25 Unique Easter Traditions from Around the World

Christ is risen! Christians celebrate Easter all around the world. Yet you’d be surprised how many different traditions make Easter a special time for children. You may know about chocolate eggs, bonnets and Simnel cake – but what about kite flying in Haiti, picnics in Uganda or street painting in El Salvador? Discover how the child you sponsor may be celebrating with these 25 unique Easter traditions from around the world.

Easter traditions in Burkina Faso

If the child or young person you support lives in Burkina Faso, they may enjoy an Easter church service, then share a special meal with friends and family. Easter Monday is a day of rest, so they’ll have the day off school. Most workplaces will be closed too – giving friends and family the chance to spend time having fun together.

Easter traditions in Ethiopia

For children in Ethiopia, Easter is called Fasika. Christians prepare for the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection with a 55-day fast, when they typically only eat one vegetarian meal a day. To break this fast on Easter Sunday, the child you sponsor may have the chance to share injera (a type of bread) or pancakes after the church service.

Easter traditions in Kenya

Compassion participants living in Kenya will look forward to a delicious Easter meal after church. A typical meal might include sharing Nyama Choma (roasted meat) and may even include a soft drink – a real treat! Easter day services have been known to last three hours, so this meal is well deserved.

Easter traditions in Ghana

Ghanaians dress in certain colours to mark the different days of Easter. On Good Friday, depending on the church denomination, the child or young person you sponsor may either dress in dark mourning clothes or bright colours. On Easter Sunday everyone wears white.

For 14-year-old Leticia, “Easter assures me of the love God has for me to sacrifice His only son for me. And also that Jesus agreed to die for me because He also loves me.”

Easter traditions in Rwanda

Easter in Rwanda is a time for children and youth in the Compassion programme to celebrate with family.

Cynthia shares, “Besides going to church on Easter as a family, we usually go and visit our family members that live in distant places and we share a memorable meal. It’s only Easter when I get to meet my cousins, uncles and aunties I don’t get to see every day. It’s an amazing day for our family.”

Easter traditions in Tanzania

For the child you sponsor in Tanzania, special church services start on Palm Sunday. Members of the congregation will bring palm branches into church or wave them as they march through the streets.

On Good Friday, children may take part in a procession, called Way of the Cross, which happen across the country.

On Easter Day, church will be packed. After church, families will spend time together and enjoy a meal. Typically, people will buy new clothes and special items for this day.

Easter traditions in Togo

In Togo, the child you support may join in a procession on Good Friday called The Bearing of the Cross. A priest carries a cross through the village or town, and the congregation follow.

On Easter Day, children and young people may attend a church service or concert before sharing a meal with friends and family.

Easter Traditions in Uganda

In Uganda, children may take part in an Easter play or concert at their church. At some Compassion projects, the staff also arrange special treats such as a picnic.

Food is an important part of Easter celebrations in Uganda and families will prepare a special meal of Ugali (a dough-like consistency made from maize flour), potatoes, beans, chicken or goat.

Want to reach out to encourage the child or young person you support this Easter? You can write them a special Easter message here.

Easter Traditions in Indonesia

If the child you sponsor lives in one of the main cities of Indonesia, such as Jakarta, Surabaya or Manado, their Easter traditions may feel very familiar. They may go to church on Easter Sunday, share a meal with family and friends – even take part in an Easter egg hunt!

But this might seem slightly less familiar. These children in a Compassion project are celebrating Easter with a toothbrushing competition! Staff at the project, in the east of the country, host fun games and activities that teach life skills.

Easter Traditions in Philippines

The child you sponsor in the Philippines may get the chance to re-enact the Last Supper and Jesus washing his disciples’ feet on Maundy Thursday. Many Filipinos participate in visita iglesia, a journey between different churches to witness these re-enactments.

Easter Traditions in Thailand

While many children in Thailand are aware of Christmas, the commercial aspects of Easter have yet to catch on in the same way. Even in the larger cities, the child you sponsor is unlikely to see rows of chocolate Easter eggs in the shops, but they can be found at select stores.

On Easter Day, children and young people are likely to attend a church service, before sharing a special meal with friends and family.

Easter Traditions in Sri-Lanka

If the child you sponsor lives in Sri Lanka, they may or may not celebrate Easter.. While Christmas is celebrated widely, Easter has not yet been adopted by everyone. Children in the Compassion programme may well celebrate with their local church with an Easter service and meal.

