Easter Sunday has arrived with another freezing morning. All of us here at MBD would like to wish you and your families a very blessed Holiday. America isn’t the only country that celebrates this day, not only remembering the risen Christ but inexplicably including eggs from the “Easter Bunny.” I never really learned how in the world that tradition began but the following is an entertaining look at what other people do around the world. Some are very humorous. . .

Bulgaria – In Bulgaria, people don’t hide their eggs — they have egg fights! Whoever comes out of the game with an unbroken egg is the winner and assumed to be the most successful member of the family in the coming year. In another tradition, the oldest woman in the family rubs the faces of the children with the first red egg she has colored, symbolizing her wish that they have rosy cheeks, health and strength.

Mexico – Easter and related holidays are colorful and lively in Mexico, where children actually smash eggs over each other’s heads in the week before Lent begins! Fortunately, these eggs are filled with small pieces of paper rather than raw egg.

Germany – In Germany, eggs are dyed green on Maundy Thursday.

Greece – On Easter Sunday in Greece, there is a public procession. Red eggs (red for the blood of Christ) are tapped together while one person declares “Christ is risen” and the other replies “Truly He is risen.”

United States – Parades are traditional in some U.S. cities. Atlantic City’s 140-year-old parade is the oldest, and the promenade on New York’s Fifth Avenue, immortalized in Irving Berlin’s song, “Easter Parade,” is perhaps the best known. The annual White House Easter Egg Roll takes place in the nation’s capitol city on Easter Monday.

England – In England, in Hallaton every Easter Monday, there is the Hare Pie Scramble and Bottle Kicking. (Sorry, I can’t stop laughing!) The story goes that a woman was saved by a hare running across the path of a bull on Easter Monday hundreds of years ago. As a token of her appreciation, she bequeathed a piece of land to the rector. The sole condition to this bequest was that the rector have a hare pie made to be distributed to parishioners together with a large quantity of ale every year.