In Sweden, Easter is celebrated a bit differently than it is in the United States. On the Thursday before Easter, children in Sweden dress up as Easter witches and go from house to house, where they are given gifts or small amounts of money, somewhat like kids do in American on Halloween! The phrase for Happy Easter in Swedish is GLAD PASK!
In Russia, the creation of Pysanka is a traditional craft, going back thousands of years. First designed are hand drawn on an egg with wax, which protects the area from the dyes. By repeating this pattern over and over, a multi-colored pattern is built up. Finally, the wax is removed to reveal layer after layer of vibrant color and design.
In Ancient Mesopotamia: Some people believe it was the ancient Babylonians who "invented" colored eggs! These are the same Babylonians who invented some other pretty neat things like the wheel and the sailboat 5000 years ago!
Today, the Lithuanians may be the world's most outstanding egg rolling contestants. They practice all year!
In Mexico, people go to church and enjoy Easter Egg hunts just as they do in many cultures. They have regular Easter eggs, highly decorated hard-boiled eggs or plastic eggs with little prizes inside. And, they have special eggs called cascarones. These are whole eggshells filled with colored confetti. After the family has gathered and enjoyed a big family Easter dinner, the kids pretend they are in battle and throw the cascarones eggs back and forth and sneak up behind good friends to break the cascarone over his or her head.
If you'd like to make some cascarones, here are the directions:
Using an uncooked egg, punch a tiny hole at both ends and blow into one of the holes. The egg will come out of the egg, leaving most of shell intact. Or, punch a hole about the size of dime and let the egg drain out. Use the egg!
Clean the eggshell by gently rising it out. Let it drain and dry.
Store your eggshell in an egg carton. It keeps them safe and makes it easy to find where you stored them.
Then, a few weeks before Easter, make some confetti out of brightly colored tissue paper.
Fill half the eggshell with confetti.
Make a paste of flour and water, and use this to close the hole.
Let it dry, then decorate your eggs!
Christians celebrate Easter for entirely different reasons than most people do. Click here to learn more about Easter.