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We all know what Easter in the United States means, and for most religions within this Country to boot, starting with Ash Wednesday, Lent, Good Friday and then the day of all days, Easter (the resurrection of Christ). Church, brunch, easter egg hunts, easter baskets, etc. is all fit for the day.

What about other countries? I have researched a few and they have some interesting traditions I know I was unaware of and are pretty interesting. I am sure there are more, but I think these three will suffice for now:

Germany: The Easter holiday is very popular in Germany almost as popular as Christmas so I have read. Part of their holiday that differs greatly from ours is the spring cleaning before decorating the home for Easter. I know I only clean when I'm having Easter dinner and then I don't know if it qualifies for a "Spring" cleaning. Most of the decorations, unlike our cutout eggs and bunnies, are twigs, daffodils, willows and wheat sprouts to name a few. They do decorate trees with eggs on the branches as we do here and partake of a huge feast on Sunday as we do although this feast is supposed to take place after heavy duty fasting.

Bulgaria: Colored eggs are a biggie here as in our Country but with a different twist in that a special bread called a "kolache" is made with one or more red eggs inserted and baked in it. This special bread is taken to church to be blessed through a lengthy service the Saturday before Easter by the pastor/priest/reverend and then the bread goes home with the people who brought them. Typically they are given to god parents, parents, relative or friends after they have been blessed. Another great Bulgarian tradition is then people take their decorated eggs and crack them on a wall after the midnight service and during the next day with one egg being cracked on the wall of the church with this egg representing the first egg eaten after the long feast (or Lent as we would call it). This takes place before the Easter feast. Sometimes people first tap their eggs against one another' and the one person left with an unbroken egg will have good luck for a year.

Finland: Finland has many different traditions for Easter, but by far the most interesting is the "Silent Week." The Sunday prior to Easter begins this week which then ends on Easter Sunday. From what I gather, people greet others by swishing them with willow twigs, plain or decorated. However, if they do so they have to pay up at Easter with a gift of an egg, candy or a coin of some kind on Easter. Okay, I'm in on that one, but can I "swish" with something a tad heavier?

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