Easter Traditions in Croatia

The Holy Week is called the Big Week in Croatian (Veliki tjedan). On Palm Sunday ("Cvjetnica") many people go to church and take a small olive twig to be blessed.

On Friday, different kinds of fish are eaten and on Saturday people dye eggs, called “pisanice”, the nicest being those cooked in water with onion skins: first you fasten a flower or a leaf on the eggs and put them in boiling water. After the leaves are removed, a nice-looking decoration can be seen on the eggs. There’s also a long tradition of egg-dyeing with wax with the help of pencil-like instruments. After coloring, the wax is removed, revealing the splendid decorations. In order to get their shine, they are polished with oil, or simply with a piece of a bacon, before being placed in the basket.
Finally, there is one more custom related to Easter eggs - the so-called "tuca" (egg fight). Everyone would choose an egg from the basket and would hit it against their adversary's egg. The winner would be the person whose egg remained intact throughout the "fight".

On Saturday many children prepare a little nest made of grass where, during the night, Easter Bunny will leave some presents, coloured eggs, fruits and candies for them.
On Easter Sunday people go to the early morning mass with small baskets filled with food to be blessed. Traditional Easter breakfast includes ham, eggs, grated horse radish, spring onion and home-made bread.

On Easter Monday people go to visit their relatives and exchange greetings.