5 unique Easter traditions we rarely practise

TO MOST of us young people, Easter is simply a holiday from school. Some of us acknowledge it as a time for certain spiritual/religious practices, but many of us still neglect to practise them. There are even those among us who know nothing of them at all. Here are five surprising facts and traditions of Easter to which we pay little attention:

Setting eggs

This tradition would generally take place on the morning of Good Friday. An egg is cracked and the white allowed to settle in a glass of water. As the sun rises, whatever shape the egg forms is treated as a prediction of the future. For example, the white in the shape of a plane signals that the person who cracked the egg will soon travel.

Cutting the physic nut tree

This is another tradition taking place on Good Friday, at noon. According to the International Journal of Toxicology website, the tree contains ‘phorbol esters’ which has a dark-red pigment resembling blood. The spilling of the pigment during the cutting ritual is thought to symbolise the blood spilling from the wounds of Christ.

Flying kites

Despite the annual kite festival held in Priory, St Ann, kite flying seems to be a fading Easter tradition in Jamaica. While still existing in some rural areas, it is not as popular as it once was. Like many things, we can attribute this decline to the rise of technology as a means of entertainment. The mass of young people would rather participate in activities on their phones or play video games instead of going outside to fly a kite.

Eating fish during Lent

While some Jamaicans, even a few young people, still go to church on Good Friday and participate in the Easter service, many of us neglect some of the customs of Lent. The eating of fish is supposed to honour the 40 days and 40 nights that Jesus spent fasting in the wilderness – thus, we fast from meat. Admittedly, as young people we largely ignore this tradition and pay very little attention to what we eat during Lent.

Wearing purple and white

According to the National Library of Jamaica, the stipulated colours, especially for Good Friday, were black, white and/or purple. This tradition used to be strictly maintained, but seems to have been replaced by simply wearing dark colours. Young people can freely admit that we pay very little attention to the ‘colours’ we wear during Lent and Easter. In fact, purple and white are hardly required anymore.

LIONEL ROOKWOOD/PHOTOGRAPHER With Easter holidays just around the corner, 17-year-old Romeo Pryce (right) and 15-year-old Justin Francis are ready to hoist their kites in the cool afternoon breeze on Fagan Avenue, Shortwood, St Andrew.

While Easter is still very much celebrated in Jamaica, certain aspects of it are different from they were in the past, and some no longer exist at all. The main tradition that youth still associate with Easter is the eating of bun and cheese. So few...