I have lived on this earth through 57 celebrations of Easter, actually remembering 50 or so of them. Although many holiday traditions evolve and even dissipate, the ones surrounding this holiday haven’t changed all that much. The only semi-change I recognize is really more of a faith-based preference. I was raised in the Baptist faith. When I was a child, this holiday was always called Easter, and no looked at you like you said anything abominable. Now, among some in the Christian community, you wouldn’t dare call it anything but Resurrection Sunday. Whatever you call it, it’s still the time of year we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
A Little Bit of History…
Once upon a time, I conducted a thorough study of Christmas, because as you all should know by now, I love Christmas, and it’s my absolute, hands-down, favorite holiday of the year. AND… I’d heard many times over, that Christmas really wasn’t what I was taught that it was; that it was intertwined with paganism, and that Christ was really born on a Tuesday in March (joking about the day/date). I gained a lot of great info on that, which did in fact open my eyes to some truths, but guess what? I still celebrate Christmas in December on the 25th. I’ve also done extensive research on other holidays like Valentine’s Day and Halloween. What I’ve concluded, is that there were an awful lot of scholars from time periods long, long, long ago, that studied and researched day and night, and taught about the origins of many popular holidays and events in our current culture that were based in, or could be based in, paganism. Knowledge is power, and it’s always a good thing to know the back-story of a holiday, however, that doesn’t really altar how I celebrate the holiday. Easter is no different. So in case you haven’t heard, many faith-based religions reject the name “Easter” because it references the widely-known theories of scholars of days passed. I’ve read of a few, but the one I found referenced the most, was that of Eostre (pronounced “ee-ster”), a pagan fertility god whose deity was celebrated with a festival near the time of the Jewish Passover. And in an effort to be more inclusive of those who didn’t believe, the “church” began embracing some of the pagan themes. For instance, rabbits were considered a symbol of fertility, ergo the “Easter Bunny.”
Eggs are an ancient symbol of fertility and new life, also associated with paganism. In the Christian community, the egg was always a symbol of Christ’s emergence from the tomb. Eggs were also forbidden during the season of Lent, so as a celebratory end to that season, eggs were painted and given as gifts. Thus, the Easter Egg.
My Easter History…
Easter Bunnies and Easter Eggs and Easter Candy, are all STILL part of our Easter/Resurrection Sunday celebrations. It was definitely a part of mine. As was the attire for the day. One of the many unchangeable traditions for me, (surprise, surprise), as well as countless other little girls, was dressing up on Easter Sunday. The pretty pastel colored dresses, with double-laced anklet socks or tights, white or black patent leather shoes, typically called “Mary Jane’s”, a cute little bonnet and short white gloves, with a little matching purse. Unfortunately, I don’t have any Easter Sunday pictures of myself from back in the day. But if I did, I’d look similar to the girls in the photos below. Aren’t they precious?!
I remember my Easter Sunday outfit being my most favorite outfit of the entire year! I felt like a little princess on Easter Sunday morning. Despite the fact that the night before, I’d been seated by a hot stove for a few hours, while my Mom straightened my kinky hair into smoothness, and then curled it into Shirley Temple curls. On a few occasions I got to go to the beauty salon to get it done, and that was a BIG treat. I remember having a bonnet in the earlier years, graduating to huge bows to match my dress in later years. After church on Easter Sunday… wait, let’s talk about church for a minute. My parents both sang in the choir. My mom in the more contemporary, “Inspirational Choir”, and my Dad in the more traditional, “Gospel Chorus”. And on Easter Sunday mornings, they all sang together in the “Combined Choir”. New Covenant Missionary Baptist Church, on the South Side of Chicago, was a fairly large church. So my brother and I were strategically seated with someone responsible, where Mom and Dad could keep an eye on us. Fast forward three hours… there was all the socializing after the service before we finally got on our way home. There was always a special dinner, and on occasion, a big, special dinner, with family and friends. My Dad loved to have family gatherings at our house. And everyone loved coming to our house. Dad was so comical and always provided memorable entertainment.
Present Day…
In my adult years, there are no hats, gloves. But there is a dress that represents Spring and possibly some patent leather shoes, haha!!! I never really got into wearing hats as an adult, but there’s still time, because I do love them. Which is why I think I’m slightly obsessed with the attire of British Royalty… and a few other stylish women featured below.
Keeping with Easter Sunday traditions, there’s still church and dinner somewhere, though no where near the level it was in my youth, except for church. It’s still about three hours on average. The one new tradition I’ve begun in recent years is the creation of an Easter tablescape. You can read last year’s post on Easter and see that tablescape HERE. There won’t be one this year because I’m between homes. Here’s a couple pictures of my table from Easter last year…
I can’t wait to get back to decorating. Whatever I do on Easter Sunday, I just want to make sure I’m paying homage to the reason for the season, the celebration of the risen savior, Jesus Christ.
