President Oaks recently urged us to elevate Easter by establishing meaningful traditions in our homes and communities. Speaking for the First Presidency, he declared, “We challenge you to do so.”
This echoes a similar message from Elder Stevenson, who asked, “How do we model the teaching and celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Easter story, with the same balance, fulness, and rich religious tradition of the birth of Jesus Christ, the Christmas story?”
This challenge has weighed heavily on my mind—even before these two prophetic witnesses. Celebrating Christ’s birth is easy in our society. And thanks to the wise men, we have scriptural justification for overwhelming our children with gifts on Christmas morning. But the events of Holy Week–Christ’s Atonement, Crucifixion, and Resurrection–are the reason His birth was important. President Nelson has explicitly stated that “the Atonement of Jesus Christ is the central act of all human history.”
So how can we celebrate in a way that gives Easter the priority it deserves?
I tackled the challenge systematically. What creates that magical Christmas feeling? It’s the fact that Christmas is not a day, but a season, with month-long festivities to build anticipation. There are advent calendars, special foods, decorations, music, and activities. Traditions take time to develop, but if you’re looking to deepen your Easter traditions, here are a few ideas to consider.
Advent:
After years of reflection, I decided that Easter is best understood within the context of the Plan of Salvation. At the same time, I also realized that my three-year-old daughter does not yet know the grand plan! New converts learn it from missionaries. Adults review it at the temple. But my daughter started Come, Follow Me with no context.
Inspired by the Christmas Advent, I created a four-week Easter countdown to build anticipation and teach my daughter why Christ’s Atonement matters. Our weekly themes are:
- The Premortal Existence, including Heavenly Mother and the Council in Heaven
- The Creation, with the days in the week corresponding with each creative period
- Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden
- Jesus Christ and His various roles, corresponding with events during Holy Week
This coming Sunday, I will give her an Easter basket filled with 29 numbered eggs, each with a treat and a small piece of paper with that day’s reading. And because she focuses best while coloring, each day will also include an AI-generated coloring page to illustrate the lesson. Her colorings will form a sort of second advent calendar on our wall.
My hope is that this four-week buildup—placing Holy Week within the Plan of Happiness—will help Easter take its rightful place in our hearts and celebrations
Food:
Food is another aspect that makes Christmas special. It’s that time of year when we make treats from recipes passed down for generations. While I don’t have an Easter cookie recipe from my ancestors, we do know what the ancient Israelites ate.
For my family, a Passover Seder meal on Easter Thursday is a highlight of Holy Week. I love the ancient tradition that set the stage for the Last Supper and have enjoyed crafting my own family Haggadah from scriptural sources. The details of that ritual are for another time. But today’s point is about the juxtaposition: On Thursday, we eat lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs as a reminder of God’s deliverance of the ancient Israelites. On Sunday, we eat ham, cheesy potatoes, and fluffy rolls to celebrate the fulfillment of the old law and Christ’s new covenant.
If you’re not up for a full Seder dinner, Janet and Joe Hale suggest a ‘Jerusalem dinner’ in “A Christ-Centered Easter.” They picnic at home with pillows and cushions on the floor (as was customary for Passover meals) and eat food that would have been common in Jesus’ time—hummus, lentils, eggplant, and fish.
An even simpler approach is to just buy pita bread as a nod to the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and dip it in olive oil (symbolizing the crushing of the Atonement), and balsamic vinegar (representing the bitter cup He drank and the winepress that He trod alone). Yes, this is basically a standard Mediterranean appetizer, but simple foods can carry deep symbolic meaning. Even the biblical Passover menu (lamb, unleavened bread, and bitter herbs) is a pretty normal meal imbued with deep symbolism. And we have been challenged to create new traditions. So why not imbue something easy and delicious?
Decorations:
Decorations help make Christmas feel magical. Each item brings memories of years gone by. We don’t have the money to go out and buy a house full of Easter flourishes, but each year we can add to our collection.
For our family, we’ve chosen the Lamb as our emblem for Holy Week. While bunnies are fun, we want to emphasize Christ as the true Paschal Lamb.
One challenge I wrestled with was Easter’s lack of a Christmas tree. The tree is a visual focal point, a gathering place for presents and photos, and also a major family activity with decorating. We chose an artificial olive tree to fill that role. The symbolic connection with the Atonement is strong, and its presence in the Garden of Gethsemane is evocative.
LauraMarch 28, 2025
Your tree reminds me of when I was a child. We would get some small limbs with buds on them from our property and put them in a vase. We had Easter ornaments we would hang on them. (My family had lived in Germany in the military, and they sold secular Easter ornaments for Easter trees there.)
Susan RoylanceMarch 25, 2025
Thank you Patrice, for this inspiring article. I have also been anxious to make Easter a greater part of our family traditions - and focus. I appreciate your suggestions.