10 curious Easter Traditions that you can try!

Welcome to our whirlwind tour of wild and wonderful Easter traditions from all corners of the world. It's a celebration that goes way beyond chocolate cravings, so buckle up for a ride through the coolest customs and craziest festivities that make Easter a truly global event. Ready to dive into the egg-citing mix of traditions? Let's hop into the fun together and choose which ones you want to have a go at! 

If you like omelettes, you’ll love this! The town of Haux, near Bordeaux, spends the holiday gathering as many as 5,000 eggs to cook an omelette large enough to feed 1,000 people. Apparently, Napoleon spent time in Haux and loved their omelettes so much that he ordered the town to make one large enough to feed his army.  

The world’s largest omelette was cooked in Portugal in 2012. 145,000 free range eggs were poured into a huge pan along with 880lbs of oil and 220lbs of butter! 150 volunteer chefs took turns moving the mixture around for 6 hours until it was ready. 

Ok, we’re not suggesting that you cook quite so many eggs, but why not grab your biggest frying pan and enough eggs for the whole family and cook a giant omelette to enjoy over the Easter weekend! 

Egg dumping, or egg tapping, is a bit like the game of conkers, except with eggs. Played with two players, each person selects a decorated or dyed hard-boiled egg. Players then take it in turns gently tapping the pointed ends of their eggs against each other. The goal is to crack the opponent's egg while keeping yours intact. 

The average chicken egg weighs between 50-70 grams, which makes the largest chicken egg ever laid at 454g a whopper! We’re not sure however if size matters when it comes to egg dumping, so you’ll need to experiment with different sized eggs to find out! 

First, hard boil some eggs. Each competitor must then pick an egg and decorate it as they wish. Draw lots to set up your knock-out tournament and then get tapping! The person with the last uncracked egg is the winner and gets to revel in the sweet victory of having the toughest egg.

If you want to try something different with your painted eggs, how about decorating a bush or tree? You could even try beating the world record for the largest ‘Easter Egg Tree’; you’ll just need 82,405 painted hen’s eggs and a tree large enough to hang them all from!  

In Sweden, children eagerly anticipate Easter as a time to dress up as "Easter witches" or påskkärringar. Carrying colourful scarves and broomsticks, these young witches go door-to-door, exchanging drawings and paintings for sweets. This charming tradition has its roots in the belief that witches would fly to a mythical mountain on Maundy Thursday, and dressing up as witches is a way to ward off evil spirits. 

Finland has its own version of Easter witches known as "Virpominen." On Palm Sunday, children dress up as little witches with broomsticks and head out to the streets, exchanging colourful willow twigs adorned with feathers and crepe paper for sweets. 

In medieval Europe, it was believed that witches could turn into cats. So, if you ever saw a cat sitting and staring at you for too long, you might've been staring back at a witch plotting her next mischief! 

If you don’t live in Sweden or Finland, you may get some strange looks if you dress up and head out on the streets trying to swap twigs for sweets. However, you could get your street, friends or family involved and give it a go for a Halloween twist to your Easter celebrations! 

(Image - Michael Trolove / Bottle Kicking)

The most curious event happens in Hallaton, Leicestershire on Easter Monday. First, a large hare pie is blessed by the local clergy before being cut into pieces and thrown into the crowd. Participants then engage in a frenzied scramble to secure a portion of the pie, believed to bring good luck for the year ahead. After the pie frenzy, it is time for the Bottle Kicking contest. This rough-and-tumble game sees rival teams from Hallaton and the neighbouring village of Medbourne competing to move a wooden barrel or "bottle" across a river to their goal, using any means necessary. Cue much chaos and laughter!

It's said to have started back in the medieval days as a way for neighbouring villages to sort out their differences without violence. There are virtually no rules to the bottle-kicking, except that there is no eye-gouging, no strangling, and no use of weapons! 

If you can’t get to Hallaton to spectate or take part in the real thing, why not set up your own mini event using an Easter egg in your local park! Set the goal location for each team, drop the egg in the middle and see what happens – but remember the rules above! The winning team get to eat the egg, if it is in an edible state of course! 

In Bermuda, Good Friday is marked by a colourful tradition of flying kites. Locals and visitors alike take to the beaches and open spaces to showcase their handmade kites, often shaped like traditional characters or animals. The sky transforms into a vibrant display of creativity and celebration.  

Bermudian kites are super good flyers! They've previously smashed world records for flying really high and staying up in the air for a long time. The current world records stand at 16,009ft for the highest altitude and 180hr 17min for the longest flight time.

Making your own kite may not be as tricky as you think! This very simple kite can be made with paper, string, a stapler and a hole punch. Or, you could get more involved with sticks for a frame kite here.   

Ever wondered why we eat hot cross buns at Easter? Well, the cross on top represents Jesus' crucifixtion, making them fitting for Easter, which celebrates his resurrection. They were also a traditional treat orginally made by monks and given to the poor on Good Friday. Plus, the yummy ingredients inlude cinnamon, nutmeg and raisins or currents, are all associated with Easter and the spring season. And finally, many families having fun baking (or buying!) and eating hot cross buns together as part of their Easter traditions.

