All about … Easter Learning about Easter and its traditions* From: Kidcyber website: Sydenham, S. & Thomas, R. Easter [online] (2011)

Christians believe that Easter is the time that Jesus died on a Friday and came alive again a few days later on Sunday. It is an important time, so people go to church. Easter Sunday is the first Sunday after the full moon that is seen after 22 nd of March. Because the moon’s pattern change each year, Easter is on a different date every year. Christians & Easter

Easter Symbols In the northern half of the world, Easter comes at the beginning of spring, so rabbits, chicks and eggs celebrate new life. Eggs are decorated in the colours of spring flowers and new leaves. These days the eggs are now chocolate and the colours are on the paper that is wrapped around them, but some people still dye real eggs in bright colours.

Special Eggs around the World In Greece hardboiled eggs are dyed red, the colour of Jesus’ blood. People hold an egg with three fingers, and tap their egg against someone else’s egg, trying to break it. In some countries eggs are dyed in amazing patterns. Long ago, the King of Russia had an egg made of gold and precious jewels each year, sometimes with a little treasure inside.

Easter Bunny or Easter Bilby: Which is best? In many countries the Easter Bunny (a bunny is a baby rabbit) is thought to bring chocolate eggs. Rabbits were brought to Australia over two hundred years ago, and have since become pests. A bilby is a small Australian animal with big ears. Bilbies are endangered, partly because of rabbits taking over the places where they live. In Australia, many people prefer to talk about the Easter Bilby, not the Easter Bunny.bilby

Hot Cross Buns Hot Cross Buns are eaten in many places in the world at Easter time. The buns are full of dried fruit and are marked with a cross on top. Before the time of Jesus, the cross meant the four quarters of the moon. Christians decided the cross could also mean the cross where Jesus died so the buns became an Easter food.

Easter Foods.. continued Many special foods are eaten around the world to celebrate Easter. These include simnel cake (England), bread with dyed eggs pressed into it (Greece), and Russian kulich served with pashka (special bread served with cream cheese)

Some Easter facts Find the missing words! Christians worship here at Easter: c h _ _ c h We eat these at Easter: h _ t c r _ _ _ b _ n s We also eat c h _ c _ l _ t _ eggs We make Easter b _ n n _ t s. Easter is a time for families to get together and c _ l _ b r _ t _ with special f _ _d.