Egg hunting is a popular game for Easter celebration. Decorated eggs or Easter eggs which come in either painted or dyed real hard-boiled eggs, artificial eggs made of plastic with chocolates or candies inside or foil-wrapped egg shaped chocolates  of various sizes are hidden in a place for children to find. The child or children who collected the most number of eggs will be declared as winners and prizes are given out to them.

Here are some of the world’s famous egg hunts, then and now:

Imperial Easter Nest Hunt (Schönbrunn Palace Vienna, Austria)

This event featured an enormous mountain of 40,000 painted Easter eggs in 2014. This Easter Saturday (April 15), the organizer promises  the Easter market to be transformed into a giant Easter basket with lots of surprises waiting for children.

Capella D.C. Easter Egg Hunt (Washington D.C., USA)

In 2014, the Capella Washington DC Hotel hosted this Easter egg hunt through social media, wherein the egg hunters will look for the golden egg posted in Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. Prizes were round-trip tickets from Washington, D.C. to Istanbul with Turkish Airlines and overnight stays at Capella hotels.

The Largest Egg Hunt in the World (State Capitol Sacramento California, USA)

This event in 2015 was organized by the Blue Heart International. They tried to break the Guinness world record for the largest Easter egg hunt with over 500,000 Easter eggs.

National Trust Cadbury Egg Hunts

This is one of UK’s best Easter Egg hunt with over 250 hunts taking place across England, Wales and Northern Ireland this year. Everyone who completes a hunt will be rewarded with a Cadbury treat.

Magical Egg Hunt on Table Mountain (Cape Town, South Africa)

This high altitude egg hunt in 2014 featured the Easter Bunny, Easter Fairy and Mad Hatter. Egg hunters were provided with clue cards to help them track down the hidden treasures on top of the Table Mountain.

Center Village Egg Hunt (Copper Mountain, Colorado)

65,000 eggs await children for this year’s Center Village Egg Hunt, also known as Colorado’s Largest Easter Egg Hunt. This year’s event takes place on April 16.

Egg Hunt at Chateau Vaux Le Vicomte (Maincy, France)

This April 15 through 17, Chateau Vaux Le Vicomte will host a grand Easter event featuring 35,000 eggs scattered throughout the estate’s picturesque gardens. Families can also take a tour of the historic castle, built from 1658 to 1661. This year’s event takes place April 15 through 17.

The Boston Marathon which is considered as the world’s oldest annual marathon, began in 1897. It is also known as the world’s best-known road racing events and attracts around 500,000 spectators every year. This marathon which is organized by the Boston Athletic Association, a non-profit organization; is held in several cities in greater Boston in eastern Massachusetts, USA every third Monday of April.

Notable features of the Boston Marathon

Scream Tunnel

It is a tradition for the students at Wellesley College, a women’s college to cheer on the runners and offer kisses. The students line the course for around 400meters and their scream is so loud that it can be heard from a mile away.

Boston Red Sox

Since 1903, the Boston Red Sox, an American professional baseball team; play a home game in Fernway Park at 11:05 am. When the games ends, everyone from the event would empty into Kenmore Square to cheer the runners entering the final mile.

Costumes

Every year, some people choose to run the course in a variety of costumes. In 2014, runners and spectators were discouraged to wear costumes covering the face or bulky outfits for security reasons.

Dick and Rick Hoyt

Dick is the father of Rick who has cerebral palsy. With the help of technology, they were able to communicate with Rick and discovered that one of Rick’s passions is sports. The father and son tandem started competing in charity runs, with Dick pushing Rick’s wheelchair. In 2012, the duo, known as “Team Hoyt” completed their 30^th Boston marathon.

What to expect for 2017 Boston Marathon

One of the highlights for this year’s Boston Marathon is the return of the Six Champions. This Patriot’s Day, April 17, 2017; some of the previous winners of the race will aim for their second titles on the Boston marathon.

Top American Olympic medalists, such as Galen Rupp and Shalane Flanagan are also coming to Boston to compete.

Holy Week is a significant religious observance for the Roman Catholics and some Christians around the world. It is the week preceding Easter and it begins on a Palm Sunday. Traditionally, it is a week of somber reflections before Jesus’ death. While Holy Week is solemn and sorrowful it is also celebrated with a lot of anticipation about the joy of Easter.

Holy Week Traditions and Observances

ITALY

In Procida, Italy, a wooden statue of Christ, made by the Italian sculptor Carmine Lantriceni in 1728, is paraded through the street on the island off the coast of Naples.

In Sicily Italy, a day-long passion procession featuring twenty floats of lifelike wood, canvas and glue sculptures of individual scenes of the events of the Passion is being held. It is known as Misteri di Trapani or the Procession of the Mysteries of Trapani.

