how did you celebrate Easter growing up (if you did)

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Now that Rufus is 2, he is starting to get the idea of holidays.

I realise that as a family, we can create our own family culture. When you're a kid, you think the way your family does a holiday or ritual is just how it's done, and it comes as a weird surprise to find out later that not everybody makes a big deal about Christmas stockings, to name an example.

When you start a family, you have a choice, and how you celebrate things tends to be a combination or compromise or selection of elements from each partner's/parent's background.

In my family, decorating the eggs was the biggest deal. My mom is an artist, and we would make really fancy eggs, basically batiking them. We melted wax and then used pins stuck in pencil erasers to paint on the eggs with wax before dipping them in dye. Sometimes we'd decorate raw eggs, and then carefully pierce the top and bottom and blow the insides out so we could save the decorated shells.

I've found out that the Easter basket is the main deal for some families, or the Easter egg hunt, or the religious aspect.

How did/does your family celebrate Easter?

― Maria D. (Maria D.), Friday, 25 March 2005 05:07 (twenty-one years ago)

That thread title makes it sound like "if you did grow up" or if Easter did grow up.

― Maria D. (Maria D.), Friday, 25 March 2005 05:09 (twenty-one years ago)

We used to bang nails throug the extremities of a local eccentric.

― Ferlin Husky (noodle vague), Friday, 25 March 2005 05:10 (twenty-one years ago)

went to church, had easter baskets(which my folks still send to us young-un's as a laugh), would have hard-boiled eggs that we'd paint(which the easter bunny would hide), and later in the afternoon, cousins or neighbors(or both) would come over, they barricade all of us kids in the basement, then the older types would hide a coupla hundred plastic eggs(filled with nickels, candy, etc) in our big backyard.

there was a big golden "L'Eggs" one that'd hold the grand prize, a dollar bill.

so yeah, we enjoyed Easter.

― kingfish van pickles (Kingfish), Friday, 25 March 2005 05:14 (twenty-one years ago)

L'Eggs container that used to have pantyhose in it? Rad!

― Maria D. (Maria D.), Friday, 25 March 2005 05:17 (twenty-one years ago)

midnight mass, colored eggs, chocolate, weird green plastic resembling grass. that's it.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 25 March 2005 05:18 (twenty-one years ago)

xpost yeah, i found it like 3-4 years running.

we were watching old home vids over Christmas, and one of them had the Egg Hunt from like 1988 on it. in the background, you can hear 11-year-old me yell "YES! I FOUND IT 3 YEARS IN A ROW!" at one point.

it was a warm Easter day, that 1988 in michigan. i was wearing jams.

― kingfish van pickles (Kingfish), Friday, 25 March 2005 05:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Even though we aren't really religious (mum is, but no easter church or anything), my family always liked, as do a lot of Aussies, the whole fish on friday thing. So we often had huge seafood BBQs on good friday. Dad would get up at 4am and drive up to the Sydney Fish Market (abt a 3 hour drive away) and come back with oysters, prawns, whole fish, etc. Day of feastage! Bloody marvellous.

― Trayce (trayce), Friday, 25 March 2005 05:21 (twenty-one years ago)

prawn on the barbie.

― hstencil (hstencil), Friday, 25 March 2005 05:22 (twenty-one years ago)

haha yeah I know, total Aus cliche, us =)

― Trayce (trayce), Friday, 25 March 2005 05:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Today however I am celebrating good friday by coming down with a cold for the first time in over a year. Hoo fuckin ray. And I am seeing Bill Bailey live tonite which should be fun.

― Trayce (trayce), Friday, 25 March 2005 05:35 (twenty-one years ago)

younger days: The egg hunt thing, except they seemed to be jelly beans or chocolates; church service where my mom played organ; dinner which always featured ham; loads of relatives

middlin days: more church; ITALIAN dinner with the girlfriends rels, followed by sneaking into UMass-North Dartmouth's olympic pool for the 1st swim of the year with her brothers

now: work

― jim wentworth (wench), Friday, 25 March 2005 05:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Dyeing eggs, sometimes; always Easter baskets. They had religious gifts in them for a couple of years - I got my first Bible when I was eight, and Jesus Christ Superstar a year or so later (which was how I actually learned the story of the week before Easter). My parents still do them, but now they have things like gel pens instead of Bibles.

― Maria (Maria), Friday, 25 March 2005 06:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Marshmellow peeps, painted eggs, plastic grass, lots of chocolate, etc. All bunnies and chicks, no Jesus.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Friday, 25 March 2005 07:20 (twenty-one years ago)

moss garden w.a mirror to represent a pond, chicks and v.little chocolate eggs: combine to make hauntin tableau

if you don't eat the eggs quickly the moisture from the moss dissovles them from below

― mark s (mark s), Friday, 25 March 2005 10:51 (twenty-one years ago)

We just got the eggs, never had to find them. These days I sorta dread getting Easter eggs, as I never seem to end up eating them.

― jel -- (jel), Friday, 25 March 2005 10:54 (twenty-one years ago)

I always felt priveleged growing up to get to have TWO Easters. It took me many years to realize why I had two Easters: my father's family are Syrian Orthodox, and thus, celebrate Easter on what they consider the true anniversary of the grandiose occasion.

The painting of the eggs has ALWAYS been a big thing in my family, and it's a tradition I was very pleased to see is strong in my son's mom's family, too.

Another tradition I hope to pass along to the little man: SEASONAL CRAVING FOR CADBURY'S CREAM EGGS.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Friday, 25 March 2005 14:35 (twenty-one years ago)

So which kind of church service is most entertaining on Easter? I don't think we have any midnight masses around these parts.

