long-cherished traditions. Weather permitting, Good Friday will see local skies abuzz with hundreds of kites. Many people will spend all or part of the day attending solemn church services commemorating Christ's agony and death upon the cross.

Hand in hand with the Good Friday observances will be consumption of hot cross buns and codfish cakes.

On Saturday, dozens of volunteers will spend the day decorating local churches with a spectacular abundance of bright Spring flowers, while children will occupy themselves decorating freshly-boiled Easter eggs.

As Easter Sunday dawns, many will attend sunrise services at vantage points around the Island. Later in the day, worshippers will fill churches to capacity, dressed in their new Easter finery.

Throughout the day, hundreds more will travel up and down the Island marvelling at the decorated churches.

Children will revel not only in new Easter outfits, but gifts from the Easter bunny -- pastel baskets filled with soft toys, chocolate eggs and candies.

They may even partake of Easter egg hunts.

Most families will hold large gatherings over lunch or dinner, with baked ham and cassava pie being traditional centrepieces of the Easter meal. And others will take the easy route and sit down to commercial brunches.

Throughout the Easter weekend, many will visit the graves of loved ones to say a quiet prayer and leave a floral remembrance.

But what of the customs beyond our shores? How do others mark the Easter festival? What lore surrounds it? Here's a sampling: In Austria, Good Friday is a favourite day for devout pilgrimages to some distant shrine or church. In the Tyrol region, people will often walk ten hours each way. Loaves of bread imprinted with the cross are consumed on this day. In the Alpine provinces, Easter fires are lit on the mountaintops after sunset on Easter Saturday, and children carrying lighted torches follow bands playing hymns as they march through the valleys.

On Easter Sunday young Austrians participate in "pace-egging'' -- rolling hard-boiled eggs against each other on a lawn or down a hill. Little nests containing eggs, pastry and candy are hidden in gardens for children to find -- a gift from the Easter Hare.

In Belgium, church bells fall silent from Holy Thursday until Holy Saturday.

When their joyous sounds are heard again, it is a signal for children to search their gardens for "bells' eggs'' (in reality hidden by their parents).

According to local folklore, it is the church bells which drop the eggs, and a second hunt takes place on Easter Sunday for any which may have been missed.

Easter Monday in Czechoslovakia is known as the Day of Whipping, when young boys braid willow branches into whips and festoon them with flowers and ribbons. They then roam about, carolling for eggs and "whipping'' the girls "so they won't be lazy or have fleas.'' This pre-Christian rite supposedly brings good luck.

In Great Britain, where the day before Good Friday is known as Maundy Thursday, the Queen upholds an ancient custom of distributing Maundy Money to selected individuals in a ceremony at Westminster Abbey.

The Maundy Money is presented in small white purses containing specially minted silver coins which have not altered in size since the reign of Charles II. In turn the Queen receives a nosegay of herbs and flowers.

Hot cross buns are synonymous with Good Friday, and Easter egg hunts and egg rolling are popular pastimes on Easter Sunday.

Like many Europeans, the people of Finland believe that the sun dances when it rises on Easter morning, and many hike great distances early on Easter morning to observe the sun, believing it is the mark of a good year to see the phenomenon. A rainy Easter, they say, means a poor summer.

In France the Procession of the Penitents at Sangues during Holy Week dates from the 12th century. On Maundy Thursday morning, the penitents process to a chapel to celebrate Mass. The evening procession, illuminated by torches, lanterns and candles, is witnessed by large crowds. The cross is carried by two veiled, barefooted penitents dressed in red and girded with ropes.

Children carry the symbols of the Passion while other marchers shake rattles and chant psalms. The rattles replace church bells which are silenced from Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday.

In the principality of Monaco, the Stations of the Cross are presented during Holy Week by an ancient brotherhood using very old costumes and properties.

In Chartres, townspeople dressed in peasant clothing sell a variety of goods in front of the famed cathedral. Following the Easter Sunday service, bagpipers are among the musicians leading the parade.

Jousting during Holy Week is a custom dating back to the 13th century in Champagne. Before the event, young men on horseback parade through the town to church, carrying their long lances and accompanied by a statue of Christ.

