Here on the Costa Blanca, all nationalities live the very religious Spanish Easter... but, do you want to find out more?

A popular pastime In Norway is reading detective novels and crime. Paaskekrim (Easter crime) refers to the new crime novels available at Easter. The tradition of reading about crime at Easter may stem from the violent nature of Christ's death.

If you rather play an Easter game, do as the Latvians do and play an egg game in which each person takes a hard boiled, coloured egg. Players make pairs and then tap the ends of their eggs together. First the wide ends of the two eggs are tapped together, then the narrow ends, and finally one wide and one narrow end. When a player's egg breaks, he or she leaves the game, which continues until one player is left with an unbroken egg.

In Sweden, witches were thought to fly their broomsticks to church bell towers on Easter Eve. Especially in western Sweden, children often dress up as hags and visit neighbours, often with an Easter card, hoping for a coin or a piece of candy in return. A very early Halloween!!!

The Australians, celebrating the end of their summer, prefer the Bilby as the Easter symbol. Rabbits have destroyed too many crops around there! Children eat their chocolate bilbies and play the egg knocking game, as the Latvians do.

But if you are not up for any of these, why don´t you have your own pancake race, bake a traditional Simnel Cake or perform your Morris dance? You´ll sure surprise your neighbours! Don´t need to look your recipe book, here it is:

Ingredients
110g/4oz butter or margarine
110g/4oz soft brown sugar
3 eggs, beaten
150g/5oz plain flour
pinch of salt
½ tsp ground mixed spice (optional)
350g/12oz mixed raisins, currants and sultanas
55g/2oz chopped mixed peel
½ lemon, grated rind only
1-2 tbsp apricot jam
1 egg, beaten for glazing
For the almond paste: (Marzipan)
125g/4oz caster sugar
125g/4oz ground almonds
1 egg, beaten
½ tsp almond essence

Method
1. To make the almond paste: place the sugar and ground almonds in a bowl. Add enough beaten egg to give a fairly soft consistency. Add the almond essence and knead for a minute until the paste is smooth and pliable. Roll out a third of the almond paste to make a circle 18cm/7in in diameter and reserve the remainder for topping of the cake.
2. Preheat oven to 140C/275F/ Gas 1. To make the cake:cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs until well incorporated and then sift in the flour, salt and spice (if using) a little at a time. Finally, add the dried fruit, peel and grated lemon rind and mix into the mixture well.
3. Put half the mixture in a greased and lined 18cm/7in cake tin. Smooth the top and cover with the circle of almond paste. Add the rest of the cake mixture and smooth the top leaving a slight dip in the centre to allow for the cake to rise. Bake in the preheated oven for 1½ hours. Once baked, remove from the oven and leave to cool.
4. When you are ready to decorate the cake, preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 3. Brush the top of the cooled cake with the apricot jam. Divide the remainder of the almond paste into two; roll out a circle to cover the top of the cake with one half and form 11 small balls with the other half.
5. Place the circle of paste on the jam and set the balls round the edge. Brush all the top with a little beaten egg.
6. Return the cake to the preheated oven for about 10 minutes or long enough for the almond paste to brown.

HAPPY EASTER!