Easter Tradition For Kids – Sa Jaia Corema

Hi, all!! Welcome to our second Int’l Blogger Club Monthly Challenge, being Easter this month! If you follow me then you will remember that I teamed up a group of bloggers from around the world and each month we will be sharing different topics and traditions. Last month it was Breakfast & Valentine’s, and I can’t wait to see how the rest celebrate Easter!

Easter tradition for kids - Sa Jaia Corema and Lent

But before we get into what we do on Easter, let’s go back some weeks. Everything starts on Mardi Grass or Fat Tuesday, just when Carnival is over. If you missed it, you can have a look at our Carnival this year. Well, tradition says Carnival is over and we have to prepare ourselves for a period of sacrifice and deprivation during Lent, so we finish Carnival with the “Burial of the Sardine” and people dress up for mock mourning before Ash Wednesday. When I was a kid I remember parents bought a sardine for each kid, dressed it up, hung it on a rod, and walked to a forest to bury them.

Easter tradition for kids - Sa Jaia Corema, Lent and the Sardine Burial

The “Burial of the Sardine” is therefore a symbolic expression of what happened in the past has to be buried so it can reborn with greater force.

Here in Mallorca there is a fun Easter tradition for kids, and it’s called Sa Jaia Corema or sometimes called Sa Jaia Serrada.

Easter tradition for kids - Sa Jaia Corema and Lent

Sa Jaia Corema “The Grandma Lent” (or Sa Jaia Serrada “The Grandma Sawed”) is an old paper, cardboard, or painted wood, representing Easter, thin and cracked, with a cod in one hand and a bunch of carrots and vegetables in the other, with seven legs and seven teeth, representing the seven weeks of Lent. The first day of Lent it is hung in the kitchen or dining room, and every Sunday she has a leg cut of the seven that she has, until Holy Saturday she is left with no legs and discarded what is left of her. But halfway through Lent she has an operation where its name come from “Serrada (Sawed)”;  on Thursday on the fourth week as we are in half Lent, she is taken down and sawed in half. On Holly Saturday what is left of the figure is retired or burned.

The food she carries is typical food of Lent and the person in charge of sawing her in half is the father. Each year on Thursday of the fourth week of Lent a party is done in a hurry to get to Easter.

And kids use to sing this song:

Dos braços,
set cames
nas gros,
peu petit
sa jaia Corema
ja torna a ser aquí.

Amb unes graelles
i amb un bacallà
cada setmana
una cama perdrà.

This is our version of Sa Jaia Corema, but we don’t limit our Easter just to this. We love eggs, and bunnies and many other things as here in Mallorca we have a lot of foreign friends too.
Eastern Tradition for Kids - Sa Jaia Corema

Don’t forget to stop by and visit the other bloggers to see how they celebrate it. It’s fun to see other traditions! You’ll find their links at the bottom of this post.

Easter tradition for kids - Sa Jaia Corema and Lent

You can visit the other projects by clicking on the links below

  Easter Traditions for Kids00Easter-Lamb-Brioche-Intl-Bloggers-Club-Challenge Jaia Pin

Thanks for stopping by, have a great week!

Hugs,

Pili  

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32 comments

  1. Keri says:

    Pili, this sounds like a neat way for the kids to countdown the weeks of lent. Do you make the grandma out of cardboard or wood each year? Do you still bury sardines? Thanks for sharing your Easter tradition!! I hope you and your family have a Happy Easter!!

    • Pili says:

      Hi, Keri!! We try to keep it simple and we make it out of cardboard. But no, we don’t bury sardines, I remember I was really young when we used to do it.
      Hugs, my friend!

  2. Mary-the boondocks blog says:

    What a fun tradition. We also do this with an old lady and her many legs, but we do it with cardboard. I remember when my kids were little they used to bring this home from school and I didn’t know what it was. And your tradition with the sardines is very interesting and symbolic. Happy Easter!

    • Pili says:

      We are not too far one from another so our traditions don’t differ too much. The bury of the sardines was really fun, we had to have sad faces while walking with our sardine hanging from the rod!

  3. Katrin says:

    How much fun Pili! I had no idea! I love this story and I will be showing it to my girls, to show them de different ways to celebrate Easter here in Spain! It’s lovely and so nice! Thank you for sharing this with us!

    • Pili says:

      Yes, it is great to know other traditions! This is a funny way to help them understand about Easter and Lent.
      Thanks for visiting!!

  4. Ntina says:

    I love reading all these amazing traditions for Easter! It is similar with one we have in Greece, we make that lady out of hard dough that is baked and then brake her legs one by one!

    • Pili says:

      I love to travel and find different traditions, so I really enjoy our club because it allows me to discover them even if I don’t travel to that country. It is funny to that in a small country like ours, we have different traditions from one estate to another.
      Thanks for visiting, Marie!

    • Pili says:

      Kids love this kind of things too! Being Lent a “sad” period it is a nice way for them to understand.
      Thanks for visiting!!

  5. Renee says:

    I’m amazed at the different traditions we all have! This is a very interesting tradition. Thanks for sharing at Over The Moon.

    • Pili says:

      Hi, Renee!! Isn’t it amazing to find out different traditions? I would love to travel around the world!

      Thanks for stopping by!

  6. Life Loving says:

    We went to Tenerife a few years ago and they have a tradition with a sardine too. I love reading about these sorts of things as they are so interesting to understand about different cultures and traditions. I hope you are having a lovely Easter!

    Sally @ Life Loving
    #LifeLovingLinkie

    • Pili says:

      I didn’t know Tenerife has that too. We used to have that in the mainland many years ago, I guess being on the island makes it easier to keep the tradition.

  7. AJ @ Aspen Jay says:

    Hi Pili,
    I love this international bloggers group you ladies created. It’s fun learning about different ways people celebrate holidays and the various traditions we all have. Thanks for sharing about Sa Jaia Corema and for linking up with us at #TALENTEDTuesday.
    Cheers,
    AJ

    • Pili says:

      We thought it would be a different way to show different things and traditions in our areas.

      I wish you have a wonderful week ahead!

  8. Nikki Frank-Hamilton says:

    Pili, I love seeing how those in other countries celebrate holidays or holy days. This is my favorite part:

    “The “Burial of the Sardine” is therefore a symbolic expression of what happened in the past has to be buried so it can reborn with greater force.”

    We all need to have grace for our past mistakes. To give up the wrong we have done, atone for it, and move on in our lives to do good!

    I hope you and your family enjoy the holiday, it looks like it’s a wonderful celebration in your holiday!

    • Pili says:

      Those are ancient traditions which passed along the years and they were great to spread the message involved. The symbolism of the burial of the sardine is exactly what you say, give up the wrong and move to do good! There’s always hope.

      Hugs!

    • Pili says:

      I didn’t know about Befana, I will have a look it might be interesting to show my daughters about other traditions too.

      Have a wonderful week, Rose!

  9. Mother of 3 says:

    What an interesting tradition. I love the visual countdown of lent. Thanks for sharing with us at the Spring Linky Party. It’s always so neat to hear about different traditions. Pinned.

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