Easter

The christian Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon (in the Meton’s Calendar, not the regular one) that comes after March 21st; the Spring Equinox. It's the oldest, most important event during the ecclesiastic year, with roots in the Jewish Passover, in remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt. In Sweden, the week leading up to Easter is called Stilla Veckan – the still or quiet week. Palm Sunday comes first, then Blue or Black Monday, the Tuesday White Tuesday and the Wednesday Dymmelonsdag, where a "dymmel" is a wooden sowpod that replace the metal dito, to give the church bells a muted, more quiet sound. They are again replaced for Easter Sunday and Monday, to celebrate the resurrection with a clearer sound.
Only four of the 7 days have a connecion to the church. Palm Sunday, to celebrate when Jesus came riding on a donkey into Jerusalem and the people greeted him as the Messiah with palm leaves, singing Hosanna. The Thursday which gets very confusing as it is also known as Witching Thursday where Swedish children dress up as witches and hand out Easter cards and get treats and money. Historically, this was the nights when they thought that the witches flew to Blåkulla – The Blue Hills – to dance and party with the devil. They would fly on their brooms, with their black cat on their shoulders and their kettle hanging from the handle. That night, all cattle had to be locked indoors, or else they would be cursed and not yield neither milk nor offspring in the coming months. The third one is Good Friday, to commemorate the crucifixion and lastly Easter Saturday – an Eve holiday of course. Interestingly, the church weeks start on a Sunday, not a Monday so Easter Sunday which of course is a “red day” as is the following Monday, but none of them are included in the Quiet or Still Week. The highlight of Easter celebrations in Sweden is...the food, surprise, surprise!, and of course the chocolate. In Sweden, it's estimated that each person consumes 1kg or just over 2lbs of chocolate during the Easter holiday.

A popular pass time for little ones is to decorate their own eggs, and grown ups can certainly enjoy it as well. In Russia they have a similar tradition, though their eggs are incredible works of art, made with oil paints and wax. You can either make a small hole in one end of a raw egg and a slightly bigger one in the other and blow out the white and yolk and after that paint the empty shell. Very carefully! For children, we suggest boiled eggs and felt tip pens!