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GUEST COLUMN: Ancient holiday of Easter a time to smile and be hoppy

Norma West Linder When we celebrate Easter Sunday we hope to say goodbye to Old Man Winter, but weather can be unpredictable this time of year.
Easter

Norma West Linder

When we celebrate Easter Sunday we hope to say goodbye to Old Man Winter, but weather can be unpredictable this time of year.

Norma West Linder

I recall the late ‘60s when there was so much snow in our front yard my kids made a giant Easter Bunny rather than the usual snowman. A photographer from the daily paper took a picture, and it’s saved in one of my 100 or so photo albums.

Let’s hope the weather co-operates on Saturday, when the Easter Bunny kicks off the egg hunt at the Children’s Animal Farm in Canatara Park.

It’s a true family celebration, and before the pandemic, it was hosted annually by the city and Seaway Kiwanis Club for more than half a century.

Kids possess great imaginative powers. One year, a kindergarten teacher was strolling around her classroom while students drew Easter pictures. A Grade 1 girl, working diligently, looked up as the teacher asked,“ Who are you drawing?”

“God,” replied the child.

“But no one knows what God looks like,” protested the teacher.

“They will in a minute,” replied the child.

Sunday school teachers have their favourite stories too. One woman was discussing the Ten Commandments, and after explaining the commandment ‘Honour thy father and thy mother,’ she asked her charges: “Is there a commandment that tells us how to treat our brothers and sisters?”

Without missing a beat, a young boy spoke up. “Thou shall not kill,” he said.

We know Easter has been celebrated since ancient times. Before the advent of Christ, people worshipped various gods and goddesses, and Eastre was the name given to the goddess of spring.

Early Christians celebrated Easter as the New Year, often bestowing gifts to celebrate. When I was a kid, Easter meant new clothes and going to church to show them off. Women donned new Easter bonnets with the same aim in mind. And we all wore white gloves.

About three centuries after the birth of Jesus, a church council decided Easter would fall on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox (the day divided into equal hours of dark and daylight, around March 21st).

Church services, new clothes, candy egg hunts, and dying real ones rainbow colours are all part of the rich tradition.

Decades ago, I hid candy eggs for my children so well I would come across a sticky mess in some drawer or other the following summer. So much for good housekeeping.

One year, we decided to make an Easter egg tree for our front window by pricking holes in the shells of raw eggs and blowing out the contents. It was hard work, but the results were gratifying.

And omelettes are easier to eat than dyed, boiled eggs served cold.

Norma West Linder is an internationally published poet and novelist in Sarnia


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