Easter

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Art Menendez (left) and Javern Carothers, of Costa Mesa, Calif., raise their hands in prayer during the Surf City Alive Easter sunrise service in Huntington Beach, Calif. (Orange County Register via Associated Press)

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Pope Benedict XVI, holding a tall, lit, white candle, enters a hushed and darkened St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican Saturday, April 7, 2012, to begin the Vatican's Easter vigil service. Except for the twinkle of camera flashes, the basilica was almost pitch-black as the thousands of faithful in pews awaited Benedict's arrival Saturday night. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

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Pope Benedict XVI, holding a tall, lit, white candle, enters a hushed and darkened St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican Saturday, April 7, 2012, to begin the Vatican's Easter vigil service. Except for the twinkle of camera flashes, the basilica was almost pitch-black as the thousands of faithful in pews awaited Benedict's arrival Saturday night. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

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A creamy frittata with asparagus and ham can be a low-fat substitute for the beloved quiche on the Easter brunch table. (Associated Press)

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A creamy frittata with asparagus and ham can be a low-fat substitute for the beloved quiche on the Easter brunch table. (Associated Press)

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Anastas Karaj (right), a shepherd from the village of Selta in central Albania, and close friend Arif Hoxhollari, a shepherd from the neighboring Muslim village, sit side by side at the table for an Easter meal in Selta. Singing together is a welcome part of the meal. (Eckehard Pistrick/Special to The Washington Times)

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Anastas Karaj, a shepherd from the village of Selta in central Albania, encourages the old women to sing at Easter service. Orthodox women of Shpati traditionally wear white headscarves. (Eckehard Pistrick/Special to The Washington Times)

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Every family in the small mountain village of Selta in central Albania prepares freshly baked Easter bread in their home oven in the yard. (Eckehard Pistrick/Special to The Washington Times)

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The village photographer in Selta, Albania, poses with a basket of colored Easter eggs — a tradition that was strictly forbidden under the communist regime. (Eckehard Pistrick /Special to The Washington Times)

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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)

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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)

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** 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)

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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/

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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)

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A blanket of snow covers a jack-o'-lantern Sunday in Freeport, Maine, after an unseasonable nor'easter blew through. (Associated Press)

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ASSOCIATED PRESS President Obama (center seated) and others lower their heads during an Easter prayer breakfast with Christian leaders in the East Room of the White House. Leading the prayer at the lectern is Vashti Murphy McKenzie, bishop at African Methodist Episcopal Church.

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A member of the Real Irish Republican Army dissident group participates in a 1916 Easter rising commemoration ceremony at Creggan cemetery in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. (Associated Press)