Hey everyone and welcome back to the Understandable English Podcast.
And today we are going to be talking about a very popular holiday all around the world, in many different countries, and it is Easter.
Easter is a holiday which is primarily or mainly celebrated in countries with a large Christian population.
Christians are people who believe in Jesus Christ, so they practice the religion of Christianity.
And for these people, Easter is a very important holiday.
But with time, Easter has also become a holiday for everyone, particularly in the UK.
In the UK, it is something which almost everyone celebrates in some way, even if you aren't religious.
So to start with let's look at the original meaning of Easter.
So why people celebrate it.
Easter is a spring festival of new life.
For Christians it's a very important festival which marks the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
So what that means is it celebrates a, A time where Christians believe that Jesus came back from the dead.
So he was dead and then he came back to life and often religious people will go to a church service.
So they will go to listen to a pastor or a priest talk about the bible, about the easter story, and maybe they will do some rituals or prayers, but for most people It is a non-religious holiday now, so they do some celebrations or games with their family.
Because it is a popular holiday with both Christians and non-Christians.
It is a very popular time for spending time with friends and family.
We see lots of symbols of new life, like spring, at Easter time, especially eggs, chicks so baby chickens, flowers and rabbits.
These symbols actually go back to ancient traditions which celebrated growth and new life after the long winter months.
So when is Easter celebrated?
The dates of Easter in the UK change from year to year as they are based on the moon.
But it's usually sometime between the end of March and the end of April.
In the Christian church, Palm Sunday celebrates Jesus' arrival in Jerusalem and marks the beginning of a holy week.
And in the UK the Easter holiday weekend lasts for four days, from a day called Good Friday until Easter Monday.
One of the nicest parts about this holiday is that we get some time off of work.
For me.
I was off work on Friday and also Monday, so I had a really nice long weekend and I feel very relaxed and refreshed after this nice little break.
So let's look at the first Easter tradition, which I think is the most popular Easter celebration, especially for children.
So these are Easter eggs.
Eggs are a popular part of Easter celebrations as they are a symbol of new life.
Traditionally, people paint chicken eggs and decorate them with bright colours.
But nowadays, chocolate eggs are just as popular as the traditional kind.
There are many different types of Easter egg traditions all around the world, not just in the UK.
But in the UK, as well as many other countries, lots of people take part in Easter egg hunts and go hunting or searching or looking for chocolate eggs in parks or gardens.
This is especially popular for children.
I remember when I was a child and I went to an Easter egg hunt, so to look for Easter eggs.
And my parents would hide eggs in the garden, little chocolate eggs.
And I would have to run around and try to find them, see where they are hidden.
And at the end of the day, I could sit and eat my chocolate eggs that I found.
It's great fun.
We also used to do Easter egg hunts when we were at school, as children and people would be trying to see how many eggs they could find and who could find the most chocolate eggs.
Another game which is also popular in many places is egg rolling.
This is when eggs are boiled, so they cook them.
Then they are painted and they roll them down a hill.
So they let them go and they fall down the hill.
The challenge is to roll your egg the whole way down the hill without it breaking or cracking.
There's even an annual Easter egg roll every Easter Monday in the grounds of the White House in Washington DC in America.
Sometimes in the UK parents will tell their children about the Easter bunny.
This is a rabbit which comes at Easter and brings the children chocolate eggs.
Some parents will even dress up as a bunny rabbit and hide eggs in the children's house or garden, and then the children can do an Easter egg hunt, as we talked about before.
I don't exactly know why this is a tradition or how it started, but it is a fun tradition for lots of the family.
Personally, I usually really like the time of year when Easter is.
It's a time when the weather is starting to get better.
Although as I record this podcast, I'm looking outside and I see rain.
Lots and lots of clouds and rain.
But usually it is a time when the weather is getting better, when it's becoming more sunny, the days are longer and it's just much nicer.
The flowers are starting to grow, the lambs, little baby sheep are being born, and the world just seems so much more full of life than it was in winter.
It's a nice time of change.
At a time where we can think about how we want to change our lives.
Maybe new things that we want to do.
Things that we want to continue to do for the year ahead.
And I think it's a very beautiful time.
But for everyone, Easter can mean a different thing.
If you're religious and you believe in God and practice Christianity.
For you it might be a time of spiritual meaning, a time for family, a time for reflection, so thinking about your beliefs.
If you aren't religious, it can be a time for family too.
It can be just simply a time for fun.
And that's what I love about these big holidays is everyone can take part, no matter what you believe.
And regardless of your beliefs.
In the UK, this is a time to eat lots and lots of chocolate and sweets.
If you go into a supermarket or a shop at this time in the UK, you will see rows and shelves of chocolate eggs of lots of different types.
White chocolate, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, different brands, colours.
It's really an amazing time if you love chocolate.
When I was a child, I used to remember getting lots of Easter eggs from different members of my family.
And sometimes I would have so many eggs, like five or six or seven big chocolate eggs.
And by the time Easter was finished, I felt so sick.
Too much sugar and too much chocolate.
But now that I'm older and I'm an adult, I don't get any chocolate eggs anymore, unless I buy it for myself.
So do I miss it?
Yes, a little bit, but I'm probably healthier because of it.
So I would like to wish you all a happy Easter, no matter where in the world you're from.
And if you don't celebrate Easter or you celebrate Ramadan, for example, I wish you a happy Ramadan too, or any other festival or celebration which is happening right now in your country and for your beliefs.
Have a lovely week and a fantastic day.
I'll see you guys in the next episode.
Goodbye.
