Happy Passover – and matzoh ball soup eating – to world Jews this weekend, Happy Holi – a colorful Hindu festival I’ve just learned about – and Happy Easter to all celebrants this week.

Just as growing up, many would joke they were “thankful for the Jews” of my largely Irish Catholic town because we got lots of vacation due to the Jewish holidays at the beginning of the school year, I am thankful to Denmark this year for granting Easter Thursday through Monday as national holiday. This enables many workers to easily take off the full week if they choose.

One thing I can say I’m doing for sure over the 5-day weekend is revising last year’s horrific Easter candy ranking. I was told by a Danish friend that I bought all of the cheap candy. I’ll happily fix that this year with the help of Odense Chokoladehuset!

At the same time, I’m sad not to be in Czech Republic to experience its infamous Easter traditions. Reading the following article, however, reminded me how much Easter and Passover have in common… survival into springtime, the noise-making grager/řehtačka (albeit used for very different purposes), and the significance of the ram/lamb/shankbone as well as eggs as a holiday centerpiece.

Read about Czech Easter traditions at PragueLife.