Funny things about Dutch Easter
Here are some things about Easter that might surprise you. It will also help you to expand your vocabulary fast. Which language is more logical you think? English or Dutch?
Pasen in Dutch is a logical word for Easter in Dutch and it looks like Pascha in Latin or Greek. Pascha comes from the Jewish word Pesach, a passover and a long time ago it already did stand for a new beginning, but just in a whole different sense! Reason for the party was the exodus from Slavery of the Jewish people when they moved out of Egypt to new lands.
The English word Easter comes from Eostre, which was a Germanic Goddess of Spring.
Both in Dutch and English Easter stands for new life. Therefore it is the celebration of spring, which in Dutch you call lente.
With the Dutch word paas you can make any combination that you like!
Paasei, paashaas, paasfeest!
Pasen is the name for the festival and then of course, if you like to make combinations with other words you just have to change pasen into paas. Then you can create any word that you like. Here are some examples: paasdagen (dagen), paaszonnetje (a sun that shines during Easter) paasvakantie and paasontbijt (breakfast on Easter morning). Also if you like - with some more imagination - you could create the word paasmassage (an Easter massage) or paasvocabulaire :)
Then of course, we have paashaas (Easter Bunny) and paasei (Easter egg)
According to Dutch people the animal that brings your paasei is a hare, so that is why you call him Paashaas. By the way, the word haas, should be easy to remember. Just think of the next sentence: de haas heeft altijd haast, the hare has always haste (is always in a hurry). That is true, don't you think? Een haas always runs fast, so in that sense the word haas makes perfect sencse :)
If you talk about Easter Dutch, then in Dutch you have two options. You can talk about paaseitje, which is a small one and that one is easy to put in plural as well.... Paaseitjes are often made of chocolate and they can be extremely addictive
If you like to think big, then just go for the word paasei. The only thing is that if you want to have more than one Paasei, the plural for ei might look a bit daunting in the beginning: eieren. However this word eieren is quite close to another word that used to exist in English. A long time ago, they used the English word ey which was eyren in plural. But then one day, somehow, all of a sudden people in Britain preferred a Norwegian word egg.
Here is an extra tip: make sure that you know the difference between passen & pasen
Passen (with a short a sound) is to try on, to fit and pasen (with a long a sound) is Easter
Make sure that you know the difference between paskamer (fitting room) and paaskamer!
Een eitje in Dutch is a small egg and.... it also means that you find something extremely easy. You can say: het is een eitje and that means that it is really really simple. So, what do you think? Is it hard to expand your Easter vocabulary in Dutch? Hopefully, you'll : het is een eitje, or even better een paaseitje! :)
Wat is jouw favoriete paasword? What is your favourite word for Easter? Feel free to share it here!
