Easter Sunday always reminds me of a few traditions..some of which I do not observe any more.
LENT: the 40 days preceding Easter is traditionally… for some… a time to “give something up”.
I do not do this because I firmly believe that giving something up ( a sinful thing?) is worth doing ALLTHE TIME and not just for 40 days. Some I know give up things like ice cream or other simple pleasures. This turns me off.
EASTER BUNNY : I do not know where this even came from but I have always (even as a child) not liked mixing this myth with the powerful Biblical resurrection account of Christ’s death and rising in 3 days.
I am quite certain that Athiests would laugh at the story from the Gospels of Christ’s death and resurrection but I do not ; it is very the very foundation of Biblical Christianity.
I grew up not hearing much about either Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny and I am glad my parents chose to do it that way. Christmas and Easter were totally spiritual and solemn things for our family. No myths attached to them.
TRADTIONAL DINNER: I used to think it was important and necessary and our Easter dinners had baked ham and potatoes, vegetables, spring like salads (lemon jello with grated carrots and apples!!) and usually some form of angel food cake with appropriate toppings..like strawberries and whipped cream or ice cream.
Now our family (the ones in
Fargo and us) often go to Duane’s House of Pizza on Easter Sunday..it is one place that is not crowded on that holiday where all the others are!
We do the same on Mother’s Day exploding the myth that Mothers need to be taken to big buffets et. al…. on their special day.
On Father’s Day it is less crowded since a lot of women cook for their men or have a lake picnic that day. Dad gets to do the grill on HIS special day..not very special I think.
NON-EASTER TRADITION:
Potato dumplings…those gray blobs boiled in broth ; the dumplings are made form ground up raw potatoes and stuck together with enough flour to make them stay in a ball.
Ham broth is good for the cooking and some ground- up ham in the middle of the dumpling is a nice surprise. We eat them (first) with “white gravy” (white sauce with butter or ham or side pork drippings used.
Second time around dumplings are cut up in small pieces and sauteed slowly in oil and butter.
I spent Wednesday making potato dumplings for my dear Little Sister who is going through a sad time in her family with the approaching cancer death of a loved one.
I have been cooking a lot of food for her recently so she has ready – made meals to use for her family.
MY OWN TRADITION:
My little cabin..my “Hytte” (hitt-uh) which is my separate from the house… sun room and sun porch. This has been such a beautiful early spring that I have enjoyed my cabin more than ever before in the spring days. Last few years have been rainy or cold or both but not March 2012!!!
I sat in the cabin and read from my current book (MAJOR PETTIGREW’S LAST STAND) on Wednesday after I finished with the huge mess that potato dumplings cause. It was a wonderful way to relax….with gentle breezes coming thru the windows and gentle NO-HUMID sunshine. When true summer hits, it is not so comfortable in the Hytte due to high humiidity and no electricity hooked up (primitive hytte like up on the Norwegian mountain sides where the “Saetergjentens” lived in the summer…. the herding girls for cows and sheep in Norway’s summer pastures.)
I love traditions that suit me but the others I can leave alone…easily.
