Activities for Understanding Easter

I hope you have been enjoying our exploration of Easter Around the World. Today I thought I would take a break from it and share some of the things we have been doing to remember and understand the true meaning of Easter and the events of Holy Week. First we will start with a few of the Easter books we have been reading that really share the meaning and give children a good idea of Easter and the story.

The first book is an old book that is out of print, but we found it at our library as well as our church's library. I also just ordered a used copy from Amazon. It is The Robin and the Thorn by Sara Lee Donze. The only pictures of it I found on-line do not include the jacket cover. However I did take one before we returned it to the library.

This is a wonderful tale of a brown bird who watches the events of Holy Week unfold. He sees the mysterious man on a donkey that the crowd cheers and waves palms as well as put cloaks on the ground for the donkey to walk on. He visits Jerusalem the night of Maundy Thursday to get crumbs from all the houses having their Seder Dinner and watches as Jesus washes the feet of the disciples and hears the disciples at first argue with him about doing it. Jesus sees him and feeds him some of the bread. He watches as the soldiers arrest Jesus in the garden and take him away. He watches as Jesus is tortured and he tries to help Jesus by removing a thorn that is piercing his forehead. The blood on the thorn turns the brown bird's chest red He watches as Jesus is crucified and dies. He awakens a few mornings later to find his chest is still red and watches as the women find the empty tomb. He sings a song of joy for he understands what it means. This is a legend of how the robin got his red chest. 

To go along with this book we made a crown of thorns bread. I got this idea from Catholic Icing: Crown of Thorns Bread. (She also has a wonderful Good Friday lunch idea posted.) The bread is easy to make. You can use any bread recipe or a pre-made one. We went the easy method for this and used a Pillsbury French bread dough. You also need a bag of pretzel sticks and an egg. To make it you beat the egg. Divide the dough into three long strips and braid them. Then form them in to a circle. Then "paint" the dough with the egg--this was Hazel's favorite part. Bake it according to recipe. When it comes out you add the thorns by pushing the pretzels in it. When Hazel ate a pretzel out of it she told me she was removing a thorn.

Last year we made a crown of thorns from clay and toothpicks.

 The next book, The Legend of the Sand Dollar: An Inspirational Story of Hope for Easter by Chris Auer, I shared on Sunday. We had not had time to do one of the activities to go with it yet, but now we have. We made sand dollar cookies. We unfortunately did not have almond slivers and tried slices. Slivers would have been much better.

The final book is from a series of books that I love. The book, God Gave Us Easter by Lisa Tawn Bergren, is a wonderful tale with the polar bears and Little Cub discovering the meaning of Easter and how God talks to her heart. Although we did not do a direct activity to go with this book, we have done some more for the meaning of Easter.

 We made Resurrection Rolls like we have in the past. I did a picture tutorial for you. We also grew our Resurrection Garden. We started it late, but luckily I had gotten fast growing grass seeds and with just about a week of growth time it looks pretty good.

Our final craft is not really about the meaning of Easter but is a fun one. I saw it over at Tippytoe Crafts: Peeps Nest. Hazel has been home sick this week and I thought this would be a fun craft for her to do quickly. (Her fever is finally dropping and she has more energy.) All you need for this craft is a cupcake liner, some Easter grass, jelly beans and a Peeps chick.

 Under the chick are her eggs of course.

For more ideas on sharing the Easter story and true meaning check out:

• Sharing the Easter Story with Children
•  Last Supper Model
• Beaded Crosses
• Chocolate Easter Egg Wrapper Cross
• Resurrection Eggs
• Religious Easter Match Game
• My Easter Pinterest Board

Easter Around the World Germany, Hungary, Norway and Poland

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Today we explore Easter in parts of Northern Europe. We will explore Germany, Hungary, Norway and Poland. The other day we explored Sweden and we have also explored France, Spain and Portugal.

Easter Fire in  Göttingen Source: By ElHeineken (Own work)
[GFDL or CC-BY-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

In Germany Good Friday is known as Quiet Friday. The church bells are not rung on Quiet Friday. People make wooden rattles to call people to church. On Saturday the children light huge bonfires. They burn wood and rubbish that they collect from house to house. On Easter, many villages hold an Easter walk or ride in memory of the walk Jesus took with His disciples after His resurrection. In one procession there is a rider dressed as Saint George on a white horse and in another men on horseback gallop past a post shaped like a cross and the winner is presented a cake shaped like a horse. On Easter Sunday, the children look for eggs in the garden. The eggs are made of chocolate, candy or decorated hens' eggs. Some believe the Easter hare hid the eggs for the children. The Easter hare brings the eggs in a small wheel barrow. 

