Estate Living Magazine Smart Moves - Issue 38 February 2019 | Page 62

G O O D
L I F E
Think ahead Party party party
Possibly one of the world’s greatest Easter experiences is the
Passion Play in Oberammergau in Germany. Performed every ten
years – start planning for 2020 – it’s the largest am-dram event in
the world, and the longest-running production on earth. Its 388-
year history makes The Mousetrap’s 65-year run in London look like
a flash in the pan (although, to be fair, The Mousetrap plays every
day). Performed as the fulfilment of a vow made to God in 1633, the
play is a labour of love and devotion that involves more than half the
town’s population. Easter is a celebration, so it can be a bit of a party, but – in some
places – it’s a serious party. Coming at the end of Lent, it’s the
corresponding celebration to Mardi Gras at the beginning. In
Seville in Spain, the holy week of Easter is marked by lots of parades
with spectacular floats and somewhat spooky penitents, and lots of
food, drink, music and dancing – but also some church time for the
devout.
New Orleans is possibly the best party town in the world, and it has
an interesting tradition of Catholicism mixed with a bit of voodoo
and other things, so it’s not surprising that this is the place in the USA
to party. It’s also one of the few places where Easter celebrations
include a gay parade.
But, hey, we all know that Mardi Gras is best celebrated in Rio, so,
hardly surprisingly, after the ‘thin 40 days’, the Cariocas (citizens
of Rio) come out and party big time over Easter – and then hit the
beach.
A new beginning
In the northern hemisphere, the vernal (or spring) equinox marks a
new beginning – the end of ‘a long, cold, lonely winter,’ as the Beatles
sing. So, if you would rather celebrate the equinox than Easter or
Pesach, plan your holiday for March – the equinox will be on the 20th.
Fortuitously, the 21st (Human Rights Day) is a holiday, so you can
sneak some time out, and it’s in school holidays for most of us. There
are so many ways you can celebrate. In parts of the Middle East, e.g.
Iran, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Turkey, the boreal vernal equinox
is celebrated in the Zoroastrian festival of Nowruz, which signals the