The arrival of Easter for Irish people makes them wonder about two things;
One is the ‘Good Friday’, which means no alcohol and the second is ‘Easter Rising of 1916’.
Easter Rising of 1916, refers to the plan of occupying city of Dublin and some other provinces on Easter Sunday. Although this plan’s execution failed initially but it caused a chain of events which led to freedom of Irish Republic.
Coming back to the celebrations of Easter in Ireland,
Irish people do have certain custom and traditions associated with the occasion of Easter that make it a beautiful event.
Easter Traditions in Ireland
Some of the Easter traditions that are followed by Irish people are;
1. End of Lent
End of lent marks the start of Easter Sunday where Christians break their 40-day period in welcoming the occasion of Easter.
Lent is an Easter tradition that is followed by almost all the Catholics around the world in order to be purified before the arrival of Easter.
During Lent, most of the Christians avoid eating fish, meat, eggs and many other animal products for the love of God.
The end of lent is the start of Easter, in which the practitioner is believed to be cleansed from all the evil.
2. Easter Egg Hunts
Ireland is famous for organizing Easter egg hunts in one of the most interesting ways.
In Wicklow,
A game of Easter egg hunt is played at Greenan Maze.
This Easter egg hunt is organized on a big scale where the participants are supposed to find one golden egg. The one who finds the golden egg first, wins the game. A winning prize is given to the finder of the egg.
Another Easter egg hunt that is organized on a big level is played in Dublin at Ardgillan Castle.
The best thing about these Easter egg hunts played in Ireland is the number of participants that take interest in the competition.
3. Good Friday
According to Christian’s belief,
Good Friday is the day when Jesus Christ died. This is why you will see everything closed in Ireland on this day.
Officially, it is a bank holiday and almost all the businesses are closed to acknowledge the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. People express their sorrows by avoiding meat on this day, some people avoid eating anything at all.
There is a strange tradition of walking barefoot on Good Friday in Ireland.
4. Easter Sunday
The silent Ireland on Good Friday wakes up with a bang on Easter Sunday.
Processions are held in order to commemorate the rising of Jesus Christ on this day. Easter Sunday is a big day in the Irish Calendar when big Easter events are held across the country.
The following Monday being a bank holiday makes the whole occasion more fun, because now the workers don’t have to worry about going to the office the next day.
Easter celebrations in Ireland are colorful in their own way. Irish people tend to make the most of this wonderful event, this is why celebrating Easter 2019 in Ireland would be a great idea.
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