Best Easter Celebrations in Europe
The biggest Christian holiday is a special time of the year for many people worldwide. While for most of us Easter means family gatherings, chocolate, dyeing eggs and waiting for a bunny to give us some treats, there are several parts of Europe where Easter is celebrated in a traditional way with large elaborate religious processions taking over city streets. We have prepared for you Europe’s best Easter celebrations.
Florence, Italy
Visitors from all parts of the world come to Florence to participate at their holiday celebration on Easter Sunday. The highlight of the celebration is called Scoppio del Carro (Explosion of the Cart) and dates back over 350 years. It is a float pulled across town by two white oxen before a huge firework display explodes from it. The parade is held every year in honour of the Florentine knight Pazzino, the first man to plant the cross banner at the battle of Jerusalem in the 1096’s Crusade.
Dubrovnik, Croatia
The Croatian coastal city is not only one of the most beautiful places in Europe when it comes to Easter holidays, but also one of its most religious. Celebration consists of a procession of the Cross on Good Friday and gift giving, which includes coloured eggs, olive twigs, plaited palm leaves (on Palm Sunday it is traditional to take plaited palm leaves to church as a part of a custom specific to Dalmatia) and a special Easter cake called pinca, usually eaten in Eastern morning.
Seville, Spain
Holy Week in Seville, also known as Semana Santa de Sevilla, is one of country’s most important religious celebrations. Religious brotherhoods, dressed in penitential robes, organize parades throughout the week. The week features the procession of pasos, floats of lifelike wooden sculptures of Mysteries of the Rosary scenery, as well as images of the grieving Virgin Mary.
Lourdes, France
Lourdes is the second most visited city in France, right after the capital, and one of the most attended religious sites in the world. Easter celebration is marked by torchlit processions as pilgrims meditate the Rosary prayers and an Easter egg hunt at the top of Pic du Jer overlooking the town organized for the younger visitors. After the procession, grab your camera and visit a sacred site, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, the town’s primary attraction.
The GetByBus team wishes You and Your loved ones happy Easter holidays!
