Hop to Norfolk: Here, Easter’s Traditions Meet Island Fun & Celebrations!

This year, Easter Sunday is on April 20 and if, dear reader, you are in Burnt Pine or Kingston, get set for a warm and fun-filled Norfolk Island Easter holiday! This is all about connecting with the local community, soaking in a bit of spirituality, taking a moment for quiet reflection and another for fun-filled, easy-going activities. It’s also a good time to unwind at a Norfolk Island cottage (or a luxurious villa, who doesn’t love some pampering?) and take a well-earned break from the daily hustle. 

Easter in Norfolk Island

On Norfolk Island, Christians are the largest religious group, with Anglicanism being the most common denomination at roughly 30 percent – Catholicism and the Uniting Church also have a presence. Easter is marked by a vigil on Holy Saturday, a celebration of Holy Communion on Easter Sunday and a period of rejoicing and feasting throughout Eastertide. Some churches may be decorated with Easter lilies – a symbol of resurrection and hold sunrise services on Easter Sunday, symbolic of new life. There is a tradition of decorating the cross with flowers and wearing traditional Easter bonnets.

Norfolk Island, as an Australian South Pacific territory, adheres to Aussie public holidays. Good Friday and Easter Monday are public holidays. Easter Sunday is celebrated with church services, Easter feast, traditional egg hunts and other local Easter-centric events. The islanders also enjoy organising Norfolk-themed egg hunts and bunny hunts, other children’s activities like rolling Easter eggs down the hill or even carrying chocolate eggs on a spoon while navigating a makeshift obstacle course! Holidaymakers might just want to check out these events — the locals are most welcoming, or a chat with the hotel/resort’s front desk will point them true.

Besides, the day is excellent for gently paced activities like walking some of the easier tracks in the Norfolk Island Wildlife Sanctuary, spending some time in the Botanical Garden or soaking in the charms of Kingston and Arthur’s Vale Historic Area. Since most commercial places may remain closed, couples can celebrate their Norfolk Island Easter holiday by either indulging in the above or having an uneventful day to themselves with a lazy beach picnic, kayaking and enjoying a sunset walk on Norfolk Island’s sun-drenched shores.

A word of caution though – if you have been fasting during Easter, we suggest you do not try out physically strenuous activities. In a nutshell, it would be a good idea to reschedule diving, swimming and hiking activities to Easter Monday or some other day of the week.

Origins of Easter

Besides marking Jesus’s victory over death, Easter Sunday celebrates ‘new beginnings’ that come with spring as marked by eggs hatching and flowers blooming.

Easter, or Easter Sunday as it is formally called, is part of the Christian holy week that begins with Palm Sunday. This marks Jesus’s arrival in Jerusalem and the locals welcoming him by throwing down palm branches on the road. This is followed by Maundy Thursday, popularly known as the Last Supper – a reminder that Jesus sacrificed his life for mankind. Good Friday comes next which commemorates Jesus’s execution by crucifixion and is a day of mourning in church. Easter Sunday marks Jesus’s resurrection from the dead – widely considered a miracle and an act of God.

Easter Symbolism Around the World

Easter celebrations are incomplete without eggs and bunnies. Like everywhere else, Easter Eggs are made with chocolate in Australia and Australian territories and covered with colourful foil or dyes. However… in the old days, it was usually a boiled chicken egg which was then hand painted, usually red. This popular activity may have become a tradition due to the following Easter story.

(The Lore) According to legends, once Jesus was resurrected from the dead, Mary Magdalene went to visit the Roman Emperor Tiberius Caesar. The story goes that Mary Magdalene held out her hand with an egg in it and proclaimed that Jesus had risen anew. To this, the emperor replied that if Christ had indeed arisen, the egg in her hand would turn red. And the story claims it did – a sign from God that Mary Magdalene spoke the truth!

Now, how bunnies came to be associated with Easter, is not exactly clear. Easter elements like eggs, flowers and baby chicks are symbols that can be traced back to ancient pagan traditions which celebrated fertility, rebirth and new growth after the long dark winter months. Spring is also the time when baby bunnies start popping up in the wild. Perhaps, this is how bunnies came to be associated with the event.

Easter Traditions Around The World

In Western Christianity, Easter Sunday is the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring. The Eastern Orthodox Church uses a different calendar and so celebrates Easter a little earlier or after. Plus, there is a variation in how different orthodox communities celebrate, based on their culture and region. For instance, a Greek Orthodox family may break their fast after the midnight resurrection service, but a Serbian Orthodox family would break their fast only after the Easter Sunday service.

In some places in Eastern Europe, girls and boys celebrate by throwing water at each other, while in Corfu, Greece, people throw pots and pans onto the street. The US celebrates with Easter bonnets — hats decorated with the symbols of spring, while Norway took upon itself to celebrate Easter with reading crime novels and solving mysteries!

In Australia, celebrations are religious as well as secular. While devout Christians adhere to traditional ways of celebrating, secular Christians and other Australians view Easter as a time to connect with family and friends, enjoy chocolates and hot-cross buns, or spend the time camping and hiking, set out on a road trip… or leave for a well-deserved Norfolk Island getaway!  

For more on how to best spend your time on a Norfolk holiday, please browse our travel blogs – or, chat up our travel specialists on 1300 991 751!