EASTER. The most important festival of Christianity, Easter is for many an opportunity to meet around a good meal or to go on an egg hunt and other rabbits and chocolate bells. Recipes, meaning, symbolism… We tell you everything.
[Mis à jour le 17 avril 2022 à 17h40] It is an essential holiday in the Christian calendar: Easter. But for those with a sweet tooth, it is also an unexpected opportunity to eat dishes, each one more delicious than the next. And the recipes that lend themselves to the event are not lacking. From paschal lamb to chocolate eggs, bells and bunnies, there is something for everyone. A real treat for the little ones who are sure to go on an Easter egg hunt. Find below our recipe ideas, the many egg hunts organized this weekend and the symbolism of eggs, chocolates and rabbits.
But by the way, where does this tradition of Easter bells come from? According to tradition, the children were told that the bells were going to be blessed by the pope in Rome and that when they returned at Easter, they would chime and spread eggs and bells in the gardens. The rabbit tradition comes from eastern France and Germany. The Easter Hare, called Osterhase, is symbolic of fertility and renewal in the Germanic pagan tradition. In German-speaking Lorraine and Alsace, it is the Easter hare that scatters the eggs in the gardens.
At Easter, lamb, rabbit and eggs are the three star products of the traditional meal. Paschal lamb is the most traditional option for your menu. For those who don’t like lamb, opt for the rabbit. As for vegetarians, they will prefer eggs! At Easter, in addition to a menu including traditional dishes such as Easter lamb and chocolate eggs, you can also prepare innovative dishes. Find below several recipes, as well as their meanings.
Easter lamb: how to cook it?
It’s up to you to select the piece, between the shoulder, the leg, the rack or the mouse of lamb, and discover the recipe that gives you the most mouth watering:
What if we took advantage of this holiday to give in to the gluttony of good homemade eggs? Making chocolate Easter eggs isn’t complicated, but molds are needed, and you need at least 3 hours to spare. Discover our best chocolate or sugar Easter egg recipes below:
The best Easter chocolate recipes
Also discover our recipe, simple and easy to make, homemade Easter chocolates via this tutorialor check out our best recipes on the subject:
What are the different Easter cake recipes?
Know that chocolate eggs are not the only treats at Easter. If you want to stay in the tradition, then opt for the little Alsatian Easter lamb baptized osterlammele. These little egg-rich Easter lambs are originally offered the morning after Easter Mass. Tradition has it that it is surmounted by a small tissue paper pennant in Alsatian colours. If you want to stay in the spirit of chocolate bunnies, why not make some carrot easter cookies in the shape of rabbits or a Easter carrot cake, a must-have among the English? For those who prefer chocolate cakes, try the chocolate easter nestto the flower pot chocolate oreo easter cookies or to bavarois flavored with orange and decorated with chocolate eggs… Yum ! And if you want to be more inventive, why not get molds in the shape of animals like lamb? Don’t forget to decorate your cakes with Easter eggs or mini chicks!
Did you know that the egg has been a symbol of renewal for millennia? Among the Egyptians or the Romans, it was thus customary to offer an egg, to signify life, at the time of spring. If from the Middle Ages, the Church forbade eating eggs during Lent, they were kept and decorated at the end of the fast. In the XVIIIand century, the eggs were emptied to be filled with chocolate at the end of the Lenten fast. This is how the first chocolate eggs appeared, a tradition that has endured over time with techniques offering various flavors and shapes. Russian and Ukrainian Easter eggs nowadays are real works of art, with incredible patterns and colors, sometimes depicting the cross of Christ. They are blessed before being offered to loved ones.
It’s time to delight the children, who will be able to make personalized Easter eggs with decorations. Consult our fact sheet Easter egg: how to paint and decorate it? To your brushes!
