So, as today is a holiday day in many parts of the world, we wanted to make this post in case you have the same curiosity that we discover on how to celebrate the Holy Week in different parts of the world. Do you want to know more? Did you know that in the Philippines there are people who sacrifice themselves for their faith? Do you know which is the longest procession in the world? What does the Easter bunny have to do with the typical chocolate eggs? This and much more about Easter, in this post.
To begin with, Holy Week as it is known in the Christian world is the commemoration of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. An event that we celebrate once a year and depending on the place has different days but usually lasts: from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday or Easter Monday.
If we start in the USA, the Easter celebration dispenses with large religious displays, not like in other places that we will see next. Of course some people evidently celebrate it by going to mass. The usual thing in the United States is that Easter becomes a week of vacation, spring break, school-level spring break that does not necessarily coincide with Easter. In public schools, depending on the state and even the county, that vacation week will occur before, during, or even after Easter.
One of the most important and well known traditions of the USA is rabbit and chocolate eggs. It is also common to organize Easter egg hunts, or chocolate egg hunt, with the children and it is very fun: families hide plastic eggs stuffed with a sweet or small whim, and the children find them. The little ones think that it is the Easter bunny or the Easter Bunny, the one that brings the eggs or the little gifts, something like the Little Mouse Perez.
If we change continent and travel to Asia, more specifically to the Philippines where 94% of the population is fervently Christian, we will find a radical change of landscape. Real Crucifixions, I nterminable floggings and other similar sacrifices. Surprised! Surely this is one of the most morbid celebrations and that arouses more noise in the whole world. In cities like Manila 10 people are crucified of their own free will and among them the representative of the figure of Christ is chosen in the Way of the Cross, with crown of thorns included.
If we go to exuberant Latin America and start more concretely for Argentina and its province of Formosa we will discover the procession awarded with a Guinness Record: 500 km of road in car that separate a first cross, in the capital, from the last, located in the limit with the province of Salta.
In Latin America we can also highlight other celebrations such as those in Venezuela, where one of the most picturesque traditions is carried out: the burning of Judas on Easter Sunday. Another, and less widespread, gave life to a very popular expression: ‘more wanted than stick of rosemary ‘, and refers to the fact that on Good Friday he used to look for seven rosemary sticks with the belief that they have the property to keep rays and sparks.
In Paraguay, Asunción is almost deserted, as it is traditional to travel to the interior of the country to spend these dates as a family. On Holy Thursday, the assembled family cooks in the tatakuá (mud oven, in guaraní ) the meat and soup that they will consume in the ‘ karú guasú ‘ (last supper), as well as the chipá , a starch-based cake , milk, cheese, eggs, oil and salt that will be their only food during the fast of Good Friday.
In Central America , the carpets of flowers adorning the streets of Guatemala, El Salvador and Hondurasare famous, where the most believers go to the main religious ceremonies, while others prefer to go with their families to the beaches.
In Brazil, despite being the country with the largest number of Catholics in the world is curious, but Holy Week is more an occasion for leisure and tourism, as in Uruguay, considered the most secular country in Latin America where the Week Santa is officially known for decades as Tourism Week.
Once in the old continent, Europe, we can highlight the Holy Week in Florence, with the well-known celebration of the explosion of the chariot ( Scoppio del carro ), an event celebrated on Easter Sunday with the explosion of a car loaded with artificial works.
Nothing to do with Finlan, where it is typical for children to dress as magical beings: witches, magicians, etc. The tradition is well entertained: they go through the houses of their neighbors with a bouquet casting spells. The objective is to change the bouquets for sweets or typical sweets or Easter eggs. Halloween-like, huh? did not you know?
Other events in the old continent? Yes, there are for all tastes. In France for example they start cooking nothing more and nothing less than a huge Frenchomelet with more than 4 thousand 500 eggs for a thousand people. Incredible truth? In Germany they take advantage to clean and burn the Christmas trees to welcome spring.
As you know, in Spain the celebration of Holy Week is also very strong . We could say that in Andalusia is where there is more tradition of processions and penitents: cities such as Seville or Cádiz are its maximum exponent, but we must not forget the processions of Cuenca or those in different cities or towns of the two Castillas, Valencia and Catalonia.
In Girona, Gerona in Spanish, we are struck by a very curious tradition: that of the famous Medieval Dance of Death and where the participants go disguised as skeletons. This representation pretends to remind mortals that we are all equal in the face of death and that we must celebrate and take advantage while we live.
Have you ever wondered where the Easter bunny comes from, the chocolate egg, the cakes? Formerly during Lent you could not eat eggs, so when arriving on Easter Sunday, people used to give eggs to neighbors. One day a lady decided to decorate them before giving them away.
A more picturesque version is the legend of the Easter Bunny. This legend tells that when they put Jesus to the tomb, there was a hidden rabbit inside the cave. The rabbit stayed inside the grave until suddenly the bunny saw something surprising: Jesus got up and folded the sheets with which they had wrapped him. An angel removed the stone that covered the entrance and Jesus left the cave. The rabbit understood that Jesus had risen and wanted to share it with everyone. But since he could not speak, it occurred to them that if he brought them a painted egg, they would understand the message of life and joy. Did you know?
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