Easter weekend in Germany starts on Friday, April 7th and marks one of the country’s major holidays. The much-anticipated four-day holiday weekend brings with it many events and customs you can take part in over the next couple of weeks.
Easter markets
Outdoor Easter markets pop up in many German cities in the weeks leading up to Easter. Crowds drawn in by the warm weather can peruse stalls stacked with Easter decorations like painted eggs, or check out market mainstays like homemade goods and ceramic products. Food and drink are also on offer, while some markets even have amusement rides.
One of the biggest Easter markets takes place in Nuremberg. The market is the city’s oldest, and specialises in tableware and household products.
In Berlin, the Easter Market on Potsdamer Platz will feature artists from the Easter Egg Museum Bardot, who will demonstrate the special technique behind the intricately-designed eggs handcrafted from the country’s Sorbian community in Brandenburg and Saxony.
Easter egg hunts
Speaking of eggs, perhaps one of Germany’s most well-known Easter traditions is the Easter egg hunt. On Easter Sunday, kids spend the morning looking for eggs containing special treats hidden by the Easter bunny. And while Easter is a Christian holiday, this custom, along with the word “Easter” itself may have Pagan origins.
READ ALSO: The very German origins of the Easter Bunny
Easter eggs hang from a tree in Schmilka, Saxony. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/dpa-Zentralbild | Sebastian Kahnert
Some scholars have traced the Easter bunny back to Eostre, the Germanic goddess of spring whose symbol was a rabbit. Overtime, they have argued, the Pagan spring festival that celebrated the goddess became assimilated into the Christian celebration of Christ’s resurrection, with the bunny as its symbol.
Weimar has a particular Easter egg hunt tradition connected to famous poet and resident Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Goethe was said to invite his children, grandchildren and children of his friends to his garden on the Thursday before Easter to look for eggs he had hidden.
The city continues the tradition today as it organizes an egg hunt in the park of Goethe’s former residence on the Thursday before Easter.
Easter bonfires
Another Easter tradition that speaks to the holiday’s Pagan origins are the Easter fire (Easter bonfires). In pagan tradition, lighting bonfires was meant to celebrate the end of winter, and this practice has since been incorporated into Easter celebrations. In the days leading up to Easter, locals will gather branches and twigs to build a bonfire.
People gather around an Osterfeuer in Bochum. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Caroline Seidel
The bonfire is typically lit on the Sunday, as the community gathers around to enjoy food and drink under the fiery glow. This practice is especially popular in northern Germany, with Hamburg being a particularly famous site for Easter fire.
The small town of Lügde in North Rhine-Westphalia also has a fire-themed tradition called the easter wheel race (Easter wheel run). On Easter Sunday, residents roll burning wheels of oak and straw down the hillside.
READ ALSO: 10 ways to celebrate Easter in Germany like a local
Easter riding
Along with their famous eggs, another Easter tradition practiced primarily by the Sorb community is Easter riding. On Easter, hundreds of men from this minority community in northeast Germany ride horses in procession to announce Jesus’ return to life.
Traditionally dressed Sorbian Easter riders. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Sebastian Kahnert
The tradition goes back at least six centuries. The riders, dressed in black suits with white shirts and black top hats, sing hymns as they ride past crowds of onlookers, which include Sorb women in traditional dress, as well as other curious spectators hoping to witness the occasion.
Easter fountains
While bonfires are typically associated with northern Germany, southern Germany is famous for its Easter fountain (Easter fountains).
The tradition started in northern Bavaria and northeastern Baden-Württemberg in the early 1900s, before spreading to other parts of Germany in the 1980s. Local residents decorate fountains in public squares by arranging green leaves into a crown and adorning them with colorful Easter eggs.
Today, these fountains have become a major tourist attraction. The town of Bieberbach in Bavaria is particularly famous: its decorations have won Guinness World records and attract over 30,000 tourists each year.