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What is Easter like in the Netherlands
Easter is a traditional festival in the West. Many countries will celebrate Easter, and the same is true in the Netherlands. Easter in the Netherlands is called Pasen, and there are two days of holidays in March or April every year.
There are Easter activities all over the Netherlands, usually sending some Easter eggs to the children, and there are places where Easter fireworks are set off. However, in a small town in the Netherlands, the Easter event is particularly special and worth seeing.
Ootmarsum, a small town near the German border in the province of Overijssel in the northeastern Netherlands, with a population of just over 4,000, is a place with a special and interesting Easter tradition that has been passed down from generation to generation. The place has an old slogan, “One and Only”, which naturally applies to Easter as well.
Among them, every Easter, the most eye-catching are 8 handsome men wearing top hats, light yellow raincoats and black trousers. They are all around 20 years old. The locals call them Poaskearls. They appear on the streets together. Arrangement and command of everything for Easter, in fact, can be said to be the “Easter Activities Committee”. There are certain requirements for these Poaskearls, they must be religious, single, and do not plan to marry within the next 4 years; there are already statues erected for these Poaskearls in the local area.
The Dutch are also very fond of egg painting. If you want to try and play, it is recommended to go to Blokker or Intertoys to buy suitable eggs. Easter egg painting ranks fifth in the “Top 10 Dutch traditions”. It is reported that during the Easter weekend, nearly 35 million eggs will be eaten in the Netherlands!
At 12:00 noon the day before Easter, the local announced the start of the Easter carnival. Two carriages drove to a nearby nature reserve to get firewood for the Easter fireworks. At sunset, they would return to the place where the fireworks were located. Get ready, it’s an open space outside the city.
On the first day of Easter, the Poaskearls gathered around the local cathedral in the morning and at noon, singing Easter songs. At 5 o’clock in the afternoon, an event called vlöggeln begins, which is a local event, led by 8 Poaskearls, followed by residents of the whole town, and tourists can also participate, lining up, holding hands, along the Street to Main Street, singing Easter songs over and over again all the way.
The eldest, Poaskearl, had a cigar in his mouth. Arriving at Main Street, the child was lifted up three times and called “Hoera” three times. The move is said to symbolize the resurrection of Jesus. The entire event lasted about an hour.
At 8:30 p.m., the Easter fireworks officially went up. On the second day of Easter, this vlöggeln event is repeated from 17:30.
According to written records, this vlöggeln activity appeared in 1840, but in fact, this activity has been around for a long time, and it has not declined to this day. According to historical records, the church in Ootmarsum is one of the oldest churches in the Netherlands. It appeared in 770 AD, which shows the profound religious traditions of the place.
