Easter celebrations bring great delight

Residents share how they plan to celebrate the festive season around Dubai

Easter is a festivity that celebrates Spring - it doesn't have a fixed date like Christmas - it takes place on the weekend after the first full moon in Spring. In Dubai, Easter is a wonderful time to get together with the whole family and revel in few leisurely themed brunches. School children, who are on their Spring break earn a chance to unwind at all-day buffets, Easter egg hunts, and enjoy visits to the water park, malls, restaurants and to one another's homes. In the weeks leading up to Easter, shops are abound with rows of shiny covered chocolate eggs and Easter goodies - a treat to people of all ages.
"Easter, Easter, Easter! Wow the fun is back. My kids are excited to gorge on Easter chocolate eggs and catch the Easter bunny," said Shabeen Khan, who has studied in Dubai many years ago and knows how quickly this precious Spring break can run its course. She and her two daughters Ayanah and Aairah are ready to partake in Easter activities in Dubai.
"Dubai is full of entertainment and activities, and Easter is one of the festivals that's full of fun and mouth-watering chocolates in the form of very beautifully decorated eggs," says Shabeen. "Last Friday we drove to the Fairmont Dubai on Sheikh Zayed Road to see the gigantic chocolate Easter egg displayed in the lobby. My children are also excited to visit the Splash 'n' Party at the Water Park in Jumeirah, with a full itinerary of activities including an Easter egg hunt, splash slides and a game with water guns - just what we love to do during the Spring break."

Shabeen also booked a couple of venues offering Easter activities for the whole day. "It's our family time and we'll be taking lots of pictures and making fond memories of Spring 2018 in Dubai. On April 14, my kids and their friends plan to visit the Sofitel Hotel at the Palm Jumeirah. It is a whole day event with Easter brunch, games and more yummy chocolates," she added.
Riss Licup-Reyes shops for Easter treats in Dubai before taking them to her children in the Philippines for their Spring break. "Dubai is numero uno for shopping. Spinneys and Carrefour sell a wide variety of Easter eggs in all shapes and sizes that my holiday shopping comprises mostly of trendy Easter gifts for the family, especially for my two girls. Egg hunting, egg painting and loads of treats are a must for us during Easter," says Riss.

Eslam Attiya, a customer service advisor from Egypt is a Dubai-based foodie. He likes to pick out ambient dining venues that he can visit with his clan. For Easter, he has scouted the city for a picturesque venue at Mall of the Emirates, which he knows is a memorable setting to click photos for the occasion. "Easter to us is a time for celebration with loved ones. This year we are heading to Karam Beirut. I like the feeling of being in a snow clad country or a hill top with a ski slope while enjoying warm traditional Lebanese treats from our cosy seats," says Eslam. 

"I, for one can't wait to get my special Sunday eggs, labneh and assorted cheese. Our table will be coloured with fresh juices, manakish, foul, balila and fatteh, with plenty of room for fresh kunafa, Nutella banana calzone, and of course, our smiling faces," adds Eslam.
Celebrating Easter at home
During Easter, people welcome family and friends to their homes that is usually decorated for the occasion. Long-term Dubai resident Andrea Hassan and Muby Astruc uphold traditions from Germany and France while living in Dubai for over four decades.
"Easter morning sees us with a full house. Friends and family come over, and our home is filled with the sound of children's laughter as our boys and their friends set out on the Easter egg hunt," says Muby. She honours the tradition of hiding chocolate eggs in secret pockets and corners of her home and garden, ready to be discovered during the Easter Hunt.
As an artist and entrepreneur whose business lies in the art of renewal, Easter is her perfect day. "At our little fairy tale castle in Mirdif, our Pâques or Easter is a day where faded grandeur is brought back to life with a modern, multi-cultural twist," she says. "Our Pâques table is rife with food celebrating Spring time. As I am in charge of our Easter spread, I skip the traditional l'agneau (roast lamb) - I am cruelty-free - and focus on all the vegetables that symbolise the rich seasonal palette of Spring," she adds.  
During Easter, she uses her talent and love for vintage décor by repainting relics that were once resigned to storage boxes, and adorns her house with vintage pastel eggs, bells and roosters. The smell of traditional English hot cross buns and the very French version of Easter chocolates: Cloches de Pâques, wafts through the home.
"After the grandeur of the previous day, Easter Monday is a day to reflect, renew and reinvigorate ourselves, as individuals and as a family. Similar to the tradition of Boxing Day, it is the calm after the storm. For us, it is a day of quiet reflection and quality time," concludes Muby.
Andrea Hassan accentuates her native German language during Easter by reading from her collection of German storybooks to her children since they were little. She continues this family tradition every Easter by reading the same books in German to her grandchildren in Dubai. "The 'Easter Fairy Tale' by poet Christian Morgenstern, whom I once dedicated a reading for adults at the Salon of Literature in Greifswald in Germany is my favourite," says Andrea.

As a member of the international reading community, Andrea's love of travelling around the world to host readings from books by Goethe to Persian poet Hafiz, and translating books by Emirati writers such as Mariam Behnam's Zelzelah, makes her Easter readings at home extra momentous.
Tip: Decorate rooms with bunches of spring flowers and colourful eggs made from different materials. They can be hung in bunches of cherry or willow twigs. Children could paint on out emptied egg shells and display them as Easter artworks.

Fond memories

Dubai resident Andrea Hassan from Germany shares a fond memory that coincides with the birth of her youngest child, complete with a story she had read to her children that Easter day. "Our youngest daughter was born on Good Friday. I had the little radio with  a cassette player from my oldest son with me. After giving birth, I listened to the 'Johannes Passion' by Johann Sebastian Bach, which is actually sad music, but it made me feel happy.

"That Easter Sunday my three other children all brought me little Easter presents. Their coloured eggs and chocolates were placed next to my bed and the newborn baby. Then, like always, I'd read stories to them about the Easter bunny that would prepare piles and piles of Easter eggs in golden and shiny paper with ribbons and hide them in the garden, behind trees, bushes and flowers for the children. The children would come in the morning to search for their little presents, and clap in delight as they put their Easter treats in a basket. "In the afternoon, they'd put eggs on a woollen handmade net that fits just one egg, and throw it up in the air. When it falls down onto the grass, the egg will crack for the kids to peel and eat, while they sing songs, such as Bunny, bunny, Easter bunny come to our garden, put eggs into the grass, make us wait no more.

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