The Daceys Downunder: Easter in Australia

Well, we have now experienced our first “major” holiday that both the US and Australia celebrate, and all in all, we have not suffered too much homesickness. Perhaps that because the weather is not insanely different, as it will be at Christmas. Or, perhaps it’s because my parents are visiting, and that takes the sting out of missing family (Rick, of course, has a slightly different perspective on that issue). Or maybe it’s because candy is candy (or lollies, as the case may be), and chocolate is chocolate, and the Easter Bunny delivers in Australia as well.

That said, there are definitely observations to be shared about the way that the holiday is celebrated. Here in New South Wales, Easter is the start of a two-week break between school terms. So, the end of the week was rather festive in the schools. Erin’s school held an Easter Basket Parade on Thursday, where the kids and their assorted family members assembled and watched the older and younger classes pair up and parade with baskets they had decorated together, listened to the school bands and choirs perform, and watched awards being given. Erin even had a part as a “multicultural” first year student, and read about the Christian tradition of Easter Sunday celebrating Christ’s resurrection (her teacher claimed that she didn’t have any part in the chance fact that a minister’s daughter was reading that!) After the assembly, there was a sausage sizzle, and the kids were permitted to leave school early to start the holiday weekend.

Mom and I attended an Easter Hat parade at the primary school closest to Claire’s preschool. The preschool had been invited to join the kids who paraded with buddies to show off all sorts of crazy hats that they had made. The preschoolers paraded in bunny hats they had made and loved it.

For a vast majority, Good Friday seems to signal a time to begin holidays and family outings to beaches and outdoor venues, much like Labor Day at the end of the summer in the U.S. A big draw here in the Sydney area is the Royal Easter Show, which is a like the Big E in Massachusetts, or a New England country fair on steroids. Both Friday and Monday are public holidays, and all stores, even the grocery stores, are entirely closed on Friday and Sunday.

The biggest difference we have noticed is the way Easter was celebrated at church. There were traditional Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services, and of course, Easter Sunday. On Sunday, though, save for a slight uptick in celebratory mood, and the serving of yummy hot cross buns at morning tea, it was not much different than a regular Sunday. The children were not dressed in bright new spring dresses and white shoes, or little bow ties and new pants, lilies did not cover the front of the church, and the pews did not overflow with the addition of twice-a-year churchgoers. But Rick did preach a humdinger of a sermon, and we enjoyed our traditional Easter ham dinner, with a short bushwalk afterwards, so all is well that ends well!

For my part, I made my first Pavlova, a uniquely Australian dessert made with meringue, whipped cream and fruit. My first meringue was a disaster, as I put it in at 250 degrees Celsius instead of Fahrenheit and it blew up and burned, but once I got my temperatures right, I think I did ok!

We wish all of you a very blessed Easter, and for those of you in the US, enjoy the coming of spring!

Anne

Erin addresses the crowd