Egg tapping – Easter and spring in Coastal Croatia

Beach in April? With great food and colored eggs all around? Yes! After our Easter story from continental Croatia** now let’s go to the Croatian coast. As I said, the most famous announcement of the spring are tree blossoms and Easter and with Easter always egg tapping and coloring Easter eggs. In this story we will see how to celebrate Easter in Coastal Croatia**. I will mention only well-known attractions like Dubrovnik, Hvar, Korčula and Brač but possibilities are endless since each city and island has its own tradition of celebrating Easter.

Dubrovnik

Let's start from Dubrovnik where young bride will give colored eggs to her husband and has to prepare special cake. Easter is celebrated in front of the cathedral church in Dubrovnik. Touristic capital of Croatia will receive many guests from all around world so be aware of overcrowded streets and churches since locals usually go to Mass and many Croats will come over to spend Easter vacation from other parts of Croatia and Europe. On Stradun, famous street in Dubrovnik, girls in traditional costumes will give away colored eggs and flyers about how Easter is traditionally celebrated.

Islands

On the islands like Hvar, Brač or Korčula processions and ceremonies are organized by local church members. Five-centuries long tradition of processions on the island of Hvar is called Following the Cross (Za Križen). Processions are held during the night and usually they start from six different churches on the island. This procession is very specific since is 25 kilometers long. On the island of Brač every day during The Holy Week has it’s own formalities and traditional customs. All the customs are related to church and church traditions – decorating altars and masses. Procession will start on Friday morning when people usually fast and eat just fish. Easter is celebrated three days with inevitable Easter food and egg games.

It’s impossible to write or talk about Easter without mentioning food. Many dishes prepared for Easter consist of eggs. That’s the case with pinca, sweet roll (traditional cake) from Dalmatia and Istria usually served for breakfast. Colored or decorated egg will have a "special" position on the top of pinca.

Easter is time when whole family is together. It’s the time when people in Croatia travel a lot to meet their friends and family. As I mentioned meal is important, egg fight is even more important but the most important is the joy and happiness produced during these festive days. This year Easter is celebrated on April the 1st and masses are held on Friday (Good Friday), Saturday (Holy Saturday) and Sunday.