Good Friday/Easter Traditions

[Thunder Peel]

I thought this might be fun to do. Do any of you do anything special for Good Friday and/or Easter? It could be a church service, meal, prayer, movie, or anything else. It's always neat to see how different people remember and celebrate this time of year.

 

[Rhovanion]

I'm not personally celebrating any this year since I live so far away from everyone in my family and I don't see the point of doing anything on my own.

But I can share some general Swedish Easter traditions and how we used to celebrate it when I was growing up.

On the Thursday, little children (girls mostly) dress up as witches and go door to door wishing people a Happy Easter and they get candy in return (similar to the trick or treating you guys do for Halloween).
http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/4586/paskkarring.png

A lot of people pick (or buy) birch tree branches, deck them with colorful feathers, stick them in a vase and hang Easter decorations on them (eggs, chickens, bunnies and witches mostly).
http://www.bjornolsson.se/images/2007/04/paskris.jpg

Some people might also decorate their homes a bit. Yellow seems to be the most popular color to use. Some might have a few chicken, eggs and/or bunny figurines to put out. We always had Easter curtains in the kitchen along with a matching table cloth (white base with little yellow chickens) when I grew up.

Just like with Christmas where we celebrate the 24th instead of the 25th, Easter in Sweden is celebrated on the Saturday, not the Sunday. It usually starts with waking up and going in search of your hidden egg full of candy. Once you've devoured that and it's time for lunch a lot of people have a big smorgasbord/buffet (and if they don't have it for lunch, they're bound to have it for dinner). It's also a huge tradition to color/paint boiled eggs, which will usually be eaten along with the smorgasbord. Traditional food on the smorgasbord apart from eggs are meatballs, sausages, potatoes, gravlax, pickled herring etc.

In some parts of the country it's also popular to light bonfires, though not where I grew up.

And that's about what most people do here.

 

[Wren]

We will be going to church and then home. Nothing out of the ordinary planned. (And Puffca has to work on Good Friday.) That's pretty typical for me, though. Growing up, we never could afford new Easter clothes and we didn't have a special dinner. I like celebrating it quietly.

 

[Tink]

For the last four years, I've celebrated Passover with a Seder Meal with my church the Wednesday before Easter. On Easter, I go to church. Then I eat lunch with my family, egg hunt for the littles, and then I'll go home. I do take time to reflect on Jesus's death and Resurrection, so that's also special. Good Friday I don't usually do anything for.

What about you, Austin?

 

[crishmael]

I eat jelly beans. My traditions are lame.

 

[CelticGrace]

On Saturday, there's a big Easter egg hunt and other activities at church for the kids. The most I've ever been involved in that though is stuffing the eggs.

On Sunday, we have two services and a pancake breakfast between them. I'll be in the nursery the whole time lol
After church, we'll go to the in-laws' house for lunch.
And Sunday night I'll watch either The Ten Commandments or Ben Hur, a tradition from my childhood.

 

[mina]

We did lots of annual things when I was growing up: new clothes, an easter bonnet, church, family dinner, egg coloring and hunts, my siblings and I always got an easter basket right up until we were out of the house, etc....
In recent years I really haven't done much except reading the Resurection story in the Bible and going to church, wearing a springy dress and white shoes, I was always teaching children in some capacity at church and I would give them an empty plastic egg to remind them that Easter is all about the tomb is empty with a story, etc...
Now that I'm married we are making our new traditions together: good Friday service, I'm making easter bread, church on Sunday, family dinner, playing the "cracking" eggs game.....I'll probably watch Ben-Hur or another biblical movie somewhere in all that.

 

[Tink]

I forgot...I always watch Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and most times The Ten Commandments.

 

[crishmael]

I forgot...I always watch Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and most times The Ten Commandments.

I remember Willy Wonka when I was younger.

 

[Socktastic]

My tradition is lame, fast from 9 - 6, ordinarily attend a 3-6 service, break the fast it with a fish dinner post-service and then ... do work. This year it's kind of changed as the church has a service from 8-9 so i'm attending that, but otherwise pretty similar.

For Easter it's pretty much all about the sunrise service. I love having services on a hill, just wish we did it on a more frequent basis.

Gosh, I feel boring.

 

[Mrs. Luther073082]

We are going to the Easter service at Valparaiso's Chapel of the Resurrection and then to Kirk's grandmother's, where his entire family/extended family will be gathered for lunch.

 

[Verve]

Nothing special. We used to dress up and do the egg hunt when I was little.

 

[Marycita]

Growing up, we'd wake up and find our hidden baskets, eat breakfast, and then our house would become a place of screaming while everyone was trying to get ready for church (most of us didn't even want to go). Then we'd come home and have a big dinner. Then all of the extended family would get together for dessert and games in the evening.

Now that I'm away from home, I'm obviously not doing any of that..and I'm really grateful. One of the reasons I love Easter is that there is not as much hype surrounding it - it can just be purely about Christ's victorious work. This year, I didn't do anything on Good Friday (save for drive) but usually I like to go to a tennebrae service if I can find one. Yesterday, Tony and I watched The Greatest Story Ever Told...and then today we'll go to church and I'm making dinner.

Oh, growing up, I also got a stuffed lamb every Easter (I used to adore songs about the Lamb of God in church)...this year Tony got me one.