Easter in Britain

After a very cold and snowy winter spring has finally come! Fladbury School starts the Easter holiday with a church service and an Easter bonnet parade on 1 st April and we have 2 weeks off! We would like to tell you something about Easter in our country………..

Shrove Tuesday We start thinking about Easter at the start of Lent. This begins on Shrove Tuesday when we eat pancakes covered in sugar, lemon juice or syrup (yummy!). Some people run in pancake tossing races!

Lent begins the next day on Ash Wednesday. Christians go to church and have ashes rubbed onto their foreheads to symbolize saying sorry for their sins. We also try hard to go without something for Lent such as chocolate or crisps!

Maundy Thursday On the Thursday before Easter our Queen carries out a ceremony where she gives coins to specially chosen old people – one coin for every year of her age. This year she will give 84 people 84 coins!

Good Friday The Friday before Easter is a holiday in Britain. Christians go to church to remember the day Christ died on the cross.

Some Christians fast (go without food) on this day to remember the sacrifice Jesus made for us. It is traditional to eat warm 'hot cross buns' on Good Friday. Hot Cross Buns with their combination of spicy, sweet and fruity flavours have long been an Easter tradition. Why do we eat Hot Cross Buns ? The pastry cross on top of the buns symbolises and reminds Christians of the cross that Jesus was killed on.

Easter Sunday Many children have an Easter egg hunt in their gardens on the morning of Easter Day. The eggs are said to have been brought by the Easter bunny!

Christians go to church to celebrate Jesus rising again. Families get together and have a meal. Often this is roast lamb. For tea many people eat simnel cake which is a fruit cake covered in marzipan. On the top are 11 marzipan balls – one for each disciple, except Judas.

We hope you have enjoyed our presentation about Easter in Britain! HAPPY EASTER From Fladbury School!