Easter in Australia is a major holiday but the Easter bunny isn’t a big deal.
Easter is a four day weekend. EVERYTHING is closed for Good Friday and most things are closed on the following Monday (officially known as “Easter Monday”. Second to Christmas, Easter is Australia’s next major holiday. Its’ a big family gathering time, much like Thanksgiving is for Americans. I’m always up for a four day weekend and it’s nice to not have the year’s biggest holiday’s only 4 weeks apart.
Chocolate bunnies and foil wrapped candy eggs are popular with the kiddies, but there aren’t any baskets and not a single strand of plastic Easter grass to be found. The only thing that disappoints me a bit is that that they don’t color eggs (I’ve always loved coloring eggs). Australians eat plenty of boiled eggs as a regular part of the diet, they simple don’t have much connection to Easter and the don’t bother to die them unnatural colors. If you stop to think about that long standing American tradition, you have to ask “Why would a rabbit deliver any chicken eggs, let alone brightly colored ones?” I guess that’s one of life’s big questions I can ponder in old age.
As for our Easter celebration this year, Dave and I were invited to our friends the Herman’s and had too much food and wine and spent the afternoon lounging around the pool. I LOVE AUSSIE HOLIDAYS!
P.S. – In case you doubt their lack of emphasis on the whole Easter bunny, check out this item from the front page of a national newspaper this weekend. Many American children would be traumatized by this!
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