30+ Easter Traditions Around the World You Won’t Believe Exist

When thinking about Easter, you probably think of chocolate bunnies and egg hunts. However, this is a global celebration filled with wild customs, colorful rituals, and a few things that’ll make you do a double-take. 

Some fun Easter traditions from across the globe include the following:

• In Poland, boys throw buckets of water on girls (and it’s totally normal)
• Bermuda celebrates with homemade kites and codfish cakes
• In Norway, people read murder mysteries for fun
• Finland? Kids dress as witches and go door to door for candy
• In Australia, Easter bilbies replace bunnies to protect native wildlife

This blog explores Easter celebrations around the world and the surprising ways different cultures mark the holiday.

Meanwhile, if you need to write about holidays or cultural traditions, EssayService offers writing support and academic guidance you can trust!

Europe: From Water Fights to Egg Cracking Competitions

Easter traditions around the world mix together religious roots and local flair, and Europe is no exception. Each country has its own way of celebration. Yes, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday are central to the Easter season in Europe, but things get really interesting outside the boiled eggs and chocolate bunnies.

Poland - Śmigus-Dyngus (Wet Monday)

Easter Monday in Poland is anything but dry. Introducing Śmigus-Dyngus - a fun Polish tradition when boys splash girls with water, sometimes with buckets, water guns, and even milk cartons from breakfast! It’s messy, playful, and totally embraced as a way to celebrate spring and Christ’s resurrection.

Spain - La ‘Quema del Judas’ (Burning of Judas)

In Spain, Easter traditions from around the country include the fiery Quema del Judas. Effigies of Judas (and sometimes infamous public figures) are stuffed with treats or fireworks and set ablaze on Holy Saturday. These dramatic Easter celebrations mark the end of betrayal and the beginning of renewal with Christ’s resurrection.

Greece - Red Egg Cracking

In Greece, red eggs are more than a pretty sight. They’re part of a fierce egg-cracking contest after Easter Sunday dinner. Every family member picks one of these hard-boiled eggs - dyed to represent Jesus’s resurrection - and tries to crack everyone else's. The winner gets bragging rights all Easter season long.

Bulgaria - Egg Painting Contest

Bulgarians love to decorate eggs with intricate designs in different colors. Families host painting contests where kids and adults compete for the most beautiful Easter egg. These fun Easter traditions often happen on Good Friday, with the toughest egg saved until next year. It's all about art, pride, and celebration.

Finland - Easter Witch Tradition

The main players in Finland's Easter holidays are kids dressed up as Easter witches with painted faces, scarves, and willow branches. They go door to door, offering blessings in return for sweet treats or candy eggs. This weird Easter tradition, similar to Halloween, is especially popular in mountain cabins and rural areas.

North America: Giant Eggs and Extreme Passion Plays

Easter celebrations in North America range from sugary and silly to deeply spiritual. Families decorate eggs, exchange chocolate bunnies, and fill baskets with sweet treats. But beyond candy eggs and Easter morning brunch, the continent is packed with bold Easter traditions that bring entire cities - and sometimes entire streets - to life.

United States - Easter Egg Roll at the White House

Every Easter Monday, the White House hosts the famous Easter Egg Roll on its South Lawn. Small children roll colorful eggs using spoons in a race filled with laughter and candy prizes. The tradition dates back to President Rutherford B. Hayes and still features the First Lady reading storybooks on Easter morning.

Canada - The Giant Easter Bunny Parade

Canadian Easter is all about floats, music, chocolate eggs, and children dressed in bunny costumes. Throughout Canada, families gather to celebrate Easter with a massive Easter Bunny Parade. This fun tradition marks the start of spring. There are enough chocolate bunnies, easter bonnets, and plenty of candy eggs for everyone. 

Mexico - Giant 'Tortilla' Cooking for Easter

While Mexican Easter traditions mostly include reenactments of Jesus’s resurrection, in some regions, people also love to cook giant tortillas during Holy Week. These massive, shared meals are filled with beans, eggs, and local treats. These meals bring entire communities together and reflect, eat, and celebrate. It's a wholesome way to honor both faith and families.  

Guatemala - Holy Week Processions

Easter traditions in Guatemala are diverse and very emotional. During Holy Week, cities become living art galleries. While streets get covered with colorful ribbons and sawdust carpets, enormous processions re-enact the final days of Jesus. The Guatemalan celebrations are characterized by incense, music, and deep devotion.

