Women dressed in Albanian style perform Megara's Easter Dance.
Photograph by Maynard Owen Williams, National Geographic Creative
A teenager poses in Nazarene costume for a Good Friday procession in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. The photo appeared in a 1951 National Geographic.
Photograph by Justin Locke, National Geographic Creative
Women in traditional dress share eggs that say “Happy Easter” in German. The photo, taken in Stinatz, Austria, appeared in a 1959 National Geographic.
Photograph by Volkmar K. Wentzel, National Geographic Creative
Students march to a cathedral bearing crosses for Easter. The photo appeared in a 1969 National Geographic article about Chartres, France.
Photograph by Dean Conger, National Geographic
A man encourages his son before his first Holy Week procession in Valladolid, Spain, in this 1978 National Geographic photo.
Photograph by David Alan Harvey, National Geographic Creative
Parishioners carry lanterns through Mendrisio, Switzerland, on Good Friday.
Photograph by Melissa Farlow, National Geographic Creative
Children meet the Easter bunny on an egg hunt in Fairfield, Connecticut (although this holiday mascot looks more like the rabbit from the movie Donnie Darko.
Photograph by Joël Sartore, National Geographic Creative
A Greek Cypriot National Guardsman stands outside a church in Limassol, Cyprus in this 1993 National Geographic photo.
Photograph by William Albert Allard, National Geographic Creative
People stand near a street mural of a shepherdess during a Holy Week procession in Ayacucho, Peru. The words “Paz y Amor”—Peace and Love—float over her head in this 1996 National Geographic photo.
Photograph by William Albert Allard, National Geographic
A woman passes by an altar erected for Easter in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Photograph by Keenpress, National Geographic Creative
These eggs are ready to be hidden on Easter morning in Lincoln, Nebraska.
Photograph by Joël Sartore, National Geographic Creative
Actors perform the Procession of Verges, a reenactment of the life and death of Jesus Christ, in Verges, Spain, a few days before Easter. The final act is called the “Dance of Death.”
Photograph by Tino Soriano, National Geographic Creative
Performers wait to reenact Jesus’ walk to Golgotha along the Via Dolorosa on Good Friday in Jerusalem.
Photograph by Annie Griffiths, National Geographic Creative
Easter eggs, cakes, and candles sit outside Saint Michael’s Church in Vorkuta, Russia, in this 2009 National Geographic photo. The church priest will bless the parishioner’s sweets.
Photograph by Gerd Ludwig, National Geographic Creative
The soft glow of candles light a Good Friday service in the Cathedral of St. James, a 12th-century Armenian church in Jerusalem.
Photograph by John Stanmeyer, Nationla Geographic Creative