― Maria D. (Maria D.), Friday, 25 March 2005 15:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Another tradition I hope to pass along to the little man: SEASONAL CRAVING FOR CADBURY'S CREAM EGGS.

YES!

I am also a big fan of going to other people's homes and getting to eat a whole buncha food on Easter Sunday.

― sugarpants: the luscious ingenue (sugarpants), Friday, 25 March 2005 15:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Our egg hunts were great. Largely due to my mum's setting of cryptic clues to guide us to the next location.

Of course when my parents began breaking up the clues got less pleasant "Look where your father spends ALL OF HIS TIME" for example.

― Matt (Matt), Friday, 25 March 2005 16:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Decorating eggs was always big, as was putting together an easter basket with the eggs, sausages, ham, horseraddish, and other foods. We'd take this to church Easter Sunday, have a priest sprinkle it with holy water, and, not actually being religious in the least, promptly leave & have the easter basket's contents for breakfast. It was the only time in the year we went to church.

By far the best part of Easter in Poland, though, is the Monday after, which for no apparent reason is the day when everyone has a gigantic water fight. In the city it was just kids chasing each other around with squirt guns, but my relatives in the country would go after one another with buckets...

― the krza (krza), Friday, 25 March 2005 16:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Easter was my very first ever inkling of seasonal yet natty clothes i.e. my folx made me go to church, uv course, but instead of normal old church gear my mom would drag out some horrid pastel polyster slacks for me, and some white/peach jacket or something, but it felt fun, it was like a costume!

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 25 March 2005 16:30 (twenty-one years ago)

btw krza your easter baskets sound SUPERB! and i agree that some kind of messy fun ought to be had, preferably outside in the sun with strawberries afterwards

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 25 March 2005 16:33 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.bewarethecheese.com/nerds.jpg

― kephm, Friday, 25 March 2005 16:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Dyed eggs, ate a lot of chocolate, went to aunt's for breakfast after mass, then went to another aunt's for dinner. We ate and ate and ate. And then fell asleep to whatever old-timey Jesus movie was on TV.

― Je4nne ƒury (Jeanne Fury), Friday, 25 March 2005 16:52 (twenty-one years ago)

No mention of the chocolate bunny? That's the Easter loot grand prize!

We got baskets (pink/yellow plastic grass) with mostly jellybeans, but some chocolate eggs. Occasionally we'd dye eggs. Church in the morning, dinner a bit earlier than usual (like Thanksgiving), ham being the main attraction.

― nickn (nickn), Friday, 25 March 2005 20:54 (twenty-one years ago)

ate Hot Puke, the name my sisters gave to our traditional Easter breakfast which consisted of scrambled eggs, pepperoni, cappicola, summer sausage, and bacon. heart attack on a plate but it's good. my sisters even grew to love it.
dyed eggs, then searched for them in the morning using clues (in the form of a short poem) written by the Easter Bunny (okay actually it was my grandpa. my mom kept all the ones he wrote so we can use them for the next generation). that was really fun. we got baskets of candy, too. (jelly bellys, fuck a jelly bean). put peeps in microwave to see how big they'll get.
got together with the extended fam and ate lasagna, which is eaten only twice a year: xmas and easter.

― ()ops (()()ps), Friday, 25 March 2005 21:03 (twenty-one years ago)

our childhoods will alwyas be permantly marked by the little solid dye pill things

xpost oh yeah, and PEEPS. dad would put them in the freezer. and we always got books of comic strips for some reason in our baskets. Bloom County, Garfield, C & Hobbes, Far Side, then (later) Fox Trot, etc.

― kingfish, Friday, 25 March 2005 21:04 (twenty-one years ago)

here's one of the egg hunt clues:

Groan-groan! Just can't fool you smart guys
But I will this time for sure, make no mistake
Let's see...there?...no...here?....no....where? i don't know
Wait...I think better when I eat -- I'll bake a cake!

― ()ops (()()ps), Friday, 25 March 2005 21:17 (twenty-one years ago)

We just got the eggs, never had to find them. These days I sorta dread getting Easter eggs, as I never seem to end up eating them.

For me it's the reverse - nowadays I eat them all within a week or two, but when I was small they'd hang around on top of the dining-room bookshelf for *months* - sometimes there would still be some left uneaten by the following easter.

― caitlin (caitlin), Friday, 25 March 2005 21:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Hands up everyone who ever decided to make their own Easter egg hunt by hiding all of the eggs in random places around the house but neglected to write down where said eggs were hidden so that years later eggs were still being found in random closets/cabinets...

― The Ghost of In My Defense, I Was Eight (Dan Perry), Friday, 25 March 2005 21:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Despite coming from a very religious family, I remember little besides Easter candy (in ridiculously enormous quantities--I think I got 3 1/2 baskets' worth) and a big Easter dinner.

― RS £aRue (rockist_scientist), Friday, 25 March 2005 21:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh right, yeah, I remember a pale green suit I had especially for Easter. I wasn't into dressing up that much, but it was kind of fun.

― RS £aRue (rockist_scientist), Friday, 25 March 2005 21:37 (twenty-one years ago)

My mom also put up a lot of seasonal decorations, and there were definitely painted egg shells, but that was more of a project she worked on with my sister, and I don't think they made them every year. I never had any desire to participate, but I enjoyed the results.

― RS £aRue (rockist_scientist), Friday, 25 March 2005 21:39 (twenty-one years ago)

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