Easter Monday in Australia

Activities on Easter Monday

Easter Monday is spent by a lot of people with family or friends, they do home maintenance or attend many sports events which are held on this day. Being the last day of the long weekend, it sees the winding upof the various music festivals that are organized over Easter. Some of the music festivals are the Byron Bay East Coast Blues, The National Folk Festival, the Australian Gospel Festival and the Roots Bluesfest among a host of other smaller events.

Many sporting events also come to an end on Easter Monday such as the Stawell Easter Gift athletics competition; the Three Peaks Race, which involves sailing around Tasmania and sprinting up and down the three peaks of the island, the Brisbane-Gladstone Yacht Race and the Easter Racing Carnival held at Sydney. There are also major football matches and horse races held at Sydney and Melbourne which are widely attended.

People have their Easter eggs which were given to them over the holidayand many are likely to eat chocolate bilbies. A bilby is a small rodent-like mammal which is being popularized in relation to Easter in preference to the Easter Bunny. The reason for the rejection of the EasterBunny is that rabbits are considered pests in Australia due to the fact that they are extremely destructive to crops.

Public Life

Like the rest of the Easter weekend, Easter Monday is a public holiday all over the country and schools, colleges and business establishments are closed. Some shops may be open for limited hours. All in all, the entire nation takes a break and there are lots of things to do both in public and at home.

Private Life

A lot of people use Easter Monday as a day for carrying out odd jobs at home. Since the long weekend is drawing to a close, some feel it appropriate to spend some time and energy sorting out their homes and enjoying the last of the long weekend with their families. Another reason for staying at home on Easter Monday is that the public transport system also runs minimum services. The roads are likely to be jammed with traffic by families returning from vacations and visits to far-off relatives. Hence it makes sense to stay at home and escape the congested roads and traffic snarls.

After a hectic three days beginning with prayer, fasting and preparation for the festival, followed by the revelry of Easter, most people are grateful for this extra day, Easter Monday to recover as they will have to return to work the next day.