Internationally award-winning poet and writer
Easter in the Land Down Under
A report by Anne Casey, 20 April 2014 - Originally published as Australia Correspondent to ftvpmac.com and Sally Cronin's "Sunday Show" on UK radio station, Express FM 93.7 :
http://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/2014/04/18/australia-correspondent-anne-casey-easter-in-the-land-down-under/
The first hot cross buns hit the Sydney shops during the last days of December 2013, marking the first thoughts towards Easter 2014! We might be excused a degree of cynicism at the fact that commercial enterprises are the first to jump on the band-wagon of the next major celebration in the Christian calendar...
In this, as in many other matters, Australia follows suit with the rest of the Western world. But who are we to dump fun on a celebration that gives us extra holidays and the opportunity to over-indulge in chocolate treats?
Good Friday and Easter Monday are observed as public holidays in ‘the land down under’, and the quantities of festive chocolates available are mouth-wateringly as well as cholesterol-alteringly extraordinary!
Christian observances
The Christian origins of Easter are celebrated in churches and schools right across Australia. Pancakes are traditionally served in school canteens and at street cafes on Shrove Tuesday; ashes on their foreheads identify many Australian Christians on Ash Wednesday; and the forty days of Lent offer an opportunity for much-needed fasting in the lead-up to the indulgences to follow.
Easter liturgies with re-enactments of the Easter story are held in schools and church groups throughout the nation in the last weeks of Lent. Palm Sunday is celebrated in Christian churches with the traditional waving of palm leaves. On Good Friday, flags on government buildings are flown at half-mast, marking it as a day of official mourning. Meanwhile, Easter Sunday is commemorated with religious services across the nation.
The good egg and the ‘bad’ bunny
In the general population, Easter is joyfully celebrated as one enormous chocolate fest! Easter eggs, bunnies, chicks and baskets make their appearance in the shops at least two months before Easter Sunday.
Schools, families and community groups traditionally hold Easter egg hunts in playgrounds, back gardens and parks in the days leading up to the Easter holidays. Nobody apparently finds these symbols of Springtime and new life in any way out of context as Australia marches through Autumn towards Winter!
Due to Australia’s unhappy relationship with rabbits (they are an introduced animal with devastating environmental impacts), a trend has emerged for chocolate bilbies instead. (A bilby is a native Australian marsupial with long ears, which is similar in size and shape to the rabbit.) Alas, shop displays reveal that the popularity of the ‘bad bunny’ by far outweighs its more eco-friendly rival.
Easter showdown
On the official calendar, Easter is marked by a range of celebrations, one of the most notable being the ‘Blessing of the Fleet’ on the New South Wales south coast. This event has its roots in a Sicilian fishermen’s tradition involving blessing of their boats. It has developed into a local festival in Uladulla, celebrated with traditional Italian foods and activities.
The four-day Easter weekend, incorporating two official public holidays, is marked by many in true Aussie fashion – with families and friends getting together over a barbecue meal.
And, of course, no Easter would be complete in Sydney without a visit to the Royal Easter Show – Australia's largest annual event. With its origins in an agricultural show, it now takes place over two weeks across the Easter holidays (which coincide with a two-week school break) at Sydney Olympic Park. The show features carnival rides, side-shows, show-bags, livestock exhibits, produce displays and competitions, the Sydney Royal Rodeo, working dog trials, and a range of pet shows and competitions…
Amidst all the fun of the fair, we won’t be taking odds on whether the bunny or the bilby will take ‘Best in Show’ this year’.