Here Comes Peter Cottontail... Easter's on it's way.

22 March 2012

Given that Easter is still a couple weeks away, I wasn't thinking about preparing Easter activities for the kids until over the weekend. However, in calculating the days that I have with each class before spring break, we realized that I only had today to work with 4th grade on an Easter activity.

This meant that I frantically managed to put together a powerpoint about Easter in the United States in about 30 minutes.

After talking about my family's traditions in the United States, we did a comparison of Easter in Spain and Easter in the United States--highlighting the differences and the similarities. Even though Easter is celebrated by Christians in both Spain and the United States, I was surprised to find out that they are fairly different.

I won't elaborate on all of the differences--since some of them I'll write about during Semana Santa (Holy Week). However, I'd like to write about some of the things we discovered. 

Similarities:


Special food--At least with my family in the United States, there is a special meal that we eat--including ham, baked beans, and mashed potatoes. While in Spain there isn't one particular food that is eaten at the Easter meal, there are a number of special foods that are only eaten at Easter--such as la mona and torrijas.


La mona is similar to a kings' cake, but they put an egg (sometimes decorated) in the middle. This is a tradition specific to the eastern side of the coast of Spain--specifically Catalunya. Torrijas are my personal favorite. They are sort of like pieces of French toast but covered in more cinnamon and honey.

Time spent with family--In both countries, Easter is a time to visit your family.

Differences:

Religiousness--On the whole, I think that Easter in Spain at least comes off as being more religious. In the United States, Easter has turned into a very commercialized holiday with the Easter Bunny and all the chocolates/sweets that companies try to sell.

In Spain, Semana Santa (Holy Week) is important--even for the people who aren't practicing Christians. There are religious processions in which people walk all through the city. In Alicante, on the Wednesday before Easter, there will be a religious procession that will last from 5 hours!

Activities--While decorating eggs and having Easter Egg Hunts is becoming more popular in Spain (due to globalization), I discovered that most families take a trip of some sort--to the beach, to the castle, to the countryside, etc--in order to celebrate Easter. There, their families might have a picnic or eat a paella.