Estate Living Magazine Smart Moves - Issue 38 February 2019 | Page 61

G O O D
L I F E
can beat the Fabergé Museum, where you can see nine of the 43
known remaining Fabergé eggs.
Go on a pilgrimage
While chocolate eggs are fun, hot cross buns are yummy, and pink
bunnies are cute, Easter is the holiest day of the Christian calendar,
and many people consider it a time of worship – and perhaps
pilgrimage. Spending Easter in Jerusalem, and walking the Via
Dolorosa – the route believed to be that taken by Christ to his
crucifixion – is a deeply meaningful experience for Christians. Israel
is also a great place to spend Pesach.
And – especially, but not exclusively, for Catholics – Easter Mass
in St Peter’s Square in Rome can be particularly meaningful. It’s an
opportunity to hear the Pope, and the Stations of the Cross parade
on Good Friday is spectacular.
Go East(er)
Go somewhere eggsotic? Geographically closer to home – but truly exotic – Lalibela in
Ethiopia is one of the oldest Christian communities, and celebrating
Easter in and around its spectacular rock-hewn churches is a deeply
spiritual experience. NOTE: Ethiopia – like the Eastern Orthodox
Church – also uses the Julian calendar, so Easter Sunday this year
is on 28 April.
Sure, you can pick up some prettily wrapped yummy choccy eggs
in Woolies, but if you want to see real Easter eggs, Eastern Europe is
your best bet. Easter egg painting is an absolute art form in Romania
and many other Eastern European countries like Croatia and
Ukraine – actually, almost anywhere with a strong Eastern Orthodox
tradition. But, for the most over-the-top Easter eggs of all, nothing Even closer to home, the Easter celebration at Zion City at Moria in
Limpopo province draws in excess of a million worshippers. If you
are a ZCC member, you will already know this, and if you are not,
this information is useful only as a warning to stay off the N1 over
Easter as the traffic is hectic beyond imagining.
R
It’s almost too on-the-nose but the pun
is irresistible, and – hey – any excuse
to visit one of the most astonishing
destinations in the world. Easter Island –
more correctly Rapa Nui – has nothing
to do with the Christian tradition of
Easter except that it was on Easter
Sunday 1722 when Dutch explorer
Jacob Roggeveen ‘discovered’ it. It’s
best known for the astonishing sculpted
heads that dot the island’s perimeter, and it’s an interesting lesson
in how destructive religion can be when it’s followed blindly with no
thought to logic, sustainability, or even survival. No Easter eggs, but
lots of food for thought.