How did you spend your very welcome and much needed Easter holiday? Whereas you may have had a quiet time enjoying the company of friends and family, other people from all around the world have truly a myriad of fascinating ways of celebrating this festive season. Some of these celebratory activities are tame; take for instance in Greece, believers are busy painting their eggs a deep rich red to symbolise as well as celebrate Jesus’ blood. At the same time in France, the eggs are being turned into a humongous omelette that can feed close to one thousand people. Yet still elsewhere, in Hungary women are getting soaked with water, perfume or cologne as we well as being playfully flogged with ribbons made out of light material in Czech Republic and Slovakia. Other parts of the world celebrate Easter in more robust ways; such as the practice of crucifixion and flagellation in the Philippines where people actually get crucified to show their sorrow for sin and their desire to leave sin behind! Bulgarians organise and carry out egg fights (how messy) during this festive period. For you to be declared the holder of good luck, you would have to have an unbroken egg left after the fight. All this happens while rabbits in New Zealand are breathing their last as they are hunted down massively during the annual Easter hunt. What a spectrum of celebrations and a diverse way of interpreting what Easter signifies to different people across the globe! Whatever way a nation or a people choose to celebrate, the bottom line is the message behind it; the good news of freedom from sin and the overriding feelings and nuances of goodwill and pleasantness that it comes with makes Easter a great time to reflect on our roles in the lives of those around us, most especially in the budding lives of those children that are under our care in the classroom and outside it. What can we take from Easter into our classroom and make this a ‘teachable period’? There are a multitude of lessons that can be crafted to make memorable lesson plans. The central theme of sacrifice for the wider good of society stands out from the many brilliant ideas. Having students participate in describing, writing and presenting this idea in their different interpretations can go a great length in enriching their life learning experience. editor@newtimesrwanda.com