Easter Hare with Eggs Source: By Gerbil (Own work) [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Sprinkling in Hungary Source: By Opusztaszer (Own work)
[CC-BY-SA-3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons

In Hungary, Easter is a two day holiday. Its observance is part Christian and part folk. The main difference is the ritual of sprinkling.On Easter Monday boys and young men visit their female relatives and neighbors and friends. In the past boys would playfully drag the girls to the well and pour water on them using pails or take the girls to the river and drench them. Now the boys sprinkle cologne rather than water so the girls do not have to change after every sprinkling. The girls no longer wear the traditional folk clothes but wear their casual clothes. There is a competition among the girls to see who gets sprinkled the most. In the evening the celebrations come to an end with a traditional Easter feast of baked ham and boiled eggs.

Norwegian Eggs Source: By: Pål Berge

In Norway outdoor sunrise services are common on Easter morning. Children will often gather big bouquets of flowers to decorate the houses. It is spring and daffodils and tulips are often in bloom. The children also have painted egg contests and egg rolling contests. In egg rolling they either blow the egg or push it with their nose. Similar to children in Russia, Norwegian children play egg tapping. They tap their eggs together and see whose can survive the longest uncracked. It is also a tradition in Norway to leave a special brew outside the house on Maundy Thursday. This is to keep the witches away, which people in remote areas used to believe in similar to the Swedish traditions. One unique tradition in Norway is at Easter time Norwegians read detective novels and watch detective shows on television. This tradition has become known as Easter Crime.

Drowning Marzanna in Poland includes Burning Them First
Photo taken by Meteor2017 Source

In Poland on the fourth Sunday of Lent people dress in traditional costume and gather on the riverbanks. They bring stuffed dolls that are called Marzannas. Some will be made of straw and others rag dolls. The dolls are dressed in traditional clothes. They form circles and sing songs about winter ending and warm weather coming. They throw the dolls into the river to symbolize the death of winter. In some parts they burn the dolls first as pictured above. In some parts of Poland people feel it is unlucky to speak or look back and rush home. They also have the belief that a trip or fall on the way home may mean they will die within the year. Nowadays it is a more lighthearted event and often is celebrated as part of school.

Palm Sunday in Poland Source: I, Mathiasrex [GFDL, CC-BY-SA-3.0 or CC-BY-2.5], via Wikimedia Commons

Holy Week begins and it is called Wielki Tydzien. For Palm Sunday, people carry pussy willows or decorated branches like the ones above to church. In some churches they are thrown on the floor for the priest to walk over. On Good Friday the churches display a model of the tomb where Christ was buried. People go from church to church to admire the artistry. On Saturday they bring a basket of food to the church to be blessed. The baskets hold pisanki or painted eggs, a lamb made of sugar or straw, bread, sausages and cakes.

A Blessing Basket Source: By J.Dncsn (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

On Easter Sunday the boys run through the streets setting off explosives. The noise resembles the noise of the stone rolling away from the tomb. Since Easter morning ends the Lenten fasting, people enjoy a breakfast of eggs, meats and cakes after church. On Easter Monday or Dyngus, the boys practicing sprinkling similar to Hungary. The girls however sometimes give the boys a dyngus or ransom for the promise not to be thrown in the water. The ransom is Easter eggs or candies. People who get wet in this way are suppose to have good luck and a good harvest and it also means the boy likes her.

 

For this post, I used information from the books above. For more Multicultural and Easter Posts check out:

• Easter in Ethiopia
• Easter in Sweden 
• Legend of the Sand Dollar (an Easter Story)
• Easter in Spain, Portugal and France
• Easter in Ukraine and Russia
• Multicultural Easter Books
• My Easter Craft Round-Up
• Easter in Guatemala
• My Easter Pinterest Board
• My Multicultural Resource Pinterest Board

Easter Around the World - Ethiopia

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Today we explore Easter in Ethiopia. Easter is called Fasika or Fasika-Tenssaie. Tenssaie is the word for Resurrection. In Ethiopia, fasting for Lent is 55 days to recognize the suffering of Moses as well as Jesus. Lent is called Hudade and nobody eats meat or any dairy products during this time. Three hour masses are attended every day during Lent.

Typical Lenten Meal Source: By Maurice Chédel (Own work) [GFDL
or CC-BY-SA-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Palm Sunday is called Hosanna. As in many Christian countries, the mood lightens for Palm Sunday. People carry tall palm leaves and crosses  to remember Jesus' journey into Jerusalem. Holy Week is called Passion Week or Semune himamat. In Ethiopia, they do not eat for the three days from Good Friday to Easter morning. They have a long night mass on Saturday night ending at dawn on Easter. The Easter feast often lasts for two days or more and can include mutton. People bring gifts to family and friends during Easter. Often people will play a game called gebet'a which is a bit similar to checkers or chess. It has a board that is carved from wood with cups cut into it. The players use pieces usually seeds, stones, or beans and move from cup to cup trying to capture the other player's pieces. Doing a search it looks like it is also called or similar to mancala. For more information on gebet'a visit Ethiopia the African Tibetan Show: Gebet'a World's Oldest Board Game.

