Originated with Christian beliefs, Easter celebrates the crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus. Most Brazilians identify themselves as Catholics, and the public holiday is celebrated during three days: Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday.
During this period, you will find fish on the menu, and some elements that represent hope and the resurgence of life are the Easter bunny and the chocolate Easter eggs. To keep the magic in the air, some families prepare baskets and carrots to welcome the generous bunny at home. Other families do an egg hunt and hide the chocolates around their place, so children can look for them.
If you ever visited Brazil during this time and went to the supermarket, you probably saw a huge aisle with chocolate eggs dripping from the ceiling: white, dark, milk chocolate, some with toys or cookies inside. And this is probably the biggest difference between the Brazilian and the Australian Easter. When living overseas, instead of finding “colomba pascal” (a type of bread in a dove format, traditional during this time of the year) or these aisles, Brazilians end up finding hot cross buns.
However, the most successful Easter eggs are the ones filled with “brigadeiro” or “beijinho” that you need a spoon to finish. Those ones are made by local producers.
Have you ever tried those delicacies?