Easter Traditions

Easter as a Festival

Easter was generally perceived as a hopeful and joyous time of year. Along with the longer days and brighter nights it brought a sense of the ‘new’:

“Easter, coming as it does in the spring time and bringing to us the promise of a resurrection, is the symbol of renewed life, the trees, the flowers, the bird song; all these things speak to us of a renewal of life.”

Schools’ Collection, Coolshinney Primary School, Magherafelt, Co. Londonderry

Good Friday

Many people would agree that Good Friday feels different to the other days during the Easter festival. Of all the days of Easter, Good Friday was the most solemn and austere. In the churches it was a day of penitence and mourning.

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"No blood should be shed, thus no animal or bird could be slaughtered, no wood should be worked or burned and no nail should be driven on the day on which the Saviour was crucified, while from noon until three o’clock, the period according to tradition when Christ hung on the cross, silence was observed as far as possible, and prayers were said by the whole household gathered together. The sky was expected to darken at this time."

Kevin Danaher, ‘The Year in Ireland’, 1972

In preparation for Easter women thoroughly cleaned their houses, whilst the men of the household swept and tidied the outbuildings. On Good Friday, however, it was believed to be extremely unlucky to wash clothes or linen.

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“Legend says that whoever does so will find the water stained with blood, or the clothes hung on the line spotted with it, and that misfortune of some kind, perhaps a death in the family, will follow.” 

Christina Hole, ‘Easter and its Customs’, 1961

Easter Saturday

Easter Saturday, also known as Holy Saturday, was an important day in the Catholic churches. People brought home small containers of blessed holy water to protect against illness and danger. 

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“Each member of the family took three sips of the Easter water in the name of the Trinity as a preventive of disease, and it was sprinkled on the house and its occupants, on the farmyard buildings, livestock and growing crops. The rest of the water was put away for use in illness or danger, and, according to tradition it remains fresh forever.” 

- Kevin Danaher, ‘The Year in Ireland’, 1972

Easter Sunday 

Easter Sunday was a day of celebration and the churches were filled with flowers and greenery. Some got up early to see the sun ‘dance’. 

“It was the custom to watch the sun rise on Easter Sunday morning (which was supposed to dance with joy at our Lord’s resurrection). Old people would go out barefooted and kneel on the doorstep or street, facing the rising sun, and pray on this the Feast of Our Lord’s Resurrection, that he would preserve them in health and guard them from sudden death during the year.”

- Notebook of Mr. McKenna, Ballygawley, County Tyrone

Some families enjoyed dancing outdoors if the weather was nice. This sometimes took the form of a contest where a large, specially baked cake was the prize. This Easter dance contest was called a “cake dance”.

Easter Monday

Festivities came to an end on Easter Monday, which was typically a day reserved for merriment, and joyous recreational activities. These included games, sports, markets, dancing, eating and drinking.

Children took the eggs they had boiled and dyed on Easter Sunday in Easter houses (little huts) and rolled them on the grass until they broke.