Easter at home
Easter traditions and digital culture to be enjoyed at home
Easter egg hunt
With the Easter bunny officially classified as an essential worker, the egg hunt can still go ahead this year — at home. This popular and longstanding German Easter Sunday tradition is a favourite with children who cannot wait to search for hard-boiled coloured eggs, chocolate bunnies, mini eggs or nests filled with the latter. In some parts of Germany children build Easter nests made of moss and flowers in their gardens on Good Friday in anticipation of the egg hunt.
Easter decoration
Almost every German household will have a collection of spring branches decorated with Easter eggs at home. Usually the branches are cut on Holy Thursday (Gründonnerstag) and are put into a vase until Easter Sunday. The branches are decorated with hollowed eggshells. Parents paint and decorate the eggshells with their children several days before Easter.
Decorating Easter eggs is so popular in Germany, there is a museum dedicated to it: the Easter Egg Museum in Sonnenbühl. Although it is closed, there are some images online tha could inspire any budding egg decorator.
Easter delicacies
Pastries made from yeast dough, such as a “Hefezopf” (literally: yeast braid), which is a golden brown braided yeast bread, or a big round pastry called “Osterkranz” (Easter wreath) that can be stuffed with nuts and dried fruits are popular at Easter. These tasty Easter treats are usually eaten with butter or jam. In some parts of Germany, a lamb shaped cake decorated with chocolates and icing powder can be found on dinner tables during Easter.
Easter service
Several German speaking congregations offer an online Easter service:
The German-speaking Congregations of Scotland and North-east England have started a youtube channel, the German Lutheran/ Reformed Ministry of South-East England has also gone online, and their services can be joined via zoom. The German-speaking Catholic parish St Bonifatius London is preparing a special collection of videos on Easter Sunday.
Couch Kultur
There is a whole lot of German culture you can absorb at home.
Watch a play: check out the digital programme that Berlin’s theatres have put together.
Watch a boxset: Walter presents on Channel 4 has a collection of 10 German boxsets, including Deutschland 83 and Bad Banks. The German-Austrian coproduction Freud and the German-American miniseries Unorthodox on Netflix are two brand shows worth giving a go.
Listen to some classical music: J.S. Bach’s St Matthew Passion/ Matthäus-Passion via the digital concert all of the Berliner Philharmoniker is a true Easter classic
Go to the museum: Many German museums and galleries offer digital tours.
Learn German: There are numerous possibilities to start learning or brush up on your German at home.
