International students share how they choose to celebrate Easter

Easter is a holiday flowered in traditions. When most people think of Easter, chocolate bunnies, egg hunts and church potlucks come to mind. While these are American ideas of celebrating Easter, Liberty’s international students have a unique take on the traditions behind the global holiday celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

Evie Seyoung Jang, a senior aviation administration major, grew up in South Korea before moving to Lynchburg to attend college at Liberty University. 

“I did not grow up in a very religious country, so my home was not very Christian, and we didn’t celebrate Easter,” Jang said. “However, after I came to Liberty and became a Christian, my friends and I created new traditions to remember the death and resurrection of Christ.” 

Jang and her friends go to the mall after church every Easter and shop for clothes, candy, Easter bunnies and food for the dinner they will make later. While her friends make classic American dishes such as macaroni and cheese and mashed potatoes, Jang likes to make traditional Korean dishes such as kimchi, bulgogi and red rice cakes, otherwise known as tteokbokki. 

“One of my friends and I do a fast for three months, from Christmas to Easter, where we choose one thing and stop doing or eating it,” Jang said. This year, Jang is fasting from Coke. 

Meanwhile, Esther Wangari, a junior from Kenya, likes to spend Easter with her parents. After church in the morning, Wangari and her family set up a scavenger hunt for her nieces and nephews in the forest behind her house. While the children are looking for colored eggs, Esther helps prepare dinner. 

“When we lived in Kenya, we used to make very traditional tribal foods, but now that we moved to America, we make simple snacks for dinner,” Wangari said. 

If Wangari could bring a tradition she did in Kenya to America, she would make chapati, a fried tortilla, with chicken and rice. However, she loves the new traditions she has made with her family in America. 

“We do a lot of different things for Easter,” Jessica Vestal, sophomore and zoology major from China, said. 

Vestal’s family likes to watch different videos that include the story of Jesus Christ, focusing on his death, burial and resurrection. Vestal enjoys making a special Easter strudel with her family as well as going out to eat after church.

“I grew up in a Christian household, so my dad will read passages from the Bible on Easter day, and we will take a formal communion on Good Friday,” Vestal said. 

Even though Christians come from all corners of the world, most agree that Easter is a holiday meant to be spent with family, remembering how Jesus Christ died on the cross for the sins of the world and rose from the dead three days later. 

Merritt is a feature reporter for the Liberty Champion