Orthodox Christian and Muslim shepherds share an Easter meal in front of the house of shephard Anastas Karaj in the village of Selta in central Albania. Easter bread, fresh olives, puff pastry and goat meat are all part of the traditional Easter meal. (Eckehard Pistrick/Special to The Washington Times)
An Easter parade commences around the town church in Selta, a village in the Shpati region of central Albania. The lay priest (in yellow) sings old hymns with shepherd Anastas Karaj. A migrant worker from Greece (standing under flag) bought the processional cross for his son at an auction. (Eckehard Pistrick/Special to The Washington Times)
President Obama speaks during the Easter prayer breakfast in the East Room of the White House in Washington on Wednesday, April 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Baucom, commander of Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, says his personnel are committed to providing American troops in the Middle East with all they need to observe their religious beliefs at Easter and Passover. (Defense Dept. photo)
** FILE ** Painted Easter eggs are available in a supermarket in Antwerp, Belgium. Demand for eggs reaches its peak around Easter. The industry has been hit hard by the European Union's mandatory use of animal-friendly cages for hens since the beginning of the year. (Associated Press)
Festival: Faberge Egg Festival Last year, parents in Colorado Springs invaded the city's annual Easter egg hunt, ruining everything and leading organizers to cancel this year's event. The reason for the interference, said one parent, was simple: "I promised my kid an Easter egg hunt and I'd want to give him an even edge." Clearly, the true meaning of Easter has gone by the wayside. Assuming you want your children to know the true meaning of Easter, get them to a church. If you're fine with maintaining the charming egg association, but want to avoid awakening your worst helicopter-parent instincts, take your children to Hillwood's Faberge Egg Family Festival. There they can paint eggs in grand Faberge style, listen to storyteller Arianna Ross divulge the egg's aristocratic history, play Russian folk games, listen to Russian folk music, and meet a Tsar Nicholas II impersonator. To April 1 at the Hillwood Museum, 4155 Linnean Ave. NW. Phone: 202/686.5807. Web: http://www.hillwoodmuseum.org/
Children rush to collect plastic eggs containing treats at last year's Old Colorado City Easter egg hunt in Colorado Springs. Organizers canceled this year's event, saying adults last year swarmed the field to help their children, scarfing up all the eggs in seconds. (Associated Press)
Riley Easter, 3, of Highland, Md. plays with his paper dragon lantern along H Street N.W. in Washington, D.C. as he waits for the beginning of the Chinese New Year Parade. The Chinese Cultural Center sold the paper dragons to raise funds for its programming. (Barbara L. Salisbury/The Washington Times)
A blanket of snow covers a jack-o'-lantern Sunday in Freeport, Maine, after an unseasonable nor'easter blew through. (Associated Press)
