March 13, 2018

Easter in Norway

Time flies so fast and Holy week is near, this reminds me of our summer vacation in Norway last year. We left on Palm Sunday so we can celebrate the holidays there. Norway has a long celebration of Holy Week, they have no work from Holy Thursday up to Monday. How I wish, we have 5 days' holiday too so Monday will be our time for cleaning our home or returning home from vacation. 

Norwegians are not very religious so the Holy Week is more on vacation and preparation for the Spring season. The majority of Norwegians travel overseas, go to their cabin or cottage house, visit mountains for skiing, or just spend quality with their family. It also marks that the winter season is about to end so most people change their curtains, displays or any other house decor. They put something yellow to celebrate Holy Week. They also start cleaning their garden because flowers and trees will start to bloom. 

Since this is a long holiday, almost everything is closed. Yes, even malls, restaurants, and supermarkets so make sure that you already finish buying food, drinks or anything that you need by Holy Wednesday. Even Ferry boats stop sailing. That is the reason why we only stayed one night in Røros because there is no ferry trip every Good Friday. 



As I mentioned, we celebrated Easter Eve and Easter Sunday in Røros, Norway. It is a very popular destination for Holy Week. It is situated on a plateau so they have a subarctic climate. And because of that, we were able to have fun in the snow and build a snowman.  You can check our Weekend in Røros, Norway Experience here and watch the video here.  


Chicken and eggs are the famous symbols of Easter in Norway so most of the displays are chicken and eggs. Even their mascot is a chicken but recently, they also embrace Easter Bunny. We even saw these two mascots in Røros and they are giving away candies. 

One thing I like in Norway is their Easter Eggs, they don’t have Easter Baskets because they are using pretty eggshells that are made of cardboard. You can buy this in the supermarket and fill it with candies, chocolates, and even small toys. The popular chocolate is Kvikk Lunsj chocolate which is similar to KitKat but we prefer the Freia brand, yun nga lang sa Scandinavia countries ko lang siya nakikita. 




My son was very happy because he got a lot of eggs from his aunt so I prepare a DIY Easter Egg Hunt for him, you can check the video here. My mom gave him egg-stuffed toys with chocolates inside the backpack, it is a cute pasalubong from Amsterdam. My aunt gave him a Lego toy and my mom’s mother-in-law gave him an Easter egg too. So this is the major reason why I gained pounds in Norway, we have so much sweets intake. 


My son also likes Kinder Egg Surprise and my mom and aunt always give him a box of it kahit hindi na Easter. Oh, how I wish we can go back to Norway again. Anyway, if you are planning for an Easter staycation or looking for an Easter Egg Hunt event, you can check my list here

Read: Summer Class 2018

4 comments:

  1. OMG the chicken and bunny mascots are adorable!I find it interesting that they do not celebrate Holy Week but they celebrate Easter as a week long holiday. How are you going to celebrate Holy Week this year?

    We live in Qatar and the Catholics do the activities in the church but inside the compound only and it's not a holiday here. My kids haven't done any Holy Week related activities in their whole lives because they have school during the week. :(

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We don’t have specific plans yet for the Easter. Thanks for sharing about Qatar, maybe when you go back to the Philippines, they can experience Holy Week. :)

      Delete
  2. I can only imagine how difficult it is when almost all businesses close! They really give great value to their employees, no? Kasi kung dito sa Pinas yan, naku, walang day off day off on shopping stores. lol.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. True, may work and life balance sa kanila. Kahit di holidays, maaga nagsasara malls so nakakauwi sila ng maaga tulad ng nagwork sa corporate world.

      Delete

Klook.com