Celebrating Easter in South America

Easter is the most important religious festival in the Catholic church's calendar in South America. In Argentina, for example, Easter represents a time to spend with family to appreciate the religious meaning of the celebration. Every year during Semanta Santa (Holy Week), thousands of Argentines make a pilgrimage to the city of Tandil. Here, the Via Crucis, which features 14 groupings of stone sculptures depicting the Stations of the Cross, attracts the faithful who come to worship and meditate upon the sufferings and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Most Argentines refrain from eating meat on the days leading up to Easter, beginning with Holy Thursday. Empanadas de vigilia (empanadas that feature non-meat fillings such as tuna or vegetables) figure prominently on the menu at this time along with fish dishes. The traditional meal served on Viernes Santo (Good Friday) is a stew, which includes bacalao (salt cod).

pampeano has its roots in Argentina in La Pampa region. This is the birthplace of our brand and where we first decided to create beautiful, bespoke leather pieces as polo equipment and pure leather, hand-embroidered and handcrafted polo belts.

On Easter Sunday, La Pascua/Domingo de Resurrección, in Argentina most families gather to celebrate with an asado, with lamb as a popular choice. This is followed by large, hollow chocolate eggs (huevo de Pascua) or small Kinder eggs (hollow chocolate eggs with tiny sweets or toys inside). The rosca de Pascua, a bread ring topped with sprinkles, candied fruits, chocolate drizzles and/or pastry cream, is also very traditional.

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By contrast, Easter in England can be a more 'commercial' affair - with arguably less regard to the religious significance of the event. We also exchange and eat chocolate Easter eggs but British children hunt for Easter eggs hidden about the home or garden by the Easter bunny. The connection between eggs and Easter is an ancient one, and before chocolate eggs became popular gifts, real eggs were exchanged, hard boiled and dyed in bright colours. Various customs involving eggs evolved, including egg rolling games, where the aim is to keep your egg intact the longest. In many parts of northern England, people still flock to the nearest hill to roll their eggs.

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