Monday 12 April, 2004
Easter traditions
When I was a kid, we always went to my grandparents' place in Hämeenlinna, where my grandfather would hide the eggs on Sunday morning and when we woke up we would look for them. Later on we used to go there just for Sunday, but eggs were always hidden and we would always look for them. I never dressed up as a witch - I know some people had this tradition, but I never wanted to do it.
Obviously since I moved to England this changed. One of our newer traditions has been that Chu has often spent the easter with us - it's a good time to come as you get couple of extra days of holiday, and by easter the spring is quite a bit further here than in Finland where there's often still snow on the ground. And I used to keep the egg hiding tradition alive by hiding eggs for Chu and Dragon to find.
This easter has been a bit different. Chu couldn't come this year due to all sort of reasons, but J-Ko spent a couple of days with us which was very nice. I didn't hide any eggs - but we have eaten quite a few chocolate bunnies.
Posted by kolibri at 12 April 12:37, 2004Dressing up as a witch for Easter? That's a new concept to me! What's the story/tradition behind it?
# 2 - Mikki (on April 12, 2004 07:19 PM):
Well, basically, we're talking about a form of trick or treating here, only it's actually done a week or so before Easter, not during it.
The tradition -- called "virpominen" in Finnish -- comes from Karelia, the part of Finland that was lost to the Russians in the war, but when a bunch of refugees from over there came to the rest of the country at the time, they brought it with them. Originally, it's a really old tradition -- it was inspired by the Biblical story of Jesus' final trek to Jerusalem, when the crowds greeted him with palm leaves.
Obviously, we don't have a lot in the way of palm leaves up here, so the palm leaves became willow branches instead; traditionally, kids dress up as witches and give the branches, decorated with streamers and whatnot, to those who give them candy. (Oh, and the word "virpominen", or rather the verb "virpoa", comes from the Russian word "verboa", which means "willow". In keeping with the theme, the Russian word comes from Latin "verbenae", or "sacred branches".) In return, they get chocolate eggs, and the original tradition stipulated that they only get them a week from the first visit, but of course, in these fast-paced times of instant gratification, that part's been done away with.
(As for Halloween, well, it's not a real big thing in Finland, though during the last few decades it's gotten a little more attention mostly because a lot of people are trying to take the opportunity to sell people things they don't really need, using the date as an excuse. Still, no trick or treating. Anyway, virpominen is pretty different from Halloween, in a lot of ways, but you get the idea.)
# 3 - Kolibri (on April 12, 2004 09:17 PM):
What he said :)
# 4 - Marnie (on April 13, 2004 02:36 AM):
Thanks for taking the time to explain it to me! :D
# 5 - Mikki (on April 13, 2004 09:29 AM):
Yeah, I'm not actually quite sure what possessed me to get so, uh, verbose on it, but... =)
# 6 - Kolibri (on April 13, 2004 09:30 AM):
Hey, even I learned something so not wasted :)
# 7 - Dragon (on April 14, 2004 01:23 AM):
One addition... Easter Eggs -Eggs are symbols of life and re-birth (surprise, surprise!) and they represent the resurrection of Christ. You are supposed to remember the Saviour when eating them. There are some Pagan traditions along the same lines as well.
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