So, it is a mix of religious significance, history, tasty ingredients, and family customs that make hot cross buns an Easter favorite! 

The custom of eating hot cross buns on Good Friday has been around in the UK since at least the 16th century. Legend has it that if you share a hot cross bun with someone, you'll enjoy a strong friendship. 

If you don’t like spending time in the kitchen, your local shop or supermarket will be awash with hot cross buns at this time of year! But many say that home-baked buns are the best, and they’re surprisingly easy to make. We’ve dug up this easy hot cross bun recipe for you to try.

In Norway, Easter is all about diving into detective stories! Norway’s obsession with påskekrim (Easter crime) means that Norwegians love cozying up with detective novels or binge-watching crime shows during the holiday. Even publishers release special crime novels just for Easter. It is like a nationwide mystery marathon where families can bond over whodunits and suspense. Who needs chocolate eggs when you've got thrilling plots to unravel? 

The term "Nordic Noir" was coined to describe the dark and gritty themes often found in Norwegian and other Scandinavian crime fiction, making Norway a powerhouse in the genre. 

Simply grab your nearest crime novel or settle down in front of your favourite crime series. If you fancy giving Nordic Noir a try, fiction by Norwegian authors Jo Nesbø or Karin Fossum may hit the spot, or teens and grown-ups can try Outlier (currently streaming on Channel 4), or Occupied (Netflix, rated 15). Other Nordic Noir dramas include Borgen (Denmark) Entrapped (Iceland), Bordertown (Finland) or The Bridge (Sweden). 

(IMAGE - Phil Champion-St George slays Bold Slasher-Heptonstall Pace Egg Play)

Pace Egg plays (or Paschal plays) are an old Easter tradition in the North of England, where performers called Pace Eggers put on pantomime style plays linked to local folklore. The play usually entails a fight between a hero and a villain, with the hero being killed and then brought back to life by a comedy doctor. Heroes such as St. George are pitted against baddies like the Bold Slasher or Beelzebub. Picture some mock combat, jokes, and music, all mixed up with exaggerated acting. It's a fun way for communities to hang out, have a laugh, and welcome in spring while keeping a bit of tradition alive. 

Pace Egg plays are hundreds of years old and no one really knows where they started or why. The performers (Pace Eggers) were often rewarded with decorated eggs from local villagers.  

You could go and see the real thing in Heptonstall, West Yorkshire, where the local play as been revived and become a popular Good Friday tradition. Or, why not have a go at writing and putting on your own Pace Egg play? Your hero and villain need a sword, and all characters need a brightly coloured decorated hat, just like an Easter bonnet! 

Poland takes Easter Monday to a whole new level with Śmigus-Dyngus, aka Wet Monday. It's not just about splashing around—it's a full-blown water war! People drench each other with water, and there's even a saying that if a girl gets soaked, she'll get married within the year. Talk about a soaking wet love story!  

The largest water pistol in the world measures 3.85m long, 2.10m tall, and 0.42m wide. However, the most powerful water pistol, the Super Soaker, was designed by an ex-NASA engineer and shoots water at 272 miles per hour. The jet of water is powerful enough to cut a watermelon! 

We’re not suggesting you attempt to cut random fruit up with water jets, but if the weather is nice, there’s nothing wrong with a good old water fight outdoors! Just remember, in the Polish tradition, soaking another person is supposed to be a sign of affection, so keep it friendly!  

(IMAGE - Nicole Kearney, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons)

Move over Easter Bunny, there’s a new chocolate treat in town! Down under, Easter takes a unique turn with the spotlight on the endangered bilby, a native marsupial. This quirky little creature has become a symbol of hope for all wildlife conservation and many Australians opt for chocolate bilbies instead of the traditional Easter bunny. These chocolate treats not only satisfy sweet cravings but donations from the sale of Easter Bilbies go towards the conservation of these animals too. 

Where did the Easter bunny come from? In German folklore, there's a character called "Osterhase" or "Oschter Haws" (Easter Hare) who would bring eggs and treats to children on Easter Sunday.  

Whether you’re a hare, a bunny or a bilby, why not hop on this tradition by making yourself a set of long ears and hiding or distributing your eggs this year in character! 

An Easter blog wouldn’t be complete without the classic Easter egg hunt; hundreds if not thousands will be taking place on Easter Sunday up and down the country and in many other places around the world too. But what you might not know is that hundreds, if not thousands of families also choose to go out Treasure Trailing at Easter for the ultimate treasure hunt experience!

Back in 2012, Treasure Trails was part of a successful world record attempt for the most participants in a treasure hunt! 

Beating the current world record for most people on a treasure hunt (1,384) is perhaps a bit ambitious, but there are plenty of other records to smash! Check out our Treasure Trails World Records page to see which one you can break. 

If you think you're a record breaker, message us, along photographic evidence, via Instagram or Facebook, or by reply to your order email, and our expert adjudicators will consider your entry!