I was walking home from work Wednesday evening with easter grass and plastic eggs in my grocery bag when a thought occurred to me. Wouldn’t it be neat if Easter was like Hallowe’en? Most of the traditions are borrowed from the Pagans, so why not take it a step further? Little kids, and big ones too, dressed up in fun costumes – as opposed to scary – walking door to door to ask for candy from the neighbors. Everyone gets candy now for Easter anyway, why not make it a bit more challenging? This thought thrilled me, and I set about in my mind, formulating a plan of action to get this tradition going. Then Thursday morning, I happened upon a Christian Science Monitor article describing various Maundy Thursday traditions around the world.

Maundy Thursday is a scream for Swedish children. Many dress up as witches today to commemorate the folklore of witches today flying to Blocksberg (the Devil’s residence on Earth) and go door-to-door requesting candy.

So the Swedes are already (more or less) observing my new tradition! I double checked on Wikipedia when I got home.

In Sweden Maundy Thursday (skärtorsdagen) is connected to old folklore as the day of the witches. Young children often dress up as witches and knock on doors getting coins or candy for easter eggs.

Which leads me to this idea: Since people will not want to give up their egg hunts, the eggs would be traded at the neighbors door for the candy. So the more eggs you find during the hunt, the more candy you are liable to get visiting your neighbors. But it must be done in costume!

Who’s with me?