How Easter Is Celebrated Around the World? This year, both the Julian and Gregorian calendars align, meaning almost the entire world will celebrate Easter on the same Sunday. Discover how the biggest Christian holiday is observed in different countries through unique customs, traditional meals, and joyful gatherings.
From egg hunts and processions to kite-flying, symbolic water rituals, and decorative traditions, Easter across the globe represents health, renewal, and community.
How Easter Is Celebrated Around the World
France
After traditional Easter mass, French families enjoy egg hunts in the garden, followed by a holiday feast featuring roasted lamb. On Easter Monday, a family outing is customary—and in southwestern France, locals prepare a giant omelet as part of the festivities.
Italy and Spain
Italians celebrate with colomba, a dove-shaped sweet bread symbolizing peace and renewal. Similarly, in Spain, people bake mona de Pascua, a festive cake often topped with decorative eggs. During Holy Week, Spaniards dressed in white reenact religious scenes through theatrical street processions months in the making.
United Kingdom
In England, ham usually replaces lamb as the Easter centerpiece, while egg-themed games entertain children and adults alike. Youngsters often go door to door for sweets, a tradition reminiscent of Halloween.
Nordic Countries
In Finland, children dressed as witches knock on neighbors’ doors to exchange blessings for candy—part of the “Virpominen” tradition rooted in folklore. In Sweden and Norway, early risers on Easter morning “catch the dancing sun.” Yellow, the color of sunshine, dominates Easter decorations across Scandinavia.
Switzerland and Poland
In Switzerland, Easter fountains and wells are decorated to honor water as a life source. In Poland, water also plays a symbolic role: on Easter Monday, known as Śmigus-Dyngus, people splash each other to cleanse sins and celebrate vitality. Polish Easter eggs are beautifully dyed or wrapped in linen threads.
Russia
Russians dye eggs using onion skins for a deep reddish-brown hue and prepare festive dishes like lamb in butter, baked ham, and kulich—a yeast cake flavored with saffron and rum. The paskha, a pyramid-shaped cheesecake, also makes an appearance. Despite restrictions during the Soviet era, Easter traditions endured through the generations.
Greece
In Greece, Easter is the most important religious holiday. People fast, attend daily church services during Holy Week, and break their fast with mageiritsa, a lamb offal soup. Red-dyed eggs, symbolizing Christ’s blood, are used in a cracking game that marks the Resurrection. Music, dancing, and wine carry the celebration late into the night.
Germany
Germans light Easter fires symbolizing the sun and rebirth. Another tradition, Osterbaum, involves decorating trees or bushes with painted egg shells. Children prepare nests for the Easter Bunny, who fills them with chocolate treats.
United States
In the U.S., the Easter Bunny brings children chocolate, candy, and marshmallow treats. One famous tradition is the White House Easter Egg Roll, where kids compete to roll eggs across the lawn without breaking them.
Philippines
Easter in the Philippines includes solemn rituals. Penitents reenact the Passion by whipping themselves with bamboo sticks, believing it brings healing and absolution. Many participate in week-long devotions to cleanse their souls.
Colombia
In Colombia, the Easter menu is exotic. Instead of chocolate eggs, families gather to eat iguana, turtle, or caiman meat. Ingredients are often brought from rural regions to the city for a traditional holiday feast.
Bermuda
On Good Friday, Bermudians fly handmade kites symbolizing Christ’s ascension. They also enjoy codfish cakes and hot cross buns as part of the celebration.
Czech Republic
In the Czech Republic, boys gently tap girls on the legs with braided willow branches on Easter Monday. This old custom symbolizes youth and strength—and the number of “switches” a girl receives is said to reflect her popularity.
