Easter

On the occasion of the Easter Holiday, I would like to describe some of the Easter traditions celebrated in France.

The French word for Easter is “Pâques”.  To say “Happy Easter” you can say “Joyeuses Pâques” or “Bonnes Pâques”. Easter is widely celebrated in France - by kids as well as by parents. One of the traditions on the Saturday evening is for children to prepare nests in their gardens and houses.  These nests are for the Easter bunny who will arrive during the night and will bring chocolate eggs. Some kids leave out carrots for the bunny in case he would be hungry. When they wake up on Easter Sunday, they are very excited because it's time to search for the chocolate eggs left in the nests by the Easter bunny! This egg hunt is called “La chasse aux œufs”. What’s more, there’s a traditional game on Easter Sunday. Children throw raw eggs up in the air and catch them. They keep doing this until someone drops one. The first child who will drop and break his egg is the loser, and in some versions, he must pay a penalty like giving a piece of his Easter candy to his brothers or sisters. 

When it comes to Easter food, on Good Friday, like in Poland, most of the French don’t eat meat. They only eat fish, vegetables, fruit and bread - in fact anything, as long as it is meat-free. On Easter Day, they eat roast lamb or roast pork and a lot of vegetables. They have also a cake called “La Gâche de Pâques”.  It's a very rich bread mixture which contains bread flour, sugar, milk, yeast, butter and eggs.

And what about other countries? Do you know how people celebrate Easter in Spain or in Italy? :)