Transcript File - Calendar Connections

All about … Easter
Learning about Easter and its traditions*
•From: Kidcyber website: Sydenham, S. & Thomas, R. Easter [online]
www.kidcyber.com.au (2011)
Christians
& Easter
• Christians believe that Easter is the time that
Jesus died on a Friday and came alive again
a few days later on Sunday. It is an important
time, so people go to church.
• Easter Sunday is the first Sunday after the
full moon that is seen after 22nd of March.
Because the moon’s pattern change each
year, Easter is on a different date every year.
Easter
Symbols
• In the northern half of the world, Easter comes at
the beginning of spring, so rabbits, chicks and
eggs celebrate new life. Eggs are decorated in
the colours of spring flowers and new leaves.
• These days the eggs are now chocolate and the
colours are on the paper that is wrapped around
them, but some people still dye real eggs in
bright colours.
•
Special Eggs
around the World
In Greece hardboiled
eggs are dyed red, the
colour of Jesus’ blood.
People hold an egg with
three fingers, and tap
their egg against
someone else’s egg ,
trying to break it.
• In some countries eggs
are dyed in amazing
patterns. Long ago, the
King of Russia had an
egg made of gold and
precious jewels each
year, sometimes with a
little treasure inside.
Easter Bunny
or Easter Bilby:
Which is best?
• In many countries the Easter Bunny (a bunny is
a baby rabbit) is thought to bring chocolate
eggs. Rabbits were brought to Australia over two
hundred years ago, and have since become
pests.
• A bilby is a small Australian animal with big ears.
Bilbies are endangered, partly because of
rabbits taking over the places where they live. In
Australia, many people prefer to talk about the
Easter Bilby, not the Easter Bunny.
Hot Cross Buns
Hot Cross Buns are eaten in many places
in the world at Easter time. The buns
are full of dried fruit and are marked
with a cross on top. Before the time of
Jesus, the cross meant the four
quarters of the moon. Christians
decided the cross could also mean the
cross where Jesus died so the buns
became an Easter food.
Easter Foods .. continued
Many special foods are eaten around the
world to celebrate Easter. These include
simnel cake (England), bread with dyed
eggs pressed into it (Greece), and
Russian kulich served with pashka
(special bread served with cream cheese)
Some Easter facts
Find the missing words!
•Christians worship here at Easter: c h _ _ c h
•We eat these at Easter: h _ t c r _ _ _ b _ n s
•We also eat c h _ c _ l _ t _ eggs
•We make Easter b _ n n _ t s.
•Easter is a time for families to get together
and c _ l _ b r _ t _ with special f _ _d.