Celebrating Easter In The Netherlands

Easter is one of the national holidays in the Netherlands. As with many national holidays, this one has its own set of traditions too. To make your life a little easier, here is a list of Dutch Easter habits.

Easter festivities with the family

Dutch people make the best of their free days, and especially enjoy spending national holidays with their families. Around Easter, stores are filled with Easter paraphernalia, as well as Easter food and chocolate eggs. During the Easter weekend, the family comes together for a festive breakfast, brunch or lunch. The kitchen table is dressed up in an exquisitely festive manner for this occasion.

The food

The table is dressed up nicely, we get it- but what do you eat? You can expect all kinds of rolls, cheeses, meat and, the star of the show: eggs! The eggs are usually hard-boiled and decorated with the entire palette of happy colors. To enhance the feeling of Easter, the Dutch fancy eating Paasbrood, with a layer of butter cut off of a molded butter bunny, hen or lamb.

The egg hunt

In the Netherlands, the Easter Hare goes around hiding little chocolate eggs for the children. Just like in other cultures, children then run around with Easter baskets, trying to collect as many eggs as possible.

Easter events

There is a number of events taking place around Easter in the Netherlands, both with and without a religious tint. Every year, the St Matthew Passion is performed in the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam on Good Friday. Another edition of the concert, called The Passion will be taking place in Dordrecht this year. Feel like modern music instead? Go ahead and buy a ticket for Paaspop– a festival which has taken place over the Easter weekend in Noord-Brabant since 1985. Paaspop is often and by many people seen as the unofficial kickoff of the Dutch festival season.