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Podcast – Easter
Hi and welcome to your English podcast.
Today we’re going to explore some of the ways Easter
is celebrated across the United States.
You’ll find some links to the things we talk about here in the documents
provided with the podcast.
Let’s start off with just a little description of what and when Easter is. Easter is a
religious holiday used to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ three days
after his crucifixion in around 30 A.D.
Easter is the final day in a long religious season called The Passion of
Christ. This season includes Lent and
Holy Week.
This year Easter will be celebrated on April 12. However, Easter is considered a “moveable” feast or holiday, meaning it
does not happen on the same day every year.
Easter Sunday usually falls on the first Sunday after the first full
moon which occurs on or after the spring equinox.
One more thing before we jump into traditions in the
US and Spain, where does the name Easter come from? Some historians think the
name comes from Eostre or Eostrae, the name of the Anglo-Saxon goddess of
spring and fertility. Others argue that it comes from in albis, a Latin word
meaning dawn, which eventually became eostarum.
So now that we have got a bit of history out of the
way, let’s talk about traditions in the US.
Something I think we all know is a big tradition is
the Easter
Egg Hunts. It doesn’t really
matter if you are religious or not, though this is obviously a religious holiday,
everyone likes an Easter Egg Hunt. You
can do the hunt with real or plastic eggs.
There are different benefits to each.
If you use real eggs, you can hard boil them, then decorate them, and at
the end of the hunt you have a healthy snack.
On the other hand, you can use plastic eggs and fill them with different
surprises. Typical things that are found
inside plastic eggs include candy, money, and small toys.
Hunting eggs isn’t the only thing you can do at Easter
though. We also have games like the egg
and spoon race, which is exactly what it sounds like. Individuals carry eggs in spoons, trying not
to drop the egg all while trying to win the race first. Obviously, it’s less messy if you use a
plastic egg filled with candy for this and not a real egg…
There’s also the Bunny Hop, another race, where people
get into giant sacks and hop as fast as they can to the finish line.
So Apart from the celebrations that happen across the
country in people’s backyards, or in the park, or at the local church, there
are also big events that happen on and around Easter. For example, every year at the White House
the President of the United States has an Easter Egg Roll. The tradition started in 1878 and has
continued on and off since then. This
year the event will be on April 13, 2020.
You can find …
On Easter people often go out to a restaurant for a
family meal, or they go to church. Many
families prepare Easter baskets for their children. In these baskets are pretty baskets,
decorated with pastel colours and filled with candy, small toys, books, and
anything else that can fit.
One last tradition that is just a little bit weird is
the Easter Bonnet tradition. The word bonnet means hat. Every year in many cities across the US there
are Easter
Bonnet Parades where people wear extravagant hats decorated for
Easter. Some are beautiful, some are
weird but they are all very creative.
I’ve included a link to a YouTube video where you can see pictures of
the Easter bonnet parade in New York City.
So Kelli … (Kelli
talks about her traditions)
What about you?... (Chris talks about his traditions)
That’s all we have on Easter and I hope that you’ve
learned something new today.
Until next time!
by Kelli Seild and Christopher
Teney
Follow up:
·
Complete these sentences:
1. This year we celebrate Easter on …………………………………………………………………….
2. A moveable holiday is a holiday that ………………………………………………………………...
3. In an Easter Hunt you hunt ……………………………………………..…………………………….
4. You can find ……………………………………………………………………………… inside plastic eggs.
5. There are two games that are races. They are ……………………….. and ………………………
6. The Easter Egg Roll at the White House will be on …………………………….. this
year.
7. Mention two funny things or actions you see in the video at the White
House.
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………
8. People wear …………………………….. at Easter Bonnet Parades in ………..……….. City.
Extra mark (optional):
9. Mention one tradition that Kelli and Chris kept when they were children.
It can be a different tradition for each one.
Sources:
https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/holidays/easter-ideas/g4154/easter-ga
