For the most part of the long weekend, the Easter dish Frejon has been on my mind. I blame those chefs/cooks throwing Frejon recipes all over the internet. Truthfully, I have not physically seen a plate of Frejon. It was neither eaten in my home nor one of our Easter family traditions. Growing up we ate traditional Nigeria dishes for Easter. Jollof Rice, Pounded Yam, Amala e.t.c. Not saying Frejon is not a Nigerian dish but it was imported from Brazil so its technically Brazilian ☺️.

The Monday after Easter a.k.a Easter Monday, our church usually organized a day filled with fun activities for the kids and youths. The day starts off with a trip to “Galilee”. Galilee because we were trying to find Jesus after his resurrection.  Don’t laugh ? . The church would pick a location for the day and kids/youths interested will sign up for it. Right after “Galilee”, we would have an Easter picnic. One time the location was Old Oyo Town and we were transported in Double Decker buses. It was so exciting. We were told the story of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, sang Easter hymns and played games throughout the trip. Over the years, we’ve been to Olumo rock, a train ride from Ibadan , visit to the old airport and a bunch of other places.

This was how I spent Easter growing up.

Easter traditions differ from country to country and even from home to home. I caught up with 4 awesome people who shared their Easter traditions with the nomad community.  Here is what they had to say:

” On Good Friday, which is a public holiday, we do not eat meat. We pray on Friday, thank Jesus for the gift of life and eat fish. Our celebrations begin on Sunday and the house is decorated elaborately with eggs, carrots and rabbits. The floor filled with marks of oats from porquie rabbits leaving the Easter nest. The children have to follow the trail of the Easter Bunny to find their chocolates. Here, the most important part of Easter is not church, its the chocolates” – Stephanie from Brazil.

Comment: The Easter Bunny trail is something I would have loved to do as a child! I’m literally imagining following a trail and getting my pot of gold chocolate at the end. Heck, I’ll probably still do this as an adult.

“We eat paschal lamb traditionally but not everyone respects the tradition. Some people go to church since it’s a Christain celebration but honestly, the churches are getting emptier and emptier. No one bothers with the religion anymore. Basically, people buy and eat chocolate eggs. We eat chocolate rabbits too. Families set up easter egg hunts in their gardens for their children, like a treasure hunt” – Charyse from France.

Comment: Lol at the churches getting emptier and emptier. The Easter egg hunt is fast becoming a tradition in Nigeria. I have seen so many Easter egg hunt ads online. Do you agree?

“For us in Rwanda, the Easter holiday gives us a new life and new hope. This period is very special to us because it teaches us to forgive those who killed their neighbours in the genocide of 1994 and to live peacefully with them. It gives us new hope that one day we will see our beloved ones that we lost. We visit our friends and relatives and give help to poor families” – Benjamin from Rwanda.

Comment: It’s good to know that Rwandans find time to celebrate Easter with friends and family in spite of April being the genocide memorial month.

“I am Muslim. However, I can share with you the Easter traditions because Christians and Muslims in Gambia are very close. The Christian population in Gambia is small but they make this special dish and share it with their Muslim friends and family. The dish is called Nan Burroo and it is made with white rice. The rice is steamed and pounded into little bowls and eaten with baobab juice”. – Awa from Gambia

Comment: I have tried Gambian Jollof and I think it’s nicer that Nigerian (no Jollof wars here) so I can imagine what Nan Burroo tastes like! Yum! I’ve also had Baobab juice on my trip to Gambia here. It was a sweet and refreshing drink.

At my friend’s place of work, they had some funny Easter traditions pasted on their bathroom doors which she shared with me.

An aside, the bathroom signs are so hilarious!

Happy Easter Nomad Community! We hope you are having an awesome time both home and abroad. What were your Easter traditions growing up?