Last week was Semana Santa (Holy week), and the kids were busy with a variety of activities from making chicks, bunnies, eggs, and crosses, to learning about how the colors of jelly beans represent Jesus, making “Jesus has Risen” muffins, and eating lots of candy!
We had a coloring contest…
Our friends at Casa de Mi Padre (My Father’s House) have a wonderful piece of property where we had a Easter Egg Hunt…
And made a homemade slip and slide!
The kids made two kinds of eggs for Easter. First, American style by coloring hard boiled eggs with crayons and dipping them into a variety of colored dyes. The only difference is white eggs are hard to find in El Salvador, so the colors weren’t as bright as normal.
Then, Salvadoran style: cascarones, which is a Spanish tradition of decorating hallowed out eggs and filling them with confetti. On Easter morning the kids took their decorated eggs and broke them over each other’s heads.
On Good Friday, a tradition in El Salvador is to make Alfombras or “rugs” on the streets with colored salt or sawdust. For Salvadorans, it is a gift, an offering they are making for Jesus. The children went out on Good Friday to look at the Alfombras lining the streets in the neighborhood.
Afterwards, the kids came home and made their own miniture alfombras in front of the house.
The night before Easter all the kids gathered in the Kitchen to make “Easter Cookies” and the older kids watched the Passion of Christ to remind us of what Jesus did for us and the reason we celebrate Easter.
Finally, Easter morning the kids woke to a traditional Salvadoran breakfast of Torrejas, which is the Spanish version of French Toast. They then searched the house for their easter baskets.
