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Easter is a religious holiday celebrated by many, but it is one of the major holidays celebrated by Christians. While each religion has its own unique way of celebrating the holiday, there are some common themes that can be incorporated into a mindful celebration, regardless of your religious beliefs. Below are a few ways to celebrate, without offending anyone.
1. Reflect on the significance of the holiday: Spend some time thinking about what Easter represents to you and your faith. Maybe this involves prayer, meditation, or simply taking a quiet moment to reflect on the holiday’s significance.
2. Spend time with loved ones: Easter is a time to come together with family and friends. Whether you are having a big dinner, going for a walk, or simply chatting, spending quality time with the people you care about can help make the holiday more meaningful.
3. Focus on renewal and growth: Easter is often seen as a time of new beginnings and fresh starts. Use this as an opportunity to focus on your own personal growth and development, whether that involves setting new goals, taking up a new hobby, or simply taking care of your mental and physical health.
4. Give back to others: Easter is the time to think about others, and there are many ways to give back to your community. This could involve volunteering, donating to charity, or simply spreading kindness and positivity to those around you.
As an employer, it’s important to be inclusive and respectful of all your employees’ beliefs and traditions. A few ways to acknowledge and celebrate Easter in a way that takes all religions into consideration:
1. Provide a half day: Consider offering employees time off around the Easter holiday, to give them the opportunity to spend time with the family.
2. Offer alternative celebrations: If you want to celebrate Easter in the workplace, make sure that this is inclusive of all religions and beliefs. Why not arrange a lunch at work where employees can bring in dishes from their cultural or religious traditions?
3. Encourage inclusiveness: By holding workshops and training sessions for employees during the month of Easter, a supportive and welcoming workplace culture will be the positive spin-off. During these workshops, employees can tell their colleagues about their religion or culture and answer questions anyone may have.
Easter Gifts are a great way to show appreciation for your employees and acknowledge the holiday season. This too increases brand awareness and makes employees feel appreciated.
1. Food and treats always go a long way and are appreciated by all. How about a little bag of jellybeans, in the company colours, including a company branded sticker, and a message saying, “Happy Holidays”? Alternatively, as this month also incorporates Family Day, how about a lovely company-branded cooler, filled with delicious treats for the whole family to enjoy?
2. Other gifts for the whole family to enjoy over Easter, including picnic baskets, games, homeware, like cheese boards, or even a lovely Braai Box hamper filled with braai utensils, braai sauce, beer bread mix, and of course some marshmallows to finish off with. All goodies for the whole family to enjoy while having fun together!
What I love about Easter is learning about the various ways in which Easter is celebrated in different countries. In the USA and some other Western countries, Easter is celebrated with Church services, family gatherings and the exchange of Easter eggs and baskets filled with sweets and toys.
In Greece, the Orthodox Church observes Easter with a week-long series of religious ceremonies, including the lighting of the “Holy Fire” at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. This is like a pilgrimage for Christians. On Easter Sunday, families gather for a feast featuring roasted lamb and other traditional dishes.
Click here and find a personal Greek Easter favourite treat, Flaouna.
In Spain, Easter week is known as “Semana Santa” and is marked by parades and processions featuring religious statues and icons. In some regions, participants dress in robes and carry heavy wooden crosses in a demonstration of devotion.
In some parts of Germany, Easter is celebrated with a variety of traditional customs, including Easter egg hunts, the exchange of Easter eggs and the baking of special Easter treats, such as the “Osterlamm” (Easter cake) https://chalkingupsuccess.com/easter-lamb-cake-recipe/
In Poland, Easter is celebrated with traditional foods such as “babka” (a sweet yeast cake) https://www.polonist.com/polish-easter-babka-cake/ and also dumplings filled with cheese or fruit, known as “pierogi”. Children participate in egg-rolling contests and the entire family celebrates together, enjoying a fun-filled time. They also participate in “Śmigus-Dyngus” (Wet Monday) on Easter Monday, which involves drenching family and friends with water. Now that sounds like a whole lot of family fun to me!
Easter is a holiday celebrated in different ways around the world, and while some traditions are widespread, others can be pretty unique and quite odd actually.
In Germany, in Halle, the Easter Bunny delivers chocolate eggs to children. This may sound very normal, but this is definitely NOT the usual Easter Bunny, who comes skipping down the path with a basket. This Easter bunny delivers the chocolate eggs on his motorbike, and he is followed by a huge group of bikers.
Then in Finland, it is traditional for the children to dress up as witches and go door-to-door singing Easter songs and asking for treats.
In Australia, the Easter Bilby is used as a symbol of Easter, instead of the Easter Bunny. This is because the Easter Bunny is not native to Australia, but the Bilby, a small marsupial is, and is also an endangered species in the country. This cute little creature also has bunny-like ears but has a long tail instead of the cute bunny tail, we are used to. It looks like a cross between a bunny and a rat!
No matter the manner in which Easter is celebrated, it is important that we remain inclusive and mindful during this period.
“Companies that embrace diversity and inclusion in all aspects of their business statistically outperform their peers” Josh Bersin
Thank you for your time and please contact us to assist with all your gifting and branded merchandise requirements. gifting@completegifts.co.za
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