Bunnies, Baskets & What Easter Really Means To Me: How Migrant Parents Can Preserve Their Faith Traditions.
An open Bible with a small Easter basket containing a few chocolate eggs and a simple wooden cross.
📖 7 min read
Walk into any supermarket right now, and you'll find it: pastel everything, foil-wrapped eggs stacked to the ceiling, fluffy bunnies on every card. Easter in the UK is a whole aesthetic.
And it's cute. It really is. My child isn't complaining about the chocolate, that's for sure.
But this week, as Easter approaches, my mind has been somewhere else entirely. It was in my childhood, back in Africa, that Easter looked and felt completely different.
Easter Where I Grew Up
Growing up in Africa, Easter wasn't about bunnies. It wasn't about egg hunts in the garden or a basket filled with sweets. Easter was holy. It was serious. It was the full story, Palm Sunday, the crucifixion, the silence of Holy Saturday, and then that glorious Sunday morning resurrection.
We felt all of it. Church services were packed. There was a reverence in the air that even a child could sense. I understood, without anyone having to explain it, that something enormous had happened. This week was different from every other; it was not just a holiday.
It was the story. The greatest story.
And Then I Moved to the UK
Moving to Manchester changed many things, some wonderfully, some in ways I'm still navigating.
Easter was one of them.
Slowly, gradually, I noticed something shifting. Not just in the culture around me, but if I'm honest, even in my own home. The Easter fairs. The egg decorating kits. The Easter bunny wrapping paper. It's all everywhere, and it sweeps you along with it before you even realise what's happening.
I'm not saying any of it is wrong. Easter is joyful! But I am saying this: if we are not intentional, the deep, sacred meaning of Easter can quietly get buried under all that foil wrapping.
And for those of us who migrated and grew up with Easter as a spiritual cornerstone, that loss can feel like a quiet grief we don't talk about enough.
How Do We Hold Onto What Matters?
This is the question I've been sitting with. And honestly? I don't think there's one perfect answer. But I do think intentionality is everything.
Here's what we do in our home:
We start Holy Week with a conversation. I sit with my child and tell them the story, in simple, age-appropriate language, of what happened from Palm Sunday right through to Easter Sunday. No sugar-coating, but no overwhelm either. Just the story. Our story.
We keep the traditions that connect us to home. The particular hymns. The prayers. Treating Good Friday with the quiet solemnity it deserves. The sense that this week is set apart from every other.
And then, yes, we also have fun. Because joy is absolutely part of Easter. The resurrection is cause for celebration! We make sure the chocolate and the bunnies come after the meaning, not instead of it.
Roots and Wings
Here's what I want to say to every migrant parent reading this:
You are carrying something precious. Your children are growing up in a wonderful country with wonderful opportunities. But your heritage, your faith, your traditions, those do not have to be left at the border.
You get to give your children both. Roots and wings.
It takes effort. It takes intention. It will sometimes feel like swimming against the tide. But that story, the one that carried you, the one you grew up knowing, your children deserve to know it too.
🛒 Keep Little Ones Engaged This Easter
If you're looking for a screen-free way to keep little hands busy over the Easter weekend while you catch your breath, I have just the thing.
My Easter Dot-to-Dot Activity Book for Toddlers (Ages 2+) is simple, beautiful, and fun, and at just £6.49, it costs less than a chocolate egg that'll disappear in five minutes. 🐣
And if you want to treat yourself at the same time (because Easter weekend with children is a lot and you deserve it), my bundles are designed for exactly that. One for your child. One for you. Because you cannot pour from an empty cup.
My children's confidence books pair beautifully with my adult self-care colouring journals — and buying them as a bundle saves you money while feeling like a proper gift to yourself and your little one.
👉 Easter Dot to Dot Activity Book — £6.49
👉 Black Girls Confidence Bundle — £11.99
👉 Black Boys Confidence Bundle — £11.99
👉 Shop ALL Bundles & Gift Sets
Orders are going in now, don't leave it until Saturday. Pop your basket together today, lovely. You and your children deserve it.
Wishing you and your family a truly blessed Easter. He is risen, and you are seen. 💛
With love, Ruthy 🐣✝️
ruthymichaels.com
