Easter is the most important celebration in the Christian calendar, as we remember our Lord’s death and resurrection. We spoke to our partners in Northeast Africa and Egypt and asked them if they share the amazing news of the Easter story with their listeners.

Darkness turning to light in Egypt

90% of Egypt’s population identify as Muslim¹ whereas the remaining 10% is composed of Christians (primarily Coptic Orthodox, as well as a few Catholics and Protestants.) Egyptian Christians observe

• The Great Lent: fasting for 55 days and abstaining from animal products. 
• Holy Week: includes daily church services that focus on Christ’s suffering, crucifixion, and resurrection. 
• Good Friday: There is an important church service with Bible readings, chanting, and prayers, and the congregation dresses in black. 

The celebrations culminate with Easter Saturday, when the Easter Vigil is held. Egyptian Christians see this as the most important service of the year. It is traditionally a midnight mass, beginning with the church in darkness to symbolise the tomb. 

Slowly, the lights are illuminated to represent Jesus rising from the dead and the bishop announces His resurrection with the phrase, “"المسيح قام! بالحقيقة قام!" which translates as Christ is risen! Truly, He is risen!

On Easter Sunday, as in the UK, families meet for a celebratory Easter meal, breaking their fast with traditional dishes such as fattah (spiced lamb served with rice and toasted pitta bread with a strong garlicky sauce). A special Easter biscuit, a kahk, is also popular. On Easter Monday, Christians and Muslims celebrate Sham El-Nessim, an Egyptian spring festival where people enjoy picnics together, with dishes such as green onions, eggs and salted fish.

Our partners at Voice of Egypt celebrate Easter but do not broadcast Easter programmes as their listeners are Muslim. However, they have special Ramadan programmes to reach out to their community. These include: 

Fasting and feasts in Northeast Africa

As our partner Dawit* explains, Northeast Africa's Easter celebrations share some similarities with Egyptian ones but also some differences.

“In my country, Easter is one of the biggest holidays. I know that Christmas is very important in the UK culture, but here, many people do not celebrate it. In the Orthodox Church, people fast for two months and don’t eat any meat, eggs or butter, following a vegetarian diet instead."

"Like our brothers and sisters in Egypt, the fast is broken at midnight on Easter Saturday to celebrate Jesus rising from the dead. When I was a child, I could not sleep for the whole night because I knew delicious chicken had been cooked, but we couldn’t eat it until the next day.”

In some areas, Christians go onto the streets singing about Jesus being resurrected. Many of our partners’ listeners are Muslims and do not celebrate Easter, yet communicating about it is important.

“During the fasting time in 2024, we broadcasted in two local languages from a book called ‘50 Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die’² so that people could understand why we celebrate Easter. On Easter Sunday, we sometimes encourage our listeners to send messages to their families and choose a song. We engage our audience and make the day special in a way they can understand.”

With a mixture of tradition and sensitivity towards their non-Christian neighbours, our partners in Egypt and Northeast Africa share the good news with joy as they continue to speak about their faith where they can. Please join us in praying for them during this Easter season, that God would work in and through them to share the amazing good news of Jesus. 

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*Name changed for security reasons ¹U.S. Department of State  ² by John Piper