Popular Easter traditions and customs in Northern Ireland

Find out why we all go chocolate mad this time of year 🍫

Author: Emma DicksonPublished 1st Apr 2021
Last updated 15th Apr 2022

Easter is one of the biggest celebrated Christian holiday around the world, but where did our modern-day traditions and customs come from?

We’ve put together a list of some of the fun things we do here in Northern Ireland for Easter and some of the strange events that take place.

How many can you remember?

Easter wardrobe

You might have heard the phrase 'dressed in your Sunday best,' but here in Northern Ireland. we grew up we with our 'Easter best' too.
We're talking pastel dresses, smart shirts, Easter bonnets etc…those were the days.

Family feast

Pre-covid, families would get together for a fabulous spring feast. Menus would include roast lamb with fresh veg and mashed potatoes, leek soup, and chocolate inspired desserts.

Spring Clean

Many family homes would prepare for Easter Sunday by doing what would be better known as 'spring cleaning', to prepare the house for blessing by the local priest which is a religious ceremony that dates back hundreds of years.

Special delivery from the Easter bunny

Early Christians saw the image of the egg as symbolising the empty tomb of Jesus, and also the 'hatching' of the egg to illustrate Jesus Christ being reborn.
The Easter Bunny originally stemmed from German folklore, where a rabbit or hare brought children colourful eggs on the eve of the holiday.
Bunnies and eggs were adapted by the western world, and are now synonymous with children's characters, games and confectionary.

Good Friday trim

It was believed if you got a haircut on Good Friday, it will help prevent headaches.
With close contact services including hairdressers still closed during the pandemic this Easter, we'll never know if this was just a myth or indeed fact.

Extra tasty treats

Baking has always been at the heart of Easter, including Easter cakes, traybakes and buns. In the Old Testament, Israelites baked cakes for their religious idols, ancient Greeks adopted this custom but then 'blessed' the buns with a cross. That's why today we can enjoy a hot-crossed bun!

Herring’s funeral

Christians traditionally would give up meat for Lent, so they would substitute it with fish instead.
As a joke, local butchers host a 'funeral' for one of the most common types of fish – herring – so that people can bid it a not so sad farewell until the next time Lent comes around.

Holy eggs

For farming and rural homes where chickens are kept, any eggs laid by hens on Good Friday are marked with a cross and put away until Easter Sunday.
On Sunday morning at breakfast, each member of the household would eat one of the 'holy' eggs as a blessing.