Easter Celebrations Around The World (PHOTOS)

Christians around the world are taking time to commemorate Holy Week and celebrate Easter with traditions both contemplative and colorful.

This year is particularly unique in that both the Gregorian and Julian calendars have designated April 24 as Easter, meaning that the Orthodox faith will be celebrating on the same day as the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches.

One German couple decorated a tree in their garden with 9,800 stunning eggs, while traditional celebrations took on a splashy flair in Hungary. And while religious masses and other rituals are being held the world over, they are of special significance this year to Sudanese Christians, with the community marking its last Easter in a united Sudan.

View photos of Easter celebrations around the world here:

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A young woman marvels at a tree with 9,800 Easter eggs in Saalfeld.

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A young woman marvels at a tree with 9,800 Easter eggs in Saalfeld.

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Comments

[Nelle]

02:37 PM on 04/28/2011

I found the Christ-themed depictions the most beautiful---particularly the Sudanese "washing of the feet" with the little girl.

[JJovana]

12:06 PM on 04/27/2011

Im a Bosnian Serb, and I appreciate these lovely pictures from my country. :)

[Helgacita]

02:36 PM on 04/26/2011

Let me be your Easter Egg
Roll me over…watch me beg

Wrap me, race me, tap me, chase me

Use your paintbrush to deface me

Let me be your Easter gift

Your springtime chocoholic lift

Put me in a cardboard case

Hide me in a secret place

Let me be your Easter thrill

A giant chocolate-coated pill

Boil me, oil me, crucify me

Resurrect me – colour-dye me

Make me chocolate filled with cream

I wanna be your Easter theme

Melt me, eat me, smear me, lay me

Decorate and Fabergé me

Make me wholly chocolate cream

I wanna be your Easter dream….

www.hewdge.com

[StansDad]

11:31 AM on 04/26/2011

Pagans had the best holidays

[Rika Masudo-Shinozaki]

03:28 AM on 04/25/2011

J rising from zero.

[Ken White]

12:20 AM on 04/25/2011

Kids mimicking the crucifixion? Sorry, but that's a bit much. I realize that the resurrection is at the heart of Christianity and this holiday, but such a focus on the execution is downright creepy.

[SteveDenver]

01:42 AM on 04/25/2011

My favorite Easter video in which Jesus falls off the cross:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYOXpDFCipU&feature=share

[am10]

08:36 AM on 04/25/2011

Agreed about the kids. I went to an impressive Maundy Thursday service minus my youngest ones.

[alto2]

12:11 AM on 04/25/2011

From a purely human standpoint, the most beautiful photo was of the foot-washing. In our culture, we seem to view our feet as perhaps the ugliest parts of our bodies, and many Christians do not even know of the tradition (foot-washing) that commemorates Christ's humble act of service to his disciples during their last meal together. Fewer still have participated in such a service. In Jesus' day, guests in one's home usually arrived on foot, and this service was typically performed by a servant.

This "thing" about feet was reinforced, for me, in the sermon I heard in my parish church this morning. The gospel reading, from Matthew, recounts how the two women, having received the news of the empty tomb, and the command to tell the disciples, hurry away, only ro meet the risen Christ along the way. When he greets them, instead of clinging to his face and shoulders, as we would doubtless do, the women grasp his feet -- of all things! His feet!

The pastor left us with this thought to ponder: we, too, in our Easter meditations, might well look up, to be greeted by the risen Christ. We, too, might well grasp only his feet, not daring even to look higher. And then we follow in whatever particular path he has chosen to lead us.

One doesn't need to believe in anything supernatural to do that. [This last thought is my own.]

[thinkingwomanmillstone]

05:25 PM on 04/25/2011

Your last sentence doesn't cancel all the superstition and delusion in your previous 3 paragraphs. Believe what you want but don't try to make it sound rational.

[alto2]

05:37 PM on 04/25/2011

Is that what I was doing? Many non-christians ( and rational, thinking ones, at that) seem to be able to follow the teachings of the Christ, without having to subscribe to anything else about him.

[Amalek]

12:04 AM on 04/25/2011

Bunnies and eggs? Christians have really lost their way.

[SteveDenver]

01:43 AM on 04/25/2011

From Landover Baptist Church: "The Truth About Easter Eggs: Are Your Children Playing with Lu.cifer's Test.icles?"

[SteveDenver]

01:43 AM on 04/25/2011

Here's the link: http://www.landoverbaptist.org/eastereggs.html

[hatrickpenry]

11:49 PM on 04/24/2011

'Superstar'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AIRBpW1drE

[AgingLady]

11:43 PM on 04/24/2011

Loved the eggs in Bulgaria for beauty, enjoyed the underwater bunny for smiles.

[SteveDenver]

01:44 AM on 04/25/2011

I missed the underwater bunny, but it sounds as horrible as nailing a man to a cross and making jewelry out of it.

[jozie]

11:07 PM on 04/24/2011

I found number 5 to be a little creepy and disturbing, not beautiful.

[Katie Sharpe]

10:43 PM on 04/24/2011

Banja Luka is in Northern Bosnia not Southern...

[DAE]

09:48 PM on 04/24/2011

And know for the rest of the story. Easter, which is derived from the Germanic word for the Spring Festival, is a pagan Anglo-Saxon Holiday. The Roman Catholic Church and Eastern Orthodox traditions celebrate Pascha/Πάσχα which is derived from the Hebrew word Pesach for Passover. Both Catholics and Eastern Orthodox use the same word for both Passover and Easter. So in point of fact they are celebrating Passover not Easter.

[Americancroc]

09:01 PM on 04/24/2011

Just got back from an Easter celebration myself. I sure do laugh when I see atheists' comment though. All these pictures show how much fun Christians are having while you all are sitting home alone behind a computer screen. I would rather believe in something greater than myself and have a fun celebration with my community than be a lonely, grumpy atheist. To each his own I guess. HAPPY EASTER!

[Leah Kaliszewski]

09:33 PM on 04/24/2011

Agree! Thank you.

[futate01]

10:43 PM on 04/24/2011

I'm an atheist and I always have a good time during Christmas and Easter. I especially love the pagan rituals of decorating trees, painting eggs, singing songs, and cooking feasts, all which are older than Christianity.

I laugh with my family, we have a great time, but WE DO NOT MOCK other people by "laughing at them" because they grew up in a different culture and have a different point of view. Maybe you need to re-read the bible and find out what it really means to be a true Christian.

[xlntcat]

02:38 AM on 04/25/2011

If Christian means Christ-like or followers of Christ, I have a very hard time finding any who are even trying to meet the standard. 

[thinkingwomanmillstone]

05:30 PM on 04/25/2011

the other thing about being an aetheist is that I have never said another person is going to burn in hades forever regardless of their life's deed just for not believing in Jesus nor have I gone door to door and interrupted them in their own homes to bring them this 'lovely' message of Christ. We enjoyed our chocolate bunnies and Easter Ham without any sermonizing as well.

[netzwerg]

08:40 PM on 04/24/2011

My God is better then yours!!

[triplettam]

11:26 PM on 04/24/2011

"better THAN." If He is, you should get it right.