In April, the days are longer and there’s more sunshine after frosty and showery March. Easter is a time to celebrate the reappearance of spring, get outside with the family and eat lots of chocolate!!
With its religious traditions and local customs, Easter is a spiritual and indulgent time that’s deeply rooted in French culture. Foreign visitors are in for a real treat with the Easter Sunday feast, ringing bells and egg hunts in the garden.
Easter and its origins
When you think of Easter, you think of Christianity, but it actually dates back to Antiquity when people celebrated the return of spring after the harsh winter. The Romans, Persians and Celts paid tribute to fertility and the rebirth of nature by giving each other eggs, a symbol of life and abundance.
The pagan festival is now part of the religious calendar and a major event among Christians. Easter commemorates Christ’s resurrection when he rose from the dead three days after his crucifixion. Christians prepare for Easter during Holy Week and its 3 big events: Maundy Thursday (the Last Supper), Good Friday (the Passion of the Christ) and, last but not least, Easter Sunday. According to Christian custom, families spend Easter Sunday celebrating with church services, processions and hearty meals to end Lent on a high.
What’s the story with the bells?
One Easter tradition in France is for the church bells to go silent from Good Friday. The bells are in mourning and go to Rome on a pilgrimage before returning overnight between Saturday and Sunday! The pealing bells ring in the resurrection and fill gardens and courtyards with eggs and treats on their way back. That’s how Easter egg hunts started in French households!
Customs and symbols: How do the French celebrate Easter?
Egg hunts: not just for kids…
It’s Easter Sunday, the bells have rung and hidden chocolatey treats in the gardens: nestled in the tree bark, among the pebbles on a path, under a flowery shrub or next to a rose bush… every hiding place makes for an eggciting egg hunt. The chocolates and sweet treats get everyone’s mouths watering and hearts thumping with anticipation. It’s the perfect time for family and friends to get together and share their finds!
Places like Paris, Strasbourg and the Loire Châteaux host epic egg hunts in parks or landmarks. It’s a golden opportunity to soak up the local history and heritage as you have fun and tuck into some tasty chocolate. 2025 saw Château de la Reine Margot (brunch and egg hunt!) and Château Vaux-le-Vicomte get in on the Easter action (check out our Paris day trip ideas)
Religious processions and celebrations in towns and cities
Easter in France may be a time for joy and togetherness, but it’s also a time for religion and worship, particularly in some regions.
- Torchlight processions take place at night in Corsica’s villages. These traditional, religious events are very popular and attract lots of believers and visitors to their mystical atmosphere.
- The Procession de la Sanch in Perpignan is a big thing on Good Friday in the Pyrénées Orientales. Penitents dressed in black parade through the city’s streets whilst attendees carry misteris, heavy statues depicting scenes from the Passion of the Christ. The procession attracts over 10,000 visitors every year! That’s how to impress foreigners here to experience Easter traditions that are alive and kicking in some parts of France.
The Sunday roast gets the French Easter treatment
Traditional Easter lamb
Lamb has been an Easter classic in France since the Middle Ages. It comes from Jewish and Christian traditions and symbolises both sacrifice and rebirth. Every family has their own recipe and style: roast leg of lamb, lamb stew with baby spring vegetables or herb-crusted rack.
You can still have lamb if you don’t eat meat!
Try a Lamala. The Alsatian speciality is a biscuit in the shape of a lamb, dusted with icing sugar and served with hot chocolate!
Easter brioche
Easter brioche comes in all shapes and sizes depending on what part of France you’re in:
- The Y-shaped Cornue or orange blossom-flavoured Fouace in Limoges and Aveyron.
- The wreath-shaped Pogne de Romans flavoured with orange blossom in Isère.
- The flat alise pacaude in Vendée is also flavoured with orange blossom!
- The aniseed Cavallu in Corsica is decorated with boiled eggs.
Regional treats:
The Poitou region serves tourteau fromagé at Easter: a goat’s cheesecake with a black bottom (it looks burnt but it’s delicious!).
The Croustade de Pâques is the apple of everyone’s eye in Occitanie: a puff pastry cake filled with apples caramelised in Armagnac…
And chocolates galore
Chocolate is the star of the show at Easter (just don’t give yourself tummy ache). Take your pick from dark, milk, white or praline chocolate, chocolate eggs, bells or bunnies. Or how about classic French fritures, little chocolates in the shape of fish and shellfish?
Everyone has a favourite: Easter is the time to share (be fair!) treats from the egg hunt and delicious dishes with family and friends.
Easter elsewhere in Europe
France celebrates travelling bells whilst other European countries have their own tales and traditions.
Instead of the French bells, the Easter hare, or Osterhase, drops chocolate eggs off in the gardens in Germany and Austria. The character came from America and gave rise to the famous Easter Bunny.
Spain’s Semana Santa is a huge religious festival with show-stopping processions where brotherhoods parade through the streets carrying pasos (religious sculptures) on their shoulders to the beat of the drums and traditional music like saetas.
Italy celebrates Easter Monday with Pasquetta: friends get together for a country picnic with the star being the Colomba di Pasqua, an indulgent cake in the shape of a dove, sometimes covered in candied fruit or filled with pistachio cream.
Why spend Easter in France?
Easter in France marks the return of sunny days and nature in bloom. Spring sets in and everywhere in France is a joy to visit in the sun-soaked and flourishing gardens: cultural tours, photo rallies, scavenger hunts and egg hunts are all perfect for the season!
Easter in France is a great eggscuse to sample seasonal specialities and gorge on brioche and chocolate guilt-free! That’s something that every family can get on board with.
Last but not least, Easter is about togetherness and sharing in every sense, be it food, folklore or religion. That makes it a particularly rewarding experience for French students as they soak up French culture and traditions and interact with locals (at the market, in shops, during French workshops or at their homestays).