Easter as an expatriate
For foreign travelers or expatriates, it is always very interesting to observe or participate in the festivals of one's destination or adopted country in order to better understand its culture. Despite the COVID-19 crisis affecting celebrations for the second year in a row, this is what Easter used to look like.
Switzerland
In eastern Switzerland, for example, a sepulcher some five meters high was set up on the Tuesday before Easter, explains Peter Kern, author of a book on the subject. On Fridays, a mannequin or a painting representing the body of Christ was placed there. People came to pray. Some moved from church to church for this purpose.
On Easter night, the body was hidden and the figure of Christ rising up appeared. "It was a moment filled with inspiration and emotion," says the author. Those people who are old enough to have lived it are stuck in the minds of those people. "
In Zurich, another tradition, in some neighborhoods, allows children to earn a little pocket money. Adults should attempt to toss a 20 cent coin at the child's egg. If they fail, the part and the egg become the property of the toddler. According to Mischa Gallati, this tradition, called "Zwänzgerle", is several centuries old, but it had disappeared before reappearing in the 1930s.
France
Church bells no longer ring from Thursday to Sunday, the day of Christ's resurrection. After mass begins the eagerly awaited egg hunt by the children. Chocolates of all colors, in the shape of an egg, chicken or rabbit, are displayed in the gardens to the delight of the little ones. Family members then gather around the traditional lunch, usually consisting of roast lamb accompanied by vegetables. In Corsica, it is customary that we eat roast kid on Easter day, followed by a dessert consisting of a large brioche crown decorated with hard-boiled eggs. They say it brings good luck!
Italy
it is especially Easter Monday that attracts attention. Of course, families get together in a friendly atmosphere on Easter Day, after mass. But the next day, we take the opportunity to taste the eggs harvested the day before around a large family picnic. In some Italian cities, such as Milan, the "colomba" is made, a cake in the shape of a dove, which symbolizes peace. In other cities, Easter celebrations are marked by spectacular fireworks.
Germany
children enjoy Easter differently. Usually they decorate a vine or a leafless tree that symbolizes the Easter tree and to which they hang decorated eggs. They also hide little nests of straw in the four corners of the house. Only when they wake up on Easter morning will they know if the Easter Bunny has come to fill these nests with chocolate eggs. As for the Easter meal in Germany, it consists of vegetables on Maundy Thursday, fish on Friday and leg of lamb the day before and on the day of the feast.
Indeed a special day for many expatriates
It is one of the key dates in the annual calendar, one of the favorite holidays for children regardless of their young age and their country of expatriation because it is part of their roots and their cultural identity. But above all, it is an opportunity for each expatriate child to spend time with their parents to prepare for this festive event. Manual Easter activities are all good: they bring us together, they strengthen family ties by bringing us together and offer us precious moments in our expatriate lives, they guarantee us moments of fun, moments of gluttony, small joys family, in short, beautiful bubbles of happiness and in addition, they awaken our artistic senses!
References:
https://www.mondassur.com/fr/vos-news/expatriation/voyages-et-fetes-tour-du-monde-des-traditions-de-paques/
https://les-petits-expats.com/faites-le-plein-d-activites-manuelles-de-paques-pour-votre-enfant-expatrie/
https://www.swissinfo.ch/fre/p%C3%A2ques-conna%C3%AEt-des-dizaines-de-traditions-en-suisse/32420384#:~:text=Chaque%20ann%C3%A9e%20%C3%A0%20P%C3%A2ques%2C%20douze,lors%20du%20repas%20de%20P%C3%A2ques.
