Australia

Easter in Australia Easter is a very exciting time for Australian children.

= Religious Significance = ​We celebrate Easter as a way of remembering the death and resurrection of Jesus. Sometimes, it's hard to remember the real reason for Easter because we get distracted by chocolate, but we do our best. At school, we go to Ash Wednesday Mass at the beginning of Lent, which is the 40 days of preparation before Easter. During Lent, we try to be extra good, or to give up something like icecream or lollies, as a way of preparing ourselves. We have Palm Sunday the weekend before Easter, which is a remembrance of the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey. On Good Friday, there are Stations of the Cross services in churches. This is where we hear stories about the day Jesus died and the things that happened to him, and we say prayers to Jesus. In our school, we have Stations of the Cross on Thursday, because we aren't at school on Good Friday. You can read about Stations of the Cross [|here]. Here is a picture of our class acting out the Second Station.

= Special Foods = On Good Friday, many people don't eat meat. Most people like to eat fish instead. [|Hot Cross Buns] are also a traditional food of Easter. They are spiced buns, baked with a cross shape on the top, which represents the cross of Jesus. They usually have mixed fruit in the dough, but you can also buy them without any fruit, or with chocolate chips instead. Our class did a [|taste test] the other day and, while we all liked each sort, the chocolate chip variety was the most popular. Of course, a big part of Easter is chocolate! Most children receive chocolate eggs or bunnies on Easter morning. They come in all sizes and sometimes the little ones have special fillings inside, like mint, caramel or honeycomb.

= Easter Bunnies and Bilbies = The eggs are delivered by the Easter Bunny. He's very sneaky and we never get to see him! Some children like to leave him some carrots and water to eat and drink when he visits their house.

Some people also think that perhaps there is an Easter Bilby too and that he helps the Easter Bunny! A [|bilby] is a small marsupial, found only in Australia. It has ears that look a bit like a rabbit's. We can buy bilby-shaped chocolates too. media type="youtube" key="0D4iJj8tNAI" height="229" width="384"

= Holidays = = = Easter is great for Australians because we get a 4 day weekend! Good Friday and Easter Monday are both public holidays here. Many families like to go camping or on a short holiday somewhere. Easter is usually also the start of a 2 week holiday for schools.

= Families at Easter = Some families like to meet together to share a special meal on Easter Sunday. Sometimes, they'll have Easter Egg hunts in their backyards, where the children search for hidden chocolates. Some families decorate chicken eggs, but most of us don't.

= Our Favourite Things about Easter = = = Here's what The Smarties wrote when Mrs N asked them what they liked best about Easter: //Joel// - My favourite thing about Easter is chocolate and when the Easter Bunny comes. //Joshua// - My favourite thing about Easter is when I get chocolate eggs. //Jack// - My favourite thing about Easter is when we get to do activities and look for the eggs. //Kiara// - My favourite thing about Easter is when we get to eat Easter Eggs. //Ella// - My favourite thing about Easter is when we have an Easter hunt and catching up with family. //Kate// - My favourite thing about Easter is seeing who gets the most Easter eggs and just before Easter we might have a street party. //Jake// - My favourite thing about Easter is having an Easter hunt and eating Easter Eggs. //Caitlin// - My favourite thing about Easter is having chocolate and finding eggs. //Kyle// - My favourite thing about Easter is eating Easter Eggs. //Tia// - My favourite thing about Easter is when you eat chocolate. It is so yummy, you have to try it! We do Easter hunts. //Minnesota// - My favourite thing about Easter is getting Easter Eggs and having Easter hunts. //Raquel// - My favourite thing about Easter is we get choc chip Easter Eggs with white chocolate. //Matthew// - At Easter, I like Easter Egg hunts and eating Easter Eggs and finding Easter Eggs. //Charlee// - My favourite thing about Easter is that you get some Easter Eggs so you can eat them. //Catherine// - My favourite thing about Easter is all the chocolate you get. //Isaac// - My favourite thing about Easter is eggs and having hunts. //Kelsi// - My favourite thing about Easter is the Easter Eggs. //Alex// - My favourite thing about Easter is getting Easter Eggs and presents and having family over. //Taj// - My favourite thing about Easter is when we go for egg hunts and when we wake up and look for the eggs. //Noah// - My favourite thing about Easter is egg hunts and having chocolate bunnies.