There are two sides to Easter: the religious side, which celebrates the resurrection of Christ, and the playful side with bunnies and eggs. This post is going to look at the traditions and customs associated with Easter, rather than the religious story.
The main tradition associated with Easter is the giving and receiving of chocolate eggs, and in England it’s the Easter Bunny that delivers them, and children often have Easter egg hunts to find where the Easter Bunny left them. Why a bunny? Well the most likely reason is because Easter is celebrated in springtime, a time of new life, and rabbits are noted for having lots of big litters which is a pretty good representation of new life! There are also sketchy stories of a goddess called Eostre who had a hare as a companion, but there doesn’t seem to be much information about this.
In schools children have an Easter bonnet parade. The children, or more often their parents, decorate a hat and the children will parade around the school hall and visit the classrooms of the older children to show off their hats. There is usually a small prize for the best hat.
There are often other competitions such as egg-decorating competitions, and egg-rolling. Children go to the top of a slope in the school grounds, and roll a (hard-boiled) egg down the slope. There’s usually a prize for the child whose egg rolls the furthest.
Related posts: Easter in France, Easter in Germany, Easter in Switzerland