Sunday, April 4, 2010

Happy Easter!

Easter is such an interesting holiday for me. I don't feel especially connected to it and yet I feel obligated to participate. Probably a result of my childhood. What else to blame it on? I don't remember big Easter baskets or decorating eggs. Growing up, other than the religious part, my Easter was new shoes, a fancy dress and not being able to wear either one until church on Easter Sunday. I'd look at those shoes, put them on but not be allowed to wear them to church or anywhere else until Easter. What was so important about waiting for that day? I never understood. As I grew into teenage years, Easter was about getting orchid corsages from doey eyed suitors and sewing my own Easter suit or dress. And still, a fancy dress. Easter was church, but church was every Sunday. Easter church was different though. The songs, the flowers, and the fancy dresses.

My favorite Easter memory is a more recent one, when my sister and I went to Europe, not for the holiday, but over the holiday, a few years ago. The fountains in the German villages were decorated with so many hand-painted egg garlands. I'd never seen such decorations before. The women collect hollowed eggs all year long, hand paint them and prepare garlands for the town squares. Yes, hand painted, not dyed. Such detail and so gorgeous! We happened to be in Vienna for Easter. We went to Easter church in the big cathedral there, St. Paul's I think. All the pomp associated with it gave me goosebumps. And though I'm not Catholic, I welled up when the bishop said Happy Easter in English. Easter Monday is as big a deal as the Friday before Easter. Everything shuts down.

The kids downstairs just woke up to find the Easter bunny had been busy all night. Such joy and laughter rattled the walls, I reveled in their hunt.

It's a bright sunny day, perfect for egg hunts. Here's hoping your basket is full!

3 comments:

Cindy said...

Happy Easter, Connie!

Jennifer said...

Oh but please remember Oster Eve in that Cathedral before electricity, candles only and no heat, where we thought we would have a "peep" and ended up in some kind of super mass and were given blankets to keep us warm. then, the Priest instead of offering communion, gave each of us an egg. When we responded by saying in English "happy Easter" we were enthusiastically escorted to a tomb and refreshments were wine and cheese and everyone (except us) waited there until Christ Arose! Oh. Such beautiful memories of Vienna, of sharing them with my seester :-)

Connie Dooley said...

Oh, I could never forget that Saturday before Easter in Vienna. I'd never been to church where they had to pass out blankets. Loved it!