Different Easter Traditions In Many Cultures

Many secular and spiritual Easter traditions overlap in North American culture, but most believers have no difficulty distinguishing the genuinely important traditions from those that are not.

In the same way, there are some traditions that surround the Christian Easter celebrations in different cultures that may seem odd or uncomfortably different from those practised in North America. Yet here, too, it should be possible to distinguish the important underlying spirituality from a mere unfamiliarity with different customs.

One of the most famous of the Easter traditions, or perhaps more properly considered a pre-Easter tradition, is the Carnival. This occurs in church traditions, mostly Catholic and Orthodox, which have a forty-day Lent period preceding Easter.

During this time, believers engage in fasting and abstinence to prepare for the solemnity and meaning of Easter itself. So the Carnival, taking place just prior to Lent, is the last chance to let off steam before this contemplative period. Two of the most well-known of these Carnivals are in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, and Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

Some variations in Easter traditions stem from the fact that this is an autumn season in the southern hemisphere. So the Australian celebration more closely resembles the American Thanksgiving than the American Easter, accompanied by agricultural harvest shows.

Rather than using the Easter bunny symbol, since rabbits are quite destructive there, Australians use the bilby, which looks like a huge mouse with rabbit-like ears. What is important in learning about all these different traditions is that the underlying sentiment and aspirations for this festival are the same, even if the surface details vary from place to place.

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