The rays of the Easter sunrise in France are said to be the angels dancing for joy at the Resurrection. Omelet is an Easter breakfast tradition, and everyone going to church wears new finery. When the bells peal on this day, children rush into gardens looking for Easter eggs, and other confectionery.

Throughout France, Easter Sunday is a special feast day, with dishes favourite to a region being served.

Greece marks the Easter festival with many religious and folk customs. On Maundy Thursday some areas dye eggs red according to a strict ritual. Some villagers draw designs on the eggs, using melted wax and a sharp needle.

Easter buns are also baked on this day.

Among the faithful, Good Friday is a fast day, and most of the time is devoted to religious observances.

On Holy Saturday, city churches are decorated with bay leaves, and priests scatter laurel leaves as they intone, "Arise, O God, to judge the world.'' Women try to catch the falling leaves as a talisman against the evil eye, while others will be used to store with woollens to deter moths.

Also on this day, families complete a variety of household chores, and bake special cakes and breads. The master of the house will usually kill the Paschal lamb. Visits are made to cemeteries, where a service is held, following which attending children are given eggs, buns, and other goodies.

Food and charity is also dispensed to the bereaved and needy on Holy Saturday.

Greeks also believe that anyone dying on Holy Saturday is especially blessed.

Now more commonly taking place at midnight at the end of Holy Saturday, the service of the Resurrection is the most joyful festival in the Greek Orthodox calendar. Conducted with great ceremony, it involves the lighting of many candles by the congregation and a church decorated with greens. Rosemary, the herb of remembrance, is scattered on the floor. Worshippers wear at least one new item of apparel, preferably shoes.

At the conclusion of the service, church bells ring, fireworks explode, and ships in harbour blow their whistles, while the congregation rhythmically swing their lighted candles.

Just how did some of the customs and symbols of Easter originate? The importance of wearing new clothes at Easter is believed to have originated in the early days of the Church, when converts baptised at Easter donned new white garments as a sign of joy. But even in pagan times it was a custom to don new clothes for the Spring festivals.

The Easter rabbit concept is believed to have been introduced to America by early German settlers, where it soon became an integral part of Pennsylvania Dutch culture. There, a special Easter cake was baked in the shape of a rabbit, with a raisin for an eye and a coloured egg protruding beneath the tail.

Decorated Easter eggs were another folk art practised by the Pennsylvania Dutch. They used a sharp implement to scratch designs in the shells, which were dyed with a variety of vegetable products including onion skins and madder root.

Europeans also brought Easter egg rolling to America, and this practice -- first introduced to the White House lawn more than 170 years ago during the presidency of James Madison -- continues to this day.

As an art form, the Easter egg was an integral part of Russian culture for centuries, and reached its most magnificent in the work of Carl Faberge, a jeweller and craftsman whose dazzling jewelled creations for the imperial family of Russia and the aristocracy of Europe are considered near-priceless treasures today.

Bermuda is said to have been responsible for America adopting its trumpet-like white lily as the official Easter lily -- thanks to a visit to the Island in the 1880s by Mrs. Thomas P. Sargent.

An enthusiastic amateur gardener from Philadelphia, Mrs. Sargent was so impressed with the sprawling fields of fragrant Bermuda lilies that she took some bulbs home with her. They soon came to the notice of a local nurseryman, Mr. William K. Harris, who introduced them to the florist trade under the name of Lilium Harrisi. Shortly thereafter, they were introduced to Spring shows throughout America.

Ten years later sizable shipments of bulbs were made from Bermuda to the US and England, and a lively trade soon developed. The new lily was particularly appealing for indoor decoration, including churches, because it could easily be forced to bloom for the Easter season.

Today, Bermuda still sends a gift of Easter lily blooms to the Queen for use in her private apartments.

IT'S TRADITIONAL! -- Kites of all shapes and sizes fill Bermuda skies on Good Friday. While the exact origin of the tradition is unknown, some say that a local Sunday school teacher who had difficulty explaining Christ's Ascension to heaven took his class to a high hill on Good Friday and launched a kite bearing the likeness of Christ. Once aloft and at the end of its string, the teacher cut it loose and the kite soared out of sight. Thereafter, children have always flown kites on Good Friday in commemoration of that lesson.