It seems like we’re still picking the last pieces of confetti from the recent Fasnacht out of our coat pockets, but armies of chocolate bunnies and mountains of chocolate eggs of all sizes and flavors have already been piling up in stores for weeks—a clear sign that Easter is just around the corner.

So what can you expect for your Easter holiday in Switzerland? First of all, you get to enjoy more work-free days than you may be used to from your home country. Because in Switzerland, Easter is celebrated not only on the Sunday—Good Friday (“Karfreitag” in German) and the Monday following Easter Sunday both are also official holidays. And if your kids go to local schools they will be on break for two weeks.

Second, you can expect chocolate—lots of it in all the stores, and mostly in the form of bunnies and eggs. As in many other countries, Swiss children are told that during the night before Easter Sunday, the Easter bunny comes hopping around through the yards and gardens (and sometimes even magically into the house) leaving chocolate eggs and other goodies in little nests that the children then go look for in the morning.

It is also traditional to color and decorate hard-boiled eggs that can then either be hidden in the nests for an Easter egg hunt or simply placed on the breakfast or brunch table to be eaten over the next few days. You can find all types of coloring sets in the stores (both grocery stores and craft stores) to help you and your kids decorate your eggs to your liking. Try to buy the white-shelled eggs if you want to do that—the colors will be much more vibrant than if you use the brown-shelled eggs.

And speaking of decorations—while people tend to decorate more modestly than for Christmas, you will see many seasonal decorations in the stores and in people’s homes, most revolving around the theme of eggs, chickens, and bunnies. The most traditional approach is to decorate either a small tree in your yard with colorful plastic eggs, or you can bring a bunch of branches indoors. You can find suitable branches—such as corkscrew willows (“Korkenzieherweide” or “Zierweide”), corkscrew hazel (“Korkenzieherhasel” or “Corylus”), forsythia, or pussy willow (“Weidenkätzchen”)—in garden centers. But it is also fun to go out with your family and pick your own during a spring walk. Try to pick branches where you can already see the buds for leaves or flowers. When you bring them inside to decorate, the buds may open after a few days, giving them even more of a Spring-like look. People most commonly hang Easter eggs from their branches, but you can also clip on butterflies, lady bugs, birds, and whatever else strikes your fancy.

In terms of food, the Swiss don’t really have any specific Easter traditions—except for the eggs and chocolate. And in Basel you can find a special sweet pastry with a soft filling called an “Osterfladen” that is only sold shortly before Easter (see our previous article at https://www.basellife.com/osterfladen-a-traditional-swiss-easter-pie for a recipe).

So go ahead, decorate your garden or house, have the Easter bunny hide his eggs and goodies outside, enjoy delicious Swiss chocolate Easter eggs, and have a “Fröhliche Ostern” (Happy Easter)!

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