Easter Traditions in Bangladesh

In rural Bangladesh, the child you support is likely to go to church with their family, before returning home to share sweets and pastries with their relatives and neighbours. If a family can afford them, they will buy new clothes for their children.

In the capital Dhaka, Easter Sunday is marked with a special Sun Rise Service – a morning devotion arranged in front of the Parliament building.

“I am looking forward to singing in the choir at the Easter service,” shares 10-year-old Srabonti. “I love to sing, as it makes me happy and when we sing in the church with everyone the joy is twofold in my heart.”

Encourage the child you support with a personal Easter greeting.

Easter traditions in Haiti

In Haiti, the child or young person you sponsor will have the freedom to spend Good Friday playing outdoors. On this day, colourful kites fill the sky and children run long distances, often barefoot, trying to get their kite higher than their friends.

“Good Friday is one of the rare days that I have the freedom to go out with my friends to play all day long and also to eat a big meal,” says Peterson, age 14.

Easter traditions in Dominican Republic

In the Dominican Republic, children will be looking forward to Easter as the country’s biggest holiday and celebration. They may travel back to their home town for Easter, to celebrate with family and friends. Palm Sunday through to Easter Sunday is a time for reflection and prayer.

Darwin, a Compassion-supported child in the Dominican Republic, shares this special prayer for Easter: “Dear Jesus, thank you for coming and dying for the forgiveness of our sins. After Jesus died, He went to heaven again. Jesus said He will come back.”

Easter traditions in El Salvador

In El Salvador, the child you sponsor may enjoy creating rug-like paintings on the streets on Good Friday, using coloured sand and sawdust. Later, these paintings become the path for processions, as the main avenues are closed for the day.

Easter has a summer time feel in El Salvador, as it falls in the middle of their dry season.

Easter traditions in Guatemala

In Guatemala, Easter traditions include a large, colourful celebration marked by countless processions. The main roads are closed, and the sound of music rings through the streets.

Special food is prepared such as curtido (a diced vegetable mix which is cooked in vinegar to achieve a sour taste), fish, eggs, chickpeas, fruit mix, pumpkin, pacaya palm and spondias fruit (a Spanish version of a plum).

Easter traditions in Honduras

In Honduras, children celebrate Easter with parades, special church services, and other cultural events. Good Friday and Holy Saturday are official public holidays.

On Good Friday, the streets are decorated in colourfully dyed sawdust that is used to create patterns and scenes from the life of Jesus.

Easter traditions in Mexico

In some cities of Mexico, the child you sponsor may witness a Procesión de Silencio or silent procession to mark Easter, where people march down the street by candlelight, in silence. Easter traditions begin on Palm Sunday, lasting through Holy Week to Easter Sunday and beyond.

Easter traditions in Nicaragua

The child you support in Nicaragua may take part in an Easter tradition stretching back 470 years. In Holy Week, processions inspired by biblical passages pass through the streets. On the morning of Good Friday, many churches organise a procession known as Santo Entierro or Service of Darkness, symbolising Jesus’ death and burial.

Easter traditions in Bolivia

In Bolivia, children and young people will be preparing for a lively celebration of Easter. Traditions include food, music, dance and religious processions for Semana Santa, which is Holy Week in Spanish.

Easter traditions in Brazil

In Brazil, Easter traditions that children might enjoy include weaving crosses from palm branches, speeches, prayer, and ceremonies.

On Good Friday, known as Sexta Paixão, most households in Brazil will avoid eating meat so eat fish instead. When Easter arrives, many Brazilians go to church in the afternoon and spend the rest of the day with friends and family.

Easter traditions in Colombia

In Colombia, the child you sponsor may be enjoying activities in their Compassion project. These children are dressing up as biblical characters to take part in an Easter parade.

Easter traditions in Ecuador

On Good Friday, the Easter tradition in Ecuador is not to eat meat. Instead, the child or young person you support will be likely to eat a traditional dish called Fanesca, a soup made from milk and cod (usually salted) with a combination of grains such as corn, lentils, peanuts, beans, peas and quinoa.

Easter traditions in Peru

In Peru, Easter is a solemn celebration and the child you sponsor will have Holy Week off school. Children and teenagers participate in the special celebrations with their parents. During this time many families will travel to visit relatives.

So many ways to celebrate, all around the world! Whichever Easter traditions the child you sponsor will enjoy this year, you can make their celebrations extra special by sending them a personal message or a prayer using one of our brand new Easter card templates.