Easter in Croatia
Easter might be an ideal period to visit Croatia, particularly because it is the off-season period and it is not as crowded as it is in the summer and, it is spring time which brings warmer temperatures and the nature comes alive; also you get an opportunity to learn something about traditions of Easter in Croatia.
In case you happen to be in Zagreb during Easter holidays, you will not be disappointed since there is a variety of activities. First of all, there is an exhibition of huge, hand-painted Easter eggs which represent the Croatian Naïve art; the eggs are displayed in front of the cathedral, at Kaptol. Zagreb zoo also has an interesting thing, that is the Easter breakfast which is prepared for animals which eat eggs; on the Easter morning these animals get eggs, either real or papier-mâché eggs containing food. Traditionally, on Jelacic Square Easter fare takes place; a number of small wooden houses selling different goods related to Easter (artefacts, decorations, souvenirs, delicacies). Here you can see how to get to and from Zagreb by bus.
If you are headed towards the seaside, you might want to see what Opatija has to offer. Opatija has for many years been among the leading tourist destinations in Croatia, especially when it comes to congress tourism. Thanks to tourism, Opatija today has, among valuable architectural buildings, well maintained green surfaces; the best known is the villa Angiolina park, near the famous Lungomare. On Easter, the Easter breakfast takes place in the park as well as the big Easter egg hunt – numerous chocolate eggs are hidden in the park and you go search for the eggs. On Easter Monday, car lovers will have the chance to visit the Oldtimer Exhibition. Bus connections to and from Pula are available here.
Further south, the Festival of Žudije takes place on Easter Monday. The so called žudije are the guardians of Christ’s tomb. This tradition is spread mostly in Dalmatia and Dalmatia hinterland dating back to 19th century Metkovic city. Žudije are 12 guardians and their commander and they usually wear traditional Roman soldier clothes; besides this they can wear folk costumes depending on the area of origin. The best known žudije are the ones from Vodice who organized the Festival of Žudije.
The island of Hvar is known for the 22 km procession called Za krizen (in translation Following the Cross). It has been held for five centuries now; the following villages participate in the procession, Jelsa, Pitve, Vrisnik, Svirce, Vrbanj and Vrboska, which starts on Holy Thursday and finishes on the Holy Friday morning. It is important for the procession to move clockwise so the crosses wouldn’t meet during the procession which would, according to a belief, cause bad luck. This event was in 2009 protected by the UNESCO.
Some Easter customs in Croatia
It is common that on Palm Sunday, a week before Easter, olive branches are brought for blessing. However, it is said that instead of olive branches people used to bring palm tree branches. Thus, the chronicles of Split town say that once there was only one palm tree in the town, in a private garden, where people would gather in order to get a branch.
These days people bring olive branches; on the island of Korcula and in Sibenik they make braids out of them and in Istria they make wreaths with a cross.
Also, on Palm Sunday when people get up it is common to wash their face with water in which they put different kinds of flower petals the night before.
One of the best known traditions is decorating eggs; there are numerous ways of decorating eggs which depend on the part of the country. These days people most usually dye the eggs with dyes available in stores but when these did not exist people used various natural ingredients to decorate the eggs, like onion skin, spinach, beetroot etc. The tradition related to eggs is the so called egg tapping; on Easter morning everybody picks an egg and the tapping starts; the person whose egg remains not cracked is the winner.
