How Easter is celebrated in Canada

Easter is a public holiday in Canada. Although Easter is rooted in European pagan and Christian traditions, it is now a country-wide celebration enjoyed by Canadians from various backgrounds. 

In households across Canada and the USA, the tradition for many families is to organise an egg hunt for the children. During the night before, the mythical 'Easter bunny'  hides small chocolate eggs and other treats around the house and yard for the children to find.

In Canada, Easter has also become a tradition of community involvement. Many local communities organise large-scale Easter egg hunts, where treats are hidden for all the children to seek and hunt. These events bring the community together every year. It's an opportunity for children and parents to connect and socialise outdoors with their neighbours.

Keep reading to learn all about how Easter is celebrated in Canada.

Easter’s Pagan roots

Christianity has 'borrowed' many religious holidays from ancient pagan traditions based on nature’s cycles and the lunar and solar calendars.

Many symbols of Easter, like eggs and rabbits, represent fertility and rebirth. These are the main themes of ancient spring festivals—honouring deities such as Ëostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of dawn and fertility. The celebrations mark the return of longer days and new life after winter.

Over time, Christianity overtook Europe and its ancient traditions, createing the modern Easter holiday, and made it a symbol of the resurrection of Jesus.

Dates and duration of celebrations

Easter takes place in early spring in Canada. The exact dates vary by year—between March 19th and 21st—depending on the vernal equinox date and the moon's phases. The vernal equinox occurs when the sun crosses the celestial equator, which makes the day and night equal in length.

For church calculations, the equinox is always considered to be March 21st. Easter is determined as the first Sunday after the first full moon following the equinox, meaning it can fall any time between March 22 and April 25.

Good Friday

Good Friday is a Christian holiday in Canada that marks the crucifixion of Jesus. It’s always the Friday before Easter Sunday. In most provinces and territories, it’s a statutory holiday.

In 2025, Good Friday takes place on April 18th. 

Easter Monday

Easter Monday is a holiday in Canada, the day after Easter Sunday. In Quebec, employers can choose to get Easter Monday off instead of Good Friday. It's an optional holiday in Alberta—businesses can decide to close or not. In most other provinces and territories, it’s not a statutory holiday, but some employers may still offer it as a day off, and most businesses are closed for the day.

This year, Easter Monday falls on April 21st, 2025. 

Festive Easter foods in Canada

Part of the Easter tradition in Canada is to prepare and serve special food and treats. Here's what you can expect to find on a Canadian Easter table.

Lamb

Lamb symbolises Christ as the “Lamb of God”. Christian families of European descent traditionally serve a classic leg of lamb as their main Easter dish. It's often seasoned with garlic, rosemary, thyme, lemon, and olive oil, and served with roasted or mashed potatoes, vegetables, and gravy. A lamb stew is also a heartier, rustic option for Easter, especially in the cooler areas of Canada.

Many Greek-Canadian families celebrate Orthodox Easter with a whole lamb, roasted outdoors on the spit, accompanied by tzatziki, Greek salad, spanakopita, and rice.

Ham

While some Canadian families opt for lamb, ham remains a beloved and traditional Easter dish, especially in English and French-Canadian homes. Serving ham at Easter is linked to ancient, pagan spring traditions. It's often glazed with real maple syrup, giving it a rich, deep sweetness. It's then scored with a crisscross pattern and baked to perfection. 

Breads and cakes

This custom represents fertility and abundance in pagan customs.

Hot cross buns

Originating in England, these buns are popular in Canada during Easter. They are prepared with currants and spices and have a cross on top to represent Christ. Nowadays they often are garnished with icing. It's thought that the Easter tradition of enjoying spiced buns dates back to ancient Greek customs. Other schools of thought believe that hot cross buns may come from the Saxons, who baked fresh bread in honour of Eostre. The cross on the buns represented the four seasons, the four quarters of the moon, and the wheel of life.

Chocolate eggs

Perhaps the most well-known Easter treat, chocolate eggs and bunnies can be found in storefronts across Canada during the weeks before Easter, and used in household and community egg hunts on Easter Sunday.

Easter rituals and traditions in Canada

Easter is generally a time to gather with family, share food, enjoy Easter egg hunts, and exchange gifts. Many Easter symbols are rooted in European paganism, such as the rabbit and egg—symbolising fertility and new life. Here are a few traditions and practices many Canadians partake in:

• Canadian Christians attend religious services on both Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Services often happen at sunrise, or late-night vigils are practised.

• Decorating eggs and gifting them to loved ones is a common Easter activity in Canada, especially with families.

• Picnics are a contemporary tradition in Canada, often organised to accompany the community chocolate egg hunts.

• Depending on where you are in Canada, Public Easter celebrations and festivities take place—such as parades, concerts, dance performances and feasts.

• Easter pageants recounting the story of Easter are common—often performed outside or in community halls. Folk dances and choral concerts feature Easter music and themes.

• Some Canadian homes and churches decorate their homes with white lilies to symbolise Christ’s purity.

• Paschal greetings are a traditional Easter exchange where one person says, "Christ is risen!" and the other responds, "He is risen indeed!" to symbolise the joy of Christ's resurrection.

• Flowering the cross is a Christian tradition where a plain cross is covered with fresh flowers to symbolise the transformation from death to new life through Jesus' resurrection.

• Pagan groups celebrate the spring equinox as a festival marking the resurrection of light triumphing over darkness.

Like Christmas, Valentine's Day, and Halloween, Easter has become a consumer holiday in North America. Canadians spend over CA$230,000,000 annually on chocolate during Easter.

Easter decorations in Canada

Decorating for Easter in Canada can include general “springtime” aesthetics with a focus on Easter themes:

• Pastel colours, specifically pinks, purples and yellows

• Spring flowers, such as tulips and daffodils, are often used to decorate. These flowers even bloom during Easter time on Canada's west coast.

• Eggs are decorated and placed around the house.

• Stuffed bunny toys and other rabbit-themed decorations.

• Wicker baskets

Canada’s multicultural Easter traditions

Canada is a diverse and multicultural country, where many traditions from different backgrounds are celebrated. Some Easter traditions have made their way from Europe with immigrants from Ukraine and Greece.

Painted eggs

Canadians of Ukrainian, Polish, and Croatian descent decorate eggs with beautiful designs. Artists draw designs on raw eggs with beeswax and then dye them in layers, from light to dark colours. The wax is melted off at the end to reveal bright, detailed patterns. These eggs often feature traditional symbols like geometric patterns, animals, or plants, symbolising fertility, protection and renewal. This artistic tradition is sometimes taught in Canadian public schools at Easter time.

Greek Orthodox Easter

Greek Canadians celebrate Easter with ceremonies and feasts that follow the Orthodox calendar. During the midnight Resurrection service, congregants hold candles and greet one another with the exclamation “Christos Anesti” (Christ has risen). Traditional Greek dishes for the Easter feasts include lamb souvlaki, spanakopita, and tsoureki (sweet Easter bread).

Fun facts about Easter in Canada

1. The Easter bunny is a make-believe character from German folklore who delivers chocolate and eggs to children to find on Easter Sunday. The legend originated from pagans in Germany, when hares and eggs were symbols of fertility. This symbolism is the same throughout ancient Europe.

2. Pretzels are sometimes associated with Easter because their twisted shapes are thought to resemble someone in prayer.

3. Chocolate eggs for Easter were first made in Europe in the 19th century.