Easter marks the end of 40 days of fasting, and some of the dishes served that day are symbolic. Roasted lamb stands for Christ, braided bread called tsoureki represents the Holy Trinity, and red hard-boiled eggs symbolize Christ’s blood.

Whatever your Easter traditions are, I wish you a safe and blessed Easter.