Happy Easter, y'all

       Easter was always a special time for us, growing up in a Catholic household. New Clothes, and a week-long buildup of religious events had us on edge, entering into the grand finale, Easter Sunday. Everyone put on their best “church clothes” and paraded in and out of God’s Home, like models parading in a New York City Fashion show.

      It also meant the end of the Lenten season and a return to eating whatever treats you had “given up” during Lent. We were never really clear about that whole murky business, of “giving things up.” But, you needed whatever brownie points you could amass during Lent, to atone for the many infractions committed that you might have committed during the rest of the year.

    Easter Sunday also meant a grand dinner in the afternoon, with relatives and friends invited. Ham was the most popular entrée, but the side dishes were both varied and delicious. A “butter lamb,” from the Broadway Market, was a necessary addition. We ate with youthful abandon, enjoying the plenty that the post Lenten feast provided.

    And then of course, there was the whole tradition of dyed eggs, chocolate bunnies and assorted sweets to gladden the heart of every child. We never really gave much thought to this whole business, just accepted it as one of those things that you did every spring around Easter.

    It was only later in life that I began to wonder what all this “bunny stuff “ was all about. What did Easter bunnies have to do with the grand passion and crucifixion of Jesus Christ? Well, nothing actually, as I was later to find out. It seems that in the Germanic countries, the custom arose in the mid 1600’s. Folklore had it that an Easter Hare would arrive the night before the holiday. If children were found to have been good, he left dyed eggs and delicacies. Does this story line sound familiar? 

        Like most holidays, numerous cultures have added on their own traditions over the years, until Easter became a mishmash of bunny hopping, along-side of many other traditions and the grand–passion of Christ. It all seemed normal to us at the time. Children rarely question physical and temporal anomalies. They just rock and roll with the “now,” enjoying the day and all the wonderful things that it brought to them.

      And maybe the youngsters have it right. So now, I watch “The Greatest Story Ever told,” “Ben Hur,” and a few other classic movies during Easter week, depicting the full panoply of time and events now long past, while munching on chocolate eggs and thinking about the best clothes to wear to Easter Mass on Sunday. And if the history and traditions get a little mixed up, so what! All the other holiday celebrations are as equally muddled. The day offers one more celebration of life to remind all of us of how fortunate that we are. It works for me.

                    Happy Easter, y’all.

                                            -30-

                                      (501 words)

                                  Joseph Xavier Martin