West Cross, Monasterboice, Ireland

Many Irish family households prepare their homes for Easter Sunday by doing what would be better known as “spring cleaning” to prepare the house for blessing by the local priest which is a religious ceremony that dates back hundreds of years.

No outdoor work takes place on Good Friday in Ireland because it is treated as a day of rest and preparation of body and soul for Easter.

On Good Friday people attend confessions asking for forgiveness, have their hair cut, nails trimmed and would also shop for new clothes to be worn to Easter mass.

Eggs would not be eaten during the time of Lent and would be presented to the Irish household on Good Friday but not eaten until Easter Sunday. Eggs would be painted with different colors and designs but then replaced with Chocolate Easters Eggs for the children, with over five million being purchased each year in Ireland.

Holy Saturday is the day that Irish people take a vow of silence but also attend a special ceremony to have their Holy water blessed. They may also attend the Easter Vigil which usually starts at 10pm with the Church decorated in purple colored banners to celebrate the arrival of the King. All lights in the Church are extinguished at 11pm with a new flame being presented to the altar of the church which is a Paschal candle, a symbol of the Risen Christ and the celebrations of the Holy Flame.

Easter Sunday in many homes is very similar to any other Sunday or religious day in Ireland. Families get together dressed in their new clothes and attend mass together in their local church.

After attending mass on Easter Sunday everyone makes their way back home to start the Easter feast which is usually made up of servings of potatoes, vegetables, meat, stuffing, bread and anything else that makes up a good proper Irish feast.

The Easter Eggs are always presented to the Children after their traditional Irish Easter dinner and can only be given to a child that has not broken the Lent fast and who has also finished eating a full Easter Dinner but from part experience parents usually bend the rules for the children as the fasting is somewhat of a difficult task for a child.

This post was cited from YourIrish.com, Celebrating Easter Traditions in Ireland,  which holds the copyright.  It is used here for educational purposes only.  The image is the West Cross from Monasterboice, Ireland, and is used here through Wikipedia Commons.