Easter Tidings

What does Easter mean for you? When I was a little girl it meant going to my Great Aunt Angela's house, spending time with my cousins, finding Easter eggs and eating lamb. Holidays are all about tradition and routine. There is something reassuring in routine and that’s why it is imperative to pass these traditions on to our little ones. Like reading a book or brushing our teeth before bedtime, traditions help weather the storms of financial and social unrest and all the other disasters in our lives. No matter what happens we can always count on Peeps and Chocolate Bunnies. This year the Cochrane Family is going to New Jersey to see my Great Aunt who is now in her late 80’s. Over the years she has been a stoic pillar of the family. Aunt Angela has spearheaded family togetherness and brought everyone around the preverbal dinner table for years. She is the reason that my cousins and I are still close. Speaking of which, all of my cousins will be going home to the roost as well this year. We all feel the call to go home and experience some type of normalcy in our lives. The big change is that we are now the adults that will be hiding the eggs for our excited progeny. This Easter, I am reminded that life is about family and the warmth of a simple hug. Easter brings up so many feelings that I want to share with my 3 children. It is such a rich time of year to connect with them. I try to read them the Passion Story so that they can understand the depths of despair found in the human condition and the joy & hope of rebirth that comes on Easter morning. This week our children Alex, Zefram, and Athena chose Easter as the Theme of the Week. That means that we will talk about Easter at the dinner table every night. There will be Easter stories and my older son is already getting a head start by sketching down what Easter means to him (I believe he has a lot of references to candy). Nevertheless the lines of communication are open to what this ethereal time of year is all about. As the matriarch of our young nuclear family I am learning to build traditions like my Great Aunt Angela. I want our children to understand why the church is decorated the way that it is before they ever step foot into it; why we sing Hallelujah from Handles Messiah. But the lessons of Easter will not stop there. It will follow to the dinner table as we explain to our children why we eat the things we do. I will tell them that we eat lamb to represent the Lamb of God. Then I will follow with a story about my Uncle Lou and how he used to make sure that there was always enough lamb for everyone to eat on Easter. Aunt Angela will further enlighten their education through wheat pie, Strugala, and homemade bread with colored eggs. These are dishes that people have been making in our family for hundreds of years. Like those that celebrate Passover, there is something consoling in eating foods that tie us to the past. It restores hope in our lives. Easter is such an abundantly ritualistic holiday. There is so much to teach my children about it and with luck, they will get to spend a lifetime learning it and living the traditions we hand down to them.