How do Finns celebrate Easter?
The most traditional celebration at Easter in Finland is for young children to dress up as witches. Families enjoy eating Pasha at Easter, which is a traditional dessert made of sweetened cheese, egg and cream. Usually the ingredients are set in a mould and decorated with religious motifs.
What is Easter called in Finland?
List of holidays
| Date | English Name | Local Name – Finnish |
|---|---|---|
| Moveable Friday | Good Friday | Pitkäperjantai |
| Moveable Sunday | Easter Sunday | Pääsiäispäivä |
| Moveable Monday | Easter Monday | 2. pääsiäispäivä |
| 1 May | May Day | Vappu |
Why do children in Finland dress as witches for Easter?
On Palm Sunday (Eastern Finland) and Holy Saturday (Western Finland), children dress up as little witches. The tradition derives from the times when evil spirits and witches were thought to wander around the streets doing mischief before Easter.
What is witches Easter?
Modern times. In Sweden and Finland, it is an Easter tradition for children to dress as witches, old women and old men and go door to door for treats similar to the trick-or-treating tradition of Halloween on Maundy Thursday or the day before Easter (Holy Saturday).
Why Easter is pagan?
But in English-speaking countries, and in Germany, Easter takes its name from a pagan goddess from Anglo-Saxon England who was described in a book by the eighth-century English monk Bede. “Eostre was a goddess of spring or renewal and that’s why her feast is attached to the vernal equinox,” Professor Cusack said.
What do witches do for Easter?
The tradition is said to come from the old belief that witches would fly to a German mountain the Thursday before Easter to cavort with Satan. On their way back, Swedes would light fires to scare them away, a practice honored today by the bonfires and fireworks across the land in the days leading up to Sunday.
What do witches celebrate?
At Samhain the ritual focuses on death and includes a remembrance and a mourning. Wiccans and witches celebrate death as a natural part of the cycle of nature. Death is necessary for the creation of new life, they believe. Death is not, however, something to be sought out.
What do witches call Halloween?
Samhain
What is the real reason for Halloween?
The tradition originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. In the eighth century, Pope Gregory III designated November 1 as a time to honor all saints. Soon, All Saints Day incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain.
Who is the goddess of winter solstice?
Beiwe
Is Christmas and Easter a pagan holiday?
Despite its significance as a Christian holy day, many of the traditions and symbols that play a key role in Easter observances actually have roots in pagan celebrations—particularly the pagan goddess Eostre—and in the Jewish holiday of Passover.