Easter Traditions

Easter has always been one of my favorite times, and not just because it means lots of chocolate. Its springtime, everything is being reborn. Tulips, crocuses, daffodils, you name it, its sprouting up through the earth. The trees are budding, the birds are singing, and the Easter Bunny is on his way. Holidays for me always come with a whole host of memories, and over the years my family has had lots of fun little Easter traditions.

Easter was a time we would always have lots of pussy willow decorating our home, which we cut right from the ravine near our house. We would give it away as gifts to our family and neighbors. I have a collection of porcelain bunnies my mum has given me every Easter over the years that is very special to me.  More humorous, as part of an Easter basket I once received a plastic cow, that if pressed down would poop chocolate jelly-beans.  Visiting my grandparents in the Eastern Townships outside Montreal, Easter always seemed to be an especially fun and special holiday.  In the kitchen we would dye vast batches of eggs in boiling cabbage to stain them a deep purple, draw patterns on them in wax crayon before they went into bowls of dye, and even dye them wrapped in nylon stockings with parsley and other leafy greens applied to the shell to leave a delicate imprint.  These were the eggs we searched for come Easter morning, rather than the chocolate variety that come in foil.  The eggs were usually scattered both inside the house and around the property outside, and we almost never found them all.  I can remember one Christmas opening the drawer of a living room side table and laughing as a faded hard-boiled egg rolled slowly to the front…gross!  Ever since the spring flowers started coming into the store, everybody at Westmount Florist seems to be talking about their family’s spring-time holiday traditions.  Ranging from Ukrainian eggs, to Easter bonnets worn to church, everybody has a fun story to tell.  However you celebrate the arrival of spring, I hope you have a lot of fun!