STA, 21 April 2019 - Easter festivities will culminate with processions and holy masses glorifying the resurrection of Jesus Christ in the predominantly Catholic Slovenia on Sunday, followed by family gatherings.
Religious and many non-religious families will get together for the traditional Easter breakfast, a feast consisting of the food that was taken to blessings in baskets on Easter Eve.
A typical basket includes "pirhi", the elaborately decorated hard-boiled eggs, as well as ham, horse radish, the potica cake, and selected local specialities.
Many families and villages will hold traditional ester egg competitions, involving egg rolling, bowling or trying to target the egg with a coin.
Related: Slovenian Easter Traditions Live on in Koroška (Feature)
In many a village, Easter processions will be accompanied by bell-ringing and loud banging produced by small cannons or mortars using gunpowder or carbide.
The smaller Protestant community, centred in the north-east of the country, will have children hunting for Easter eggs and bunnies.
In his Easter message, Archbishop of Ljubljana Stanislav Zore wished everyone who is looking for truth to "feel the joy of meeting Jesus", just like his disciples did when they found his grave empty.
Bishop Geza Filo, the leader of the Evangelic Lutheran Church, said that it was not democracy, market economy, welfare state or psychoanalysis that can bring a true and lasting solution, but only faith.
The extended weekend will run until Easter Monday, a public holiday.
