Celebrating Easter away from Home
Easter in many regions of the world is a huge thing. Even though it is the most important day in the Christian calendar it is now celebrated by people sharing non-Christian values as well. Just like Christmas, it is the time during the year when families gather together and take part in the festivities. Unfortunately, the pandemic has its own laws and now many university students are unable to come home and celebrate this special time with their friends and families. However, it does not mean that they cannot exchange chocolate eggs or dive into Easter cooking madness! Here are some ideas on how to celebrate Easter away from home.
Have a video call with your family
Can you even imagine if we were to self-isolate without Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Skype, Facetime, and so on? A phone call is truly amazing but after a year in lockdown and being stuck in a foreign country without the option to pay your family a short visit, seeing your loved ones through the screen is everything. Easter was always a perfect opportunity for international students to come back to their country and reunite with friends. Unfortunately, with travel restrictions and obligatory two weeks quarantine in place, it became almost impossible to physically meet your loved ones. However, the available technology can really help with homesickness. It’s really important to video call your family and attempt to spend this time together as in previous years. There are many fun games that you can play together even though there are hundreds of kilometers between you and your home. To spice things up you can even use a festive zoom background. Virtually surround yourself with Easter bunnies as well as eggs and get yourself into a holiday spirit.
Plan an international Easter with your flatmates
Maybe you live in an international household and each of your flatmates' Easter traditions vary per country? Some may not even celebrate Easter at all. Try to combine all of them and celebrate an international version of this holiday. Incorporating Australian chocolate bilbies, red-only Greek eggs, French omelette competition, or getting splashed with water sounds like fun, right? Discussing your plans creates a perfect opportunity to learn more about different cultures and it also brings plenty of fun. Later, you may say that it was the most unique and surprising Easter experience in your life. You may even be able to forget for a second that you are homesick and so far away from your family.
Traditional meals
Some may say that we cannot call Easter Easter without the traditional food. It’s not only about preparing, colouring, decorating and eating eggs. If you love to explore different worldwide cuisines, here are some examples of the famous regional Easter dishes that you can try to prepare yourself:
- White borscht : Traditional Polish soup full of sausages, potatoes and eggs.
- Pashka: Russian equivalent to a cheesecake.
- Tarta Pascualina : Popular meal in Argentina with melted cheese, spinach and pie crust. Translated from Spanish it means “Easter Tart".
- Mämmi : Finnish Easter pudding.
- Rosquillas : Spanish Easter doughnuts.
