Páscoa

This week Christians around the world celebrated Easter. 

Brazil's cultural traditions include - chocolate eggs and bunnies!!

There were chocolate eggs everywhere. When you went to the supermarket, there would be tunnels made of brightly colored hanging chocolate Easter eggs. White chocolate, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, with hazelnuts, pieces of cookie, sprinkles, caramel, raisins, with a prize or with more candy inside. You just find your favorite egg and "pluck" it down.

Don and his Ovo de Chocolate – Chocolate Egg

Another typical food in the Brazilian easter menu is the pane di pascal, a kind of Easter cake (that resembles a panetone), whose origins come from Italy. Here, it is sold only during the Easter season and it is usually filled with chocolate chips and covered in chocolate toppings. 

The shopping centers also take advantage of the season by providing Easter play and activity areas.

Easter in Brazil is a time to see bunnies everywhere! No little ducks or baby chicks. Just lots and lots of bunnies.

(Don and Larry didn't want to stand by a bunny)

In Brazil, though, they don't dye Easter eggs or hold traditional Easter egg hunts like Americans do. The kids will paint the blown out eggs, fill them with surprises, and cover the ends with paper. These are then given to loved ones.  

Another interesting thing about Easter is that if there are kids in the family, they usually hunt for their Easter baskets. The night before, children will leave their baskets empty and wait for the next day. Parents (or the Easter bunny) will then put chocolate and candies in the baskets and they hide them!

And bright and early Easter morning we were awakened to the sound of "Resurrection" fireworks from the Catholic Church in back of us. We are used to the random ringing of the bells every day but the fireworks were a bit of a surprise.

It's been fun learning about the different traditions here in our beautiful Brazil, but...

Lest we forget,

 "Easter is the Christian holiday celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. After Christ died on the cross, His body was placed in a sepulchre, where it remained, separated from His spirit, until His Resurrection, when His spirit and His body were reunited. Latter-day Saints affirm and testify that Jesus Christ was resurrected and lives today with a glorified and perfected body of flesh and bone."

“I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” (John 11:25).

I am so grateful for my Savior and my testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ.