Easter Weekend

I wrote yesterday about the Christian tradition of Good Friday. After Good Friday, we have the Easter celebration. When I was growing up, Easter meant coloring Easter eggs, eating the colored Easter eggs, getting Easter baskets early Easter Sunday morning, baskets filled with lots of “Easter” candy.

I wrote that we are now in a secular world. I observe though that the secular world celebrates the weekend with “Easter” candy, bunnies, and new “Easter” outfits. Christian tradition drives the economy during the Christmas and Easter seasons, have you noticed that? Stores filled with candy, bunnies, new clothing. I think that even many non/ Christians fill Easter baskets for their children.

I once had a conversation with a Jewish friend; we discussed how our traditions are so much alike, in that Christianity has its roots in Judaism. They celebrate the Passover, and so do we, but in different ways. Last Easter she asked me what eggs and bunnies had to do with Easter. That probably was a good question. When we were kids, it really was never explained to us what they had to do with Jesus and the cross! As an adult I’ve come to know that the eggs represent new life. Christian holidays started by being intertwined with pagan rituals, and since Easter is in the spring, the flowers and eggs also have to do with spring. Not sure about the bunnies. Do any of you know about the bunnies ?

Then there is the “Easter Basket”, I’m glad she didn’t ask me where that tradition came from, because I don’t know. It was probably thought up by candy companies. Do you know you used to find candy shaped like crosses, and other religious symbols? Not anymore. We now only have peeps, bunnies, and eggs. Mother always made lovely baskets for us; she used the same baskets each year. As we got older, she’d buy a bigger basket, and pass the smaller ones down to the younger siblings. Of course, it wasn’t her, but the “Easter bunny” that brought the baskets. She sure did enjoy being Easter bunny. I know I always enjoyed it too. One year she made homemade Easter eggs, made with confectioner sugar and cold mashed potatoes, and dipped in chocolate. She would make peanut butter (the best), coconut and cherry flavored ones. After that, we insisted every year that she needed to make them. She would make them, and we would help her to dip the eggs in the chocolate. She made extra so that she could give them away as treats to neighbors and friends. I would dearly love to make those now each Easter, but I resist the temptation, because I KNOW who would eat most of them, me…and I don’t need the calories. Maybe when I get better about sugar, I could make them some year. I’d love to give them away. Maybe next Easter…

Some years I made Easter baskets for the grandchildren. My daughter told me not to anymore, because between me and Easter Bunny, they got more candy than they should have, so I respected her wishes. I miss making Easter baskets.

When we were young, we looked forward every week before Easter, often the weekend before, to painting hard boiled “Easter eggs”. We had so much fun. Mom always joined in and decorated the eggs too. So when I had children, I continued the tradition. Our children enjoyed decorating the eggs, it was a fun thing to do together. At our church, the Sunday School teachers put together an “egg hunt” on the lawn after church for the kids. That was a lot of fun. In Pennsylvania, we had spring when it was Easter, there was no snow on the ground. In Minnesota, the kids don’t have outdoor Easter egg hunts because of the weather, and usually there is snow or the ground is wet. I have noticed the last few years some churches have started having egg hunts inside the church. There is an egg hunt scheduled at our Hope UMC tomorrow morning after church. That’s nice that the tradition is coming back, even if we have to do it inside! I wonder if many children decorate eggs now. Since our kids are grown, I miss doing that. Every year I think I’m going to hard boil and paint eggs, but life is hectic, and if you don’t have the kids to do it for, it doesn’t seem to be as urgent, and it doesn’t get done.

Another tradition when I was young, that seems to have gone by the wayside. Dressing up and wearing hats and white gloves! If you never wore a hat to church (in those days, many of the older generation women did wear hats to church) you for sure wore one on Easter Sunday. Every woman and every girl had their “Easter Bonnet”. Most of them also had a new Easter outfit. My Grandmother was a great seamstress. She made most of my clothing, and every Easter she made a new dress for me. We don’t see many hats in
church these days, not even on Easter Sunday! Church has also become less formal, so that people don’t dress up much, and some deck out at Easter, others don’t. Today, it’s your choice. I guess that’s really a nice change, because I know when my kids were little, I always felt they needed new outfits, and there wasn’t always money for new outfits! The pressure is off, so that’s a good thing.

We always had a big ham dinner on Easter Sunday following church, at Grandma G’s house, along with Mom’s siblings and their families (my cousins). It was great! Grandma knew how to fix a fancy table and lots of good food. One year she made lamb with the ham…I didn’t like it.

When our kids were growing up, I would make a big Easter meal every year at our house for my Mother in law, Bob’s Auntie Mae and Aunt Helen and Uncle Tom. I worked hard the Saturday before, making side dishes and preparing. I always made ham, as it is my very favorite meat, and to me Easter isn’t Easter without ham! The first year I was married I wanted to make my Mother’s baked beans. She made the BEST baked beans. Everyone in the family on both sides always wanted Mom to bring her beans to family gatherings. I asked her to send me her recipe. It was the funniest thing, she wrote the directions in her letter, spread out over about two pages, telling me exactly how to do each step. No formal recipe, just directions on how to do it. The beans turned out great. I still like to make them; they taste a lot like Bush’s “Country Style” brand only even better. They are very time consuming to make, and I don’t do it unless I’m preparing for company. Now, the closest thing to her beans is Bush’s country style! I bought some to have tomorrow with our meal. I brought a lot of our dishes from Pennsylvania Easter dinner to my Minnesota table. Our kids are grown; Bob and Dawn spend Easter with his side of the family. Scott spends it with his girl friend’s family, and the aunties, uncles and Mother in law are all gone. It’s hard to get the motivation to make a big Easter dinner for only three. So, tomorrow, I will have some great center cut ham slices, and a much scaled down version of the Easter dinner. Instead of eating it right after church, we will eat it later in the day. We will attend the breakfast at church between our early service and our traditional service. The three of us will also be helping with the breakfast by being on the clean up crew.

Easter usually sneaks up on me quicker than I realize since I’ve been working full time, so my ideas about painting eggs, fixing baskets and making homemade Easter eggs, usually go unrealized. I always think “maybe next year”. So, again in 2006, here I am thinking, “maybe next year.” Then I try not to feel guilty about not doing everything, and remember what the real reason for the Easter celebration is. That’s what’s important, then I feel better about the things I didn’t do for Easter.