Easter Sunday celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ and is the most important Christian feast. As it always falls on a Sunday, most Dutch workers already have the day off. Families gather for an elaborate "paasbrunch" featuring Easter bread, boiled eggs, and pastries. Children search for hidden chocolate eggs, supposedly brought by the "Paashaas" (Easter Bunny). Many furniture and home decoration stores remain open, drawing large crowds, while banks and government offices close in observance of the holiday.
📜 History & Origins
Christian Easter merged with older spring fertility rites when missionaries reached the Low Countries in the 7th and 8th centuries. The Paashaas and decorated-egg customs arrived later, heavily influenced by 19th-century German and Anglo-American traditions popularized through illustrated magazines. The Council of Nicaea (325 CE) fixed Easter to the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring, a reckoning the Dutch Reformed and Catholic churches alike still follow.
🎉 How It's Celebrated
Families rise for a lavish late-morning paasbrunch stretching for hours around a table laden with breads and eggs. Children decorate eggs with paint and stickers and hunt for chocolate ones hidden in the garden by the Paashaas. In the dunes and bulb fields of the Bollenstreek, Easter fire (paasvuur) bonfires are lit in some villages. Furniture chains such as IKEA and Leen Bakker notably open their doors, turning Easter into an informal home-decor shopping ritual.
🍽️ Traditional Foods
Paasbrood — a sweet braided bread studded with raisins and citrus peel, brushed with egg wash — anchors the brunch, alongside hard-boiled eggs often dyed in bright colors. Chocolate eggs, hollow chocolate bunnies, and paaseitjes (mini filled eggs) fill bowls on every table. A glass of Advocaat, a creamy egg-liqueur, is a traditional festive tipple, often served with a dollop of whipped cream.
