Easter Celebrations in Europe

Just like Christmas traditions, Easter and Holy Week customs throughout Europe vary from country to country and even region to region.  Most customs include religious rituals and church services, candy, feasting and family gatherings.  Easter festivities usually begin filling the streets, squares, and shops during Holy Week, the seven days before Easter Sunday, and it’s a colorful time to visit the Old World.  In some central and eastern European countries, Easter is a greater holiday than Christmas.

The Prague Easter market in the Old Town Square showcases over 100 stalls of handcrafts, toys, Czech crystal, regional delicacies and beer, and beautiful hand-painted eggs.  Folk dancers and residents in traditional costume provide a lively atmosphere.  For the children there are workshops for painting eggs and other activities.

In Romania, after the late evening church services on Holy Saturday, visitors can observe local peoples parading through the streets carrying lighted candles in a solemn procession.  In some villages, intricately decorated eggs are hung from tree branches, strung onto wires, featured in games, and taken to church to be blessed.

Unusual European customs include egg fights in Bulgaria, where whoever comes out of the game with an unbroken egg is the winner and assumed to be the most successful member of the family in the coming year, and the Hungarian tradition of Wet Monday, when boys throw buckets of cold water over girls to make them healthy for the rest of the year.

Wet Monday in Hungary.

Also, not to be missed, are the Holy Week festival in Braga, Portugal, and the Semana Santa processions in southern Spain, most famously in Seville.  The cities are crowded with tourists for the ancient traditions of floats in elaborate processions depicting the passion of Christ.

And, of course, the apogee of all Easter experiences would be in Vatican City.  Blessings, processions, vigils, and Masses in many languages are frequent throughout Holy Week.  A schedule of events is available on-line.  Be sure to check for closures of possible Vatican museum closures this week on-line here. 

Lastly, residents of every country enjoy food prepared for the Easter celebration.  Lamb, sweet breads, cakes, and eggs are traditional dishes for many.  In England, hot-cross buns are popular on Good Friday.  These are sweet fruit buns with crosses on top.  In Western Europe, the pretzel is eaten, and legend has it that the twists resemble the crossed arms of a person in prayer.

This Spa's For You

It’s Valentine’s Day.  I hope you all get a lovely, romantic gift of flowers, chocolate, jewelry, or dinner at a restaurant.  Some of you lucky ladies will maybe get a spa treatment, so I thought I’d write a few words about spas today.

The word “spa” comes from a town in Belgium actually named Spa.  The city of Spa has been famous in Europe for its healing hot mineral springs since the early 14th century.  There are many spa towns in Europe with natural water sources believed to have health benefits.  In fact, just about every European country has several hotspots of geothermal activity.

The town of Spa, Belgium

You may be surprised to know that one of Europe’s most famous spa towns is in Hungary.  Heviz, in western Hungary, is home to Europe’s largest natural thermal lake and the main spa facility there was built over 100 years ago.  Bulgaria, surprisingly, has over 500 mineral springs, including the hottest spring in the Balkans at 217° F!  Serbia is known for its many spa cities, too.

You’re probably familiar with the steam bathing and ritual cleansing of Turkish baths - Istanbul is brimming with these luxurious saunas.  And maybe you know that Iceland is richer in natural hot springs than any other country in the world, many of them with dramatically spouting geysers.

It’s obvious by the name there’s some sort of water source in Bath, England, in Somerset county.  In fact, the hot springs in Bath are the only ones naturally occurring in the UK.  Bath was first established as a restorative spa resort by the Romans in AD 43, when they built baths and a temple on the surrounding hills.

Roman bath in Bath, England

If you’ve ever been to Germany, you might have wondered why so many cities there are “Bad.”  Bad Kissingen, Bad Homburg, Baden-Baden are a few.  This is because Bad means bath in German, and there are many, many spa towns in Germany.  With typical German authoritarianism, Bad as the prefix of a city is an official designation and requires governmental authorization (which may also be suspended if a town fails to maintain the required standards).

Serenity Spa at Seaham Hall in England

And, since this is a blog for families with children, you might be interested to know that Forbes.com lists Serenity Spa at Seaham Hall in Durham, England, as the Top for Teens.  Thirteen to 16 year olds may receive various treatments here when accompanied by an adult, and everyone can enjoy the gym, pools, outdoor hot tubs, steam rooms, and roof garden.

Many Europeans are firm believers in the enriching physical and spiritual health benefits of hot thermal baths, and often their week-long stays at such resorts are covered by their health insurance.  But their wonderful wellness hotels, day spas and destination resorts are open to all vacationers coming to heal and rejuvenate.

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An Epiphany

When I was growing up my mother never took down the Christmas tree until after January 6th, which is Three King’s Day, or the Feast of the Epiphany.  In many parts of Europe, including Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, the Christmas celebration does not end until this date - the day Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar arrived at the manger in Bethlehem.  Traditionally, on this day, European children will ransack the tree for the sugar treats that decorate it.  We never had candy on our tree at home so the only excitement we had on January 6th was finally being able to add the three king figurines to our nativity crèche. 

Bulgarian horo dance

Things get pretty exciting in Bulgaria though on the Epiphany.  On this day, a traditional all-male horo dance is performed in ice-cold water.  In Greece, where it’s at least a little bit warmer, a priest will bless the oceans and cast a cross into the water, whereupon the men present will dive in after it.  He who retrieves it is then blessed with good luck. These Eastern Christian celebrations entail water because they generally commemorate all of Jesus' childhood events, particularly his baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptist.

Although the particulars of another custom vary from region to region, many European countries celebrate Three King's Day by baking King Cake.  In France it takes the form of a puff pastry with almond filling, called galette des rois; in Holland it’s King’s Bread; in England it’s called Twelfth Cake, a rich, dense fruitcake.  Almost always, a coin, a bean, a ring, a plastic figurine of a king or baby Jesus, or some other trinket is hidden inside the cake and the person who gets the piece of cake with the trinket becomes “king” or “queen” for the day!

Galette des rois

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