United States (New York City) - Easter Bonnet Parade on Fifth Avenue

New York City blurs the lines between high fashion and Easter every year with its Easter Bonnet Parade. On Easter Sunday, you'll find locals and tourists alike strolling down Fifth Avenue in over-the-top hats decorated with eggs, spring flowers, and sometimes, even milk cartons. American Easter is lighthearted, bizarre, and easily one of the most iconic traditions around.

South America: Flying Kites and Burning Effigies

Celebrating Easter in South America is anything but quiet and reserved. It’s passionate, bold, and full of life. South Americans go all out with Passion Plays, parades, and fire-filled rituals. While you’ll still spot chocolate eggs and big family dinners, Easter traditions here lean heavily into community, storytelling, and just pure emotion.

Venezuela - Flying Kites on Good Friday

In Venezuela, celebrating Easter starts with flying kites on Good Friday. Families head to open fields and parks to fly homemade kites - some simple, some beautifully designed. It’s a peaceful way to honor Jesus’s resurrection, with the kites symbolizing souls lifting toward heaven. The view is just pure magic.

Brazil - Passion Plays with a Twist

Brazil is known for its Passion Plays. They don't just tell the Easter story but stage a full-on production. In towns like Nova Jerusalém, locals reenact Jesus’s final days with massive plays that draw thousands. The entire town becomes a stage, complete with actors, animals, and lights. It’s emotional, intense, and one of the most unforgettable Easter traditions around the continent.

Colombia - Easter Celebrations with 'Coffins' and Processions

Colombia celebrates Easter very traditionally. In cities like Popayán, participants carry symbolic coffins and statues through the streets. The event features candles, chants, and reflections on Christ’s resurrection, drawing large crowds. These holy processions show how deeply Easter is tied to national identity and community values.

Chile - The Burning of Effigies in Valparaíso

Easter in Valparaíso represents a fiery flair. On Easter Sunday, locals burn effigies - sometimes made from animal products or recycled materials - to symbolize the destruction of sin. These burning figures light up city plazas, and the unique blend of faith and drama adds up to a theatrical tradition.

Argentina - Giant Easter Eggs Parade in Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires welcomes Easter with a parade. The participants carry chocolate eggs, sweet treats, and larger-than-life Easter eggs. Families gather to watch the event, kids get candy eggs, and everyone enjoys the fun tradition. A sugary, colorful celebration brings joy to the heart of the country.

Asia: Kites, Masses, and Colorful Festivities

True - Easter in Asia is not the biggest holiday on the calendar, but in the places where families celebrate it, the holiday is filled with meaning. It can be a quiet morning meal, a sky full of kites, or egg hunts in the middle of Tokyo. Asian Easter traditions have their own special charm.

Philippines - Salubong (Meeting of Christ and Mary)

In the Philippines, Easter starts way before breakfast. As the sun rises, two processions - one with Mary, the other with Jesus - slowly make their way through town. When they meet, there are flowers, singing, and pure joy. Locals call it Salubong, and it’s a moving way to celebrate Jesus’s resurrection with the whole community.

Sri Lanka - Easter Sunday Kite Flying

Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka is all about color and calm. After church, families head outside to fly kites. Homemade ones, store-bought ones - it doesn’t matter. What matters is being together under the open sky. Watching those kites dance in the wind feels like a breath of hope.

Japan - Easter Egg Hunts in Tokyo

Japan and Easter don't have a long history, but unsurprisingly, Tokyo knows how to make it fun. The city's biggest shopping malls and parks host Easter egg hunts for kids, and the holiday is filled with chocolate eggs and candy. You’ll spot a lot of bunny ears, pastel decorations, and enough sweet treats to make the Easter Bunny proud.

India - Easter Mass with Indian Influence

Easter morning starts with mass in India, but it’s filled with local flavor. Locals decorate churches with flowers and colorful ribbons, and the music blends Indian instruments with joyful Easter hymns. After this, families gather for a big meal filled with spice, love, and dishes passed down through many generations.

Nepal - Easter Morning Feasts with Lamb

Easter in Nepal is simple and heartfelt. Families come together for prayer, then share a home-cooked meal - usually lamb, rice, and sweet bread. It’s not flashy or loud, but it’s full of warmth. It’s the kind of Easter where every dish means something, and every seat at the table matters.

