For those around that celebrate the Christian holiday of Easter, this time of year is especially significant for renewal and fresh beginnings.
The holiday celebrates the resurrection of Jesus, a significant figure in the Bible and the Christian religion, who is believed to be the son of God.
Easter is a major part of the Christian religion, which Newsmax reports as the most widely practiced religion in the world, with an estimated 2.04 billion followers, followed by Islam with 1.226 billion followers worldwide.
Easter bunny
Some of the more commonly known ways of celebrating the holiday include things like the “Easter Bunny” and Easter baskets. These are brightly colored baskets filled with candy and hidden for children to find around their house.
In some households, it is also tradition to decorate eggs with different-colored dye. None of these symbols have a direct relation to Easter, but instead actually come from pagan roots that celebrate the arrival of Spring.
These traditions are not the only ones practiced in celebration of the holiday, however.
Lesser-known Easter traditions
In fact, some places around the world celebrate the holiday in ways that some would consider taboo. A story in the Daily Mail profiles some of the lesser-known ways of celebrating the holiday. This includes things like self-flagellation in the Philippines, underground processions in Poland, and hooded “penance processions” in Spain by Catholic religious brotherhoods.
Traditions like self-flagellation and re-enactments of the crucifixion in places like Argentina are meant to atone for sins and give thanks for the miracles of everyday life. In Slovakia, women and girls in some villages are whipped with small wicker rods and then have water dumped over them. The idea is that the practice will make those women more beautiful.
The holiday is a major symbol for the Christian idea that any wrongdoings by humans will be forgiven. It forms what may be the most important ideological pillar in the religion.
From an American perspective, it’s easy to see these celebrations as weird and a bit bizarre, although from other cultures’ perspectives our traditions probably seem just as off-putting to them.
I think it’d be a bit more interesting to see other examples and ways Easter is celebrated around the world, but this is a pretty well written article and I learned a thing or two from it.