Between Holy Thursday evening and Easter Sunday, church bells do not ring as a sign of mourning. But it is on the night of Saturday to Easter Sunday that they begin to chime to announce the joy of Christ’s resurrection. According to tradition, the children were told that the bells were going to be blessed by the Pope in Rome and that when they returned, at Easter, they would chime and spread eggs and bells in the gardens. The rabbit tradition comes from eastern France and Germany. The Easter Hare, called Osterhase, is symbolic of fertility and renewal in the Germanic pagan tradition. In German-speaking Lorraine and Alsace, it is the Easter hare that scatters the eggs in the gardens.
- HAS Paris, the Secours populaire is organizing a solidarity egg hunt for Ukrainian refugees in the André Citroën park located in the 15th arrondissement of the capital. the hunting license costs five euros for accompanied children. Many other activities are organized and accessible thanks to this same permit. In Provins, 8,000 chocolate eggs are hidden in the medieval town. Accessible up to the age of 10, this egg hunt is free.
- HAS LyonsCitizenKid is back with the biggest Easter egg hunt, in the form of a family treasure hunt at the Parc de la Tête d’Or in Lyon on Sunday April 17 and Monday April 18, 2022. The event is on registrations.
- HAS Toulousethe Easter egg hunt is organized by Citizenkid on Sunday April 17, 2022 in a racetrack, in a leisure park, in a castle, on the farm… On registration. For the more adventurous, the Gouffre de Padirac organizes a unique treasure hunt103 meters underground!
- HAS Marseillesthe bravest adventurers are invited to the La Barben Zoo to participate in a huge Easter egg hunt. If many chocolates are at stake, the luckiest will manage to get their hands on the golden egg or the 2 silver eggs! Not far from Marseille, in Lambesc, a 1000 egg hunt is also organized by COFALS on Monday April 18. As at the Château de Merville, the Grimmland park of the giant labyrinths of La Roque d’Anthéron organizes exceptional egg hunts all weekend long, in an atmosphere close to Alice in Wonderland. The entrance costs 14.50 euros. To participate in the hunt, you will have to pay 3.50 euros more.
- HAS Bordeauxthe national customs museum organizes a mystery egg hunt for children aged 5 to 7. It’s about finding the animal that laid the giant egg on display in the museum. Children will have to unravel the mystery and then flush out the eggs hidden in the museum. A surprise awaits whoever finds the golden egg!
- To Strasbourg, the Rivetoile shopping center is organizing a giant egg hunt on Saturday April 16 from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Finally, the Bakers of the Corporation of Strasbourg are organizing an unprecedented egg hunt. Participating bakers affixed the “egg hunt” poster to their shop window.
In Paris and in the region, the large parks, zoos and castles open their doors to you. If you take a trip to Alsace, celebrate Easter in the purest tradition in Colmar, with its markets and artisan exhibitions. For those who want to have fun, the Throne Fair, the largest funfair in Europe, opens its doors in Paris, and if not, why not take part in an escape game with friends? Find all our original ideas below:
To fully understand Easter, we must first start from the heritage of Jewish, Christian and also pagan traditions and beliefs. Easter is one of the main Christian holidays today. But it borrows its name from the Jewish holiday, Passover, which takes place at the same time. Two celebrations that do not have the same meaning. In the Jewish religion, Passover is “the feast of feasts”. It commemorates the flight from Egypt of the Hebrew people, subjected to slavery at the time of Pharaoh. According to the Bible and the book of Exodus, on Easter day, the Red Sea would have opened to let Moses and the Hebrews pass, pursued by the troops of Pharaoh, thus allowing them to reach the Promised Land of Israel. . Easter therefore marks the birth of the people of Israel and is intended, more broadly, to be a celebration of freedom. In Hebrew, Passover is also called “Pessah” which means passage.
As to Easter Christian, they celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. According to the Gospels, the death and resurrection of Christ take place at the time of the Jewish Passover, which explains why the Christian holiday borrows the same name. For Christians, Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus, three days after his death, and the “passage” to eternal life. But Easter, multiple, also commemorates for Christian believers the events preceding the rebirth of Jesus (Last Supper or meal, Passion of Christ designating his arrest and his death). It is one of the most important festivals of the year – for the Orthodox, the most important – which spans the whole of Holy Week. Easter is central to the Christian faith.