Oceania: Bilbies, BBQs, and Mountain Hunts

Oceania checks all three boxes associated with Easter traditions around the world: it's sweet, solemn, and a bit quirky. In this part of the world, Easter week is characterized by laid-back beach vibes and wild landscapes. Oceanian traditions are anything but ordinary.

Australia -  Easter Bilby

Forget the Easter Bunny - Australia celebrates Easter with the Easter Bilby. Since rabbits are a real problem for local wildlife, the bilby stepped in as a native alternative. You’ll find chocolate bilbies on store shelves and in Easter baskets, all while helping raise awareness for this endangered little marsupial. Cute and meaningful.

New Zealand -  Easter Egg Hunt in the Mountains

In New Zealand, Easter egg hunts take things up a notch - literally. Families head to mountain cabins and national parks for long weekends filled with hiking, games, and chocolate eggs hidden in the wild. It’s a full-on adventure where kids search for sweet treats surrounded by lakes, trails, and towering trees.

Tahiti -  Easter Island Feasts and Fireworks

Easter in Tahiti is both a feast and a show. After coming back from church, families will gather for massive meals and eat fish, fruits, and coconut-filled desserts. As night begins to fall, fireworks light up the sky over the ocean. Here, everyone is invited, and the food just keeps coming.

Fiji -  Easter Sunday BBQs on the Beach

In Fiji, Easter Sunday means two things: church in the morning and a beach BBQ by noon. Families pack coolers, light the grill, and spend the afternoon eating, swimming, and enjoying the holiday together. Think grilled fish, tropical fruit, and candy eggs for the kids - all with the ocean as your backdrop.

Papua New Guinea -  Traditional Easter Feasts and Celebrations

Easter in Papua New Guinea brings people together in villages for food, dancing, and worship. Traditional meals, singing, and telling stories that connect their faith with local culture - this is what Easter looks like in Papua New Guinea. It’s a celebration of identity, family, and everything that holds people together.

Africa: Vibrant Celebrations and Unique Rituals

Easter in Africa is all heart. It's loud but not in the sense of being annoying - it's full of music, dancing, food, and faith. Every celebration feels like a gathering of generations, where tradition meets community, and joy shows up in every song, every bite, every prayer. 

Nigeria - Easter Masquerade Festivals

In Nigeria, Easter sometimes comes with a mask, literally. In some communities, people celebrate with masquerade festivals that turn the streets into a living performance. Dancers get dressed up in bold costumes and move energetically to drums; crowds cheer, and the whole scene bursts with energy. It’s loud and impossible not to get swept up in.

Kenya - Easter Bonfire and Song Celebrations

In Kenya, Easter Sunday often ends around a fire. Families light bonfires, sing worship songs and spend the evening telling stories under the stars. There’s no stage, no spotlight - just people, voices, and warmth. It’s the kind of Easter tradition that wraps you in peace and reminds you what really matters.

Ethiopia - Timkat Spirit Lives On

While Timkat - the celebration of Epiphany - happens in January, its spirit spills into Easter traditions, too. In Ethiopia, people bring that same energy of joy and reverence to the Easter season. You’ll see traditional white robes, music echoing through the streets, and communities gathering like one big family to honor their faith.

Uganda - Shared Meals and Shared Prayers

In Uganda, Easter is about being together. After church, families and neighbors share a huge meal - rice, stews, vegetables, and boiled eggs on every plate. There’s praying, laughing, and lots of catching up. It’s not about decorations or chocolate eggs. It’s about community and the comfort of being home.

South Africa - The Great Easter Feast

South Africa knows how to throw a proper Easter feast. Some families head to the beach or mountain cabins, others stay close to home, but almost all gather around a table. Lamb, hard-boiled eggs, and hot cross buns are usually on the menu. The food is rich, the laughter loud, and the love always overflowing.

Final Thoughts

Easter traditions around the world prove one thing: there’s no universal way to celebrate. From kite flying in Sri Lanka to bonfires in Kenya, families everywhere celebrate Easter in ways that feel true to their culture and faith. 

And if you ever need to write about global holidays or religious traditions, EssayService is here for you. If you need academic guidance, we’ve got your back!