Ethiopian Priest Holds Ethiopian Cross Source: By A. Davey from Where I Live Now: 
Pacific Northwest [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

One of the things I found so interesting about Ethiopia is not actually an Easter celebration, but relates to Easter. Ethiopians have a festival/holiday called Maskel. Maskel celebrates when Helena, empress of Rome found the cross on which Jesus was crucified. Helena was born in A.D. 248 and spent many years searching for the true cross. An old man gave her the advice of lighting a fire and following the direction of the smoke. This is how she found the true cross. Every year in Ethiopia huge piles of wood and twigs are built for Maskel. Every village has its own pile and each family adds their own bundle of twigs called a chebo. They are lit to be a bonfire which grows huge. The bonfire is called Maskel Demera. Some families prefer to keep their chebos at home and burn them on their own on Maskel. There is a ceremony before an elder of the community lights the bonfire. It is an honor to be picked as the respected elder to light it. People stand around the fire and sing to welcome spring. Some take ash from the fire and draw a cross on their foreheads. They believe the ash will heal illness. The festivities end with feasting and dancing.

 
For this post, I used information from the books above. For more Multicultural and Easter Posts check out:

• Easter in Sweden 
• Legend of the Sand Dollar (an Easter Story)
• Easter in Spain, Portugal and France
• Easter in Ukraine and Russia
• Multicultural Easter Books
• My Easter Craft Round-Up
• Easter in Guatemala
• My Easter Pinterest Board
• My Multicultural Resource Pinterest Board

Virtual Book Club for Kids: In the Tall, Tall Grass by Denise Fleming

Today we are going to share our April book for Virtual Book Club for Kids. This month's author is Denise Fleming. We had not read many Denise Fleming books previously, but found them to be fun. Her books have few words but beautiful pictures. She has a wonderful website full of activities to go with her books. 

Easter Around the World Sweden

Have you entered my current giveaway yet?

 
Today we are continuing our exploration of Easter Celebrations around the world. We are stopping in Sweden. I think this is one of the most interesting stops of them all. It is the first time I have heard of witches connected to Easter.

Lenten Twigs Source: By Jon Pallbo (Jon.Pallbo@gmail.com)
(Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

 During Lent in Sweden, there are bread rolls filled with marzipan paste and cream called Lenten Buns and birch branches decorated with feathers called Lenten twigs. The twigs can be put in water and have new leaves come out to remind of the new life of spring and the sticks also remind of the beating of Jesus. The houses are prepared for Easter by using the colors yellow and pink. Daffodils and tulips are put in vases and many families will visit one another. 

Source: By Anders Lagerås (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

As in many countries, Easter eggs are decorated. The old way to decorate them is to use onion peel, ears of corn or birch leaves in the pot of water with the eggs as they are boiled.  

Witches from 1958 and 2008 Source: By Holger.Ellgaard,
eget fotomontage (self-made (2008), familjearkivet (1958)) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

There is an old superstition in Sweden that on the evening before Good Friday the witches flew off on their broomsticks to meet the Devil. Some places say the witches always have a black cat and copper kettle on their broomsticks. As a result there are different traditions that go with this superstition. On the night before Easter, the young girls paint their faces and wear long skirts and are dressed as witches.  Some of the young boys dress up as well. They go to the streets and neighbors' houses carrying a coffepot or kettle and beg for money, candy and chocolates. Easter witches are a common decoration in Sweden. 

Bonfire to Keep Away the Witches Source: By Andthu (Own work) 
[CC-BY-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

In some parts of Sweden they light off firecrackers to scare the witches away and some also light bonfires to keep them away. In the story we read, the older children/teenagers guarded the fire all night and then watched the sun rise on Easter morning.

Easter Dinner Source: By Per Ola Wiberg [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

On Saturday night or Easter morning the Swedish families have their Easter meal. Eggs are always part of the meal. There are eggs hidden--one for each child. The eggs are not real eggs, but colorful cardboard eggs filled with goodies.   

All of the information we found on Easter in Sweden came from the books above. We also enjoyed a story book about Easter in Sweden. It is Tekla's Easter by Lillian Budd.

In the story, Tekla and her family live on an island and get to go to church on Easter by boat. They have a small church on their island, but for the big holiday take a boat over to the mainland church. For Easter they dress in old fashion traditional clothes for church. She also makes witch decorations for an auction at her school and tells how the older kids get to stay up with the bonfires. Her older brother keeps setting off firecrackers and cannot wait to eat all the eggs he wants on Easter morning. It is a wonderful story and really helps get across some of the Easter traditions in Sweden.

 For more Multicultural and Easter Posts check out:

• Easter in Ethiopia
• Legend of the Sand Dollar (an Easter Story) 
• Easter in Spain, Portugal and France
• Easter in Ukraine and Russia
• Multicultural Easter Books
• My Easter Craft Round-Up
• Easter in Guatemala
• My Easter Pinterest Board
• My Multicultural Resource Pinterest Board