GUATEMALA

In Guatemala, Holy Week incorporates processions with images of saints carried on huge wooden platforms. Locals, both men and women, who are frequently in purple robes, holds the heavy “andas”. The procession is led by a man holding a container of incense accompanied by a small horn and flute band.

MEXICO

Yaqui Indians in Mexico, commemorate Holy Week with both rituals and theater. The celebration starts on Wednesday evening in which people arrive at the church on horseback and begin to crawl and dance naked on the floor. Light begins to go out and people begin the whipping, screaming and crying to the sound of ceremonial music of sacrifice.

INDONESIA

In Java, Indonesia, Christians hold a Good Friday processions in the city of Magelang where locals carry crosses.

ISRAEL

Holy Week in Jerusalem, Israel is celebrated with series of masses and processions starting on a Palm Sunday. Being the world’s foremost pilgrimage destination during Holy Week, thousands of people from around the globe go to this place to join other Christians with the reenactment of Jesus’ journey until his death on the cross.

PHILIPPINES

Holy week in the Philippines begins on a Palm Sunday where people carry palm fronds called “palaspas” to church to be blessed by the priest. They bring those palms home and use it as shield against evil spirits by putting them in front of the door or at the windows. Beginning Holy Thursday, most businesses big or small, are closed and work in both private and public offices are suspended. Most people return to their home provinces to observe the holidays by joining masses, processions and other local practices and traditions like pabasa (epic poem narrating Jesus’ life and death by singing), senakulo (Passion play) and pinitensya (public penance).

National Beer Day which is observed in the US on April 7 every year, marks the day that the Cullen-Harrison Act was enacted into law. This was Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first step towards ending the Prohibition which banned the brewing and selling of beer in the US for 13 years. Upon signing the legislation, President Franklin D. Roosevelt made a famous remark – “I think this would be a good time for a beer.” The law went into effect on April 7, 1933.

The Cullen-Harrison Act

Senator Pat Harrison, a politician from Mississippi from 1911 to 1919 and Representative Thomas H. Cullen, a politician from New York who has been a member of the US House of Representatives from 1919 to 1944 were the sponsors of the law. This law legalized the sale in the United States of beer with an alcohol content of 3.2% and wine of similarly low alcohol content.

How National Beer Day started

In 2009, Justin Smith of Richmond, Viginia created the first National Beer Day. He started a Facebook page that was noticed by the Colorado Beer Examiner. Justin’s promotion of the new holiday was rewarded when Untappd – a beer drinking app – created a badge for National Beer Day. The app rewarded participants that checked a beer into the app on the 7^th of April. Since then, the National Beer Day trends yearly on April 7 using the hashtag #NationalBeerDay.

San Diego is the 8^th largest city in the United States and second largest in California. It is often referred to as “America’s Finest City” for its great hotel accommodations, mild year-round climate, pristine beaches and abundance of entertainment.

One of the major attractions and most-loved destinations in the city are the various theme parks which feature thrilling rides, fun shows and delicious foods. Here is a list of some of those theme parks that the kids and the kids-at-heart will surely enjoy.

Legoland

Legoland California in northern San Diego County is filled with towering LEGO statues. It opened on March 20, 1999. It is composed of nine sections -The Beginning, Explorer Island, Heartlake City, Fun Town, Castle Hill, Miniland USA, Imagination Zone, Pirate Shores, and Land of Adventure. A Sea Life aquarium which opened in 2010 can also be found adjacent to Legoland. This Lego wonderland is full of fun water rides, hands-on activities and entertaining shows.

Seaworld

SeaWorld San Diego, the first SeaWorld park, opened on March 21, 1964 is one of the best theme parks in San Diego for its thrilling water rides, entertaining shows and a variety of beautiful sea creatures. It also features a variety of educational shows and exhibits including “Turtle Reef” and the “Shark Encounter.”

San Diego Zoo

San Diego Zoo in Balboa Park San Diego, California houses around 4,000 animals of 800 rare and exotic species in a beautiful 100-acre tropical garden. It is a timeless attraction for all ages featuring spectacular bioclimatic exhibits like Monkey Trails, Absolutely Apes, Ituri Forest, Rain Forest Aviary, Polar Bear Plunge, Gorilla Tropics, Sun Bear Forest and Tiger River. The zoo also has the largest population of the endangered and lovable Giant Pandas in the U.S.

San Diego Zoo Safari Park

 The San Diego Zoo Safari Park, formerly Wild Animal Park is a 730-hectare zoo in the San Pasqual Valley area of San Diego, California. It is one of the largest tourist attractions in San Diego County visited by 2 million people annually. The park houses a large array of over 2,600 animals, some wild and endangered. The park is noted for its California condor breeding program, the most successful program in the United States.