drainedOh dear.
The Easter Bunny is a cyber stalker!?! lol.
And this is real stuff. Not a fake news story. Crazy! You gotta watch out for costumed folk, they're dangerous. ;)
And I googled some Easter and Passover traditions Not sure what's ture and what's not, but they were all compiled in one place. Here's some.
Sweden Easter Traditions In the western provinces of Sweden, residents compete to see who can make the biggest bonfire, while others shoot off fireworks. Bonfires are also lit in the Ukraine to ward off illnesses and catastrophes.
Bulgaria Easter Traditions In Bulgaria, the practice of cracking eggs with one another takes place before Easter lunch. The last person holding an unbroken egg is said to be the recipient of one year of good luck.
German Easter Traditions Germans celebrate with an "Easter Fire," which is the burning of Christmas trees to acknowledge the end of winter and the beginning of spring.
Austria Easter Traditions In Austria, much like the American tradition of hiding Easter baskets, the Easter Bunny, known as Osterhase, hides decorated eggs for children on the night before Easter.
Finland Easter Tradition Although winter is still dominant during Easter in Finland, birch twigs and pussy willows are planted to welcome spring.
Swiss Easter Traditions The Swiss have revived an old Easter tradition by decorating wells to celebrate the gift of water. The wells are decorated with painted eggs that have been blown out and spring flowers.
Norwegian Easter Traditions Oddly, Norwegians broadcast and promote "Easter-crime" shows during Easter time by televising detective novels and crime stories; it's a true "mystery" as to the origin of this custom.
Greek Easter Traditions Greeks have a beautiful custom of decorating eggs red, to signify the blood of Jesus Christ. These hard-boiled eggs are then used in making Easter bread to give to friends and family on Easter Sunday.
Mexico Easter Traditions In Mexico, our friends south of the border are given time off from work and school to recognize both Holy Week and Easter Week, known as Semana Santa and Semana de Pascua.
Costa Rica Easter Traditions Travel by vehicle is virtually forbidden on Holy Thursday and Good Friday in Costa Rica, as the use of public services and transportation are viewed as sinful at this time and are left idle. Most businesses close during the middle of the week as well.
Russia Easter Tradition Finally, in Russia, where Easter is a very important holiday, folk art Easter eggs are adorned with the traditional Ukrainian colors of red, black, and golden-yellow.
And Passover traditions:
) AFGHANISTAN: Jews living in Afghanistan created the tradition of gently whipping themselves with scallions as a symbol of the Egyptian slavedrivers' whips used against the Israelites, says Beliefnet.com. According to the Online Database of Jewish Communities, there is currently only one Jew living in Afghanistan, and the largest population of Afghan Jews are in Queens, New York.
2) POLAND: Hasidic Jews living in Góra Kalwaria, Poland, reenact the crossing of the Red Sea in their living rooms. On the seventh day of Passover, each Jewish family pours water on the floor of their homes, hikes up their coats and says the name of the towns in the region they would pass while making their crossing, according to Beliefnet.com.
2) POLAND: Hasidic Jews living in Góra Kalwaria, Poland, reenact the crossing of the Red Sea in their living rooms. On the seventh day of Passover, each Jewish family pours water on the floor of their homes, hikes up their coats and says the name of the towns in the region they would pass while making their crossing, according to Beliefnet.com.
3) INDIA: A Jewish community has lived in Cochin in the Indian state of Kerala for more than 2,000 years. Its members go to shockingly great lengths to prepare for Passover, reports The Jewish Week.
"Pesah work," as it was called in Cochin, would begin immediately after Chanukah. In the Cochin community, it was believed that if a Jewish woman were to make even the slightest mistake in Passover preparation during the 100 days before the actual seder, then the lives of her husband and her children would be endangered.
The pursuit of chametz was a serious business. To ensure purity, the Jews of Cochin kept special rooms in which all Passover utensils, thoroughly scrubbed, were stored. Houses would be scraped and repainted immediately after Purim. Wells would be drained and scrubbed, lest they be polluted. Each grain of rice -- an essential staple even during Passover -- would be examined to ensure that it was free from cracks into which polluting chametz might find its way.
4) GIBRALTAR: In the British territory of Gibraltar, the tiny island off the coast of Spain, Jews actually mix the dust of bricks into their charoset dish, a symbol of the mortar used to hold together the brick walls the Jews built in Egypt, according to Hillel.
5) ETHIOPIA: Ethiopian Jews' history is strikingly similar to that of their Israelite ancestors. The Jewish community there underwent an exodus of their own in 1985, when Operation Moses and Joshua took almost 8,000 Jews from Sudan to a safe-haven in Israel, according to the Jewish Virtual Library. In commemoration of Passover and their own past, Ethiopian Jews break all of their dishes and make new ones to symbolize a complete break from the past and a new start, reports The Jewish Daily Forward.
And the Largest Seder in the world is celebrated in Kathmandu Nepal, according to the Jerusalem Post.
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If you're celebrating any Holidays today or recently, or coming up, I hope they're wonderful. Love you guys!