EASTER TRADITIONS In Norway Easter is celebrated
with ‘Easter-Crime’ during which many people throughout the country watch detective shows on TV or read mystery books.
According to one widely accepted
theory, the tradition began in 1923 as the result of a marketing coup. Breaking with a longstanding tradition under which new novels were only released in the autumn, the Gyldendal publishing house chose to launch a book by two young authors, entitled “The Train To Bergen Was Robbed Last Night” which was set at Easter.
Advertisements that resembled
news items were published on the front pages of several newspapers, shocking readers who failed to grasp that it was a publicity stunt. The initiative spread like wildfire among other publishing houses, and the crime novel became one of the few forms of entertainment available during the Easter break with cafes, restaurants, and cinemas closing down for Easter. And so the Easter crime novel was born.
In Bermuda people celebrate Easter on Good Friday by flying homemade kites
In North Western Europe large bonfires are lit on Easter Sunday and Monday. There are many explanations of the origin of this tradition, though the most common is a Saxon tale. To the Saxons Easter was a signal that spring was victorious over winter and the fires were lit to chase away the darkness of winter. Today the fires simply serve to bring communities together and enjoy a festive drink.
In Sweden Easter is celebrated
with food, mainly eggs, herring and Jansson’s Temptation, a dish of potato, onion and pickled sardines baked in cream. However that’s not all, rather bizarrely in the days leading to Easter Sunday children dress up as witches wearing old discarded clothes and visit each home in their area trading paintings and drawings for sweets.
Easter Sunday children dress up as witches
Jansson’s Temptation, a dish of potato, onion and pickled sardines baked in cream.
Easter in Poland involves getting a little soggy. Pouring water on one another is a Polish Easter tradition called Smingus-Dyngus, where on Easter Monday, boys try to drench eachother with buckets of water, squirt guns or anything they can get their hands on. Legend says that 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 and has developed from an innocent tradition of sprinkling young ladies with perfumed water through to the regular water fights in the streets seen today.
So whether you stick with
your traditional Easter eggs, fly a kite or get into a water fight this Easter we hope you have a fantastic weekend.
According to Swedish folklore,
Easter was a time when witches stole household brooms and flew to Blåkulla or “Blue Mountain” to consort with the devil. From this ancient superstition a modern tradition has taken root in the form of a mini-Halloween where children dress up as Easter witches with headscarves and painted red cheeks and go door to door with a copper kettle looking for treats.
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