Easter is associated with memories of parades, family gatherings, church services, chocolate bunnies, gift baskets, egg decorating, and the famous Easter Lily. They are very popular for Easter gifts, and their unique trumpet shaped blossoms symbolize life, purity, hope, and the spiritual meaning of Easter along with the promise of Spring.
The Easter Lily was originally bought into the United States by a World War I soldier Louis Houghton. What was previously known as the Bermuda lily was first brought to the southern coast of Oregon in 1919. Houghton distributed an entire suitcase of the hybrid lily bulbs to various friends and family.
This lily proved to really thrive in the climate there. It was similar to the flower’s native Ryukyu Islands of Japan. By the year 1945, there were over a thousand growers on the west coast harvesting these bulbs to sell. There are only about two full weeks during the year when these flowers are commercially available. Easter lilies are estimated to be the fourth largest potted plant crop in the United States, following the poinsettia, mum, and azalea.
History, mythology, and art are filled with stories and images that speak of the beauty and majesty of the elegant white flowers. One of the most famous Biblical references is in the Sermon on the Mount, when Christ said, “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they toil not, neither do they spin and yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”
Lilies are often called the “White-Robed Apostles of Hope”. Lilies were discovered in the Garden of Gethsemane after Christ died on the cross. During the Easter season, churches line their altars and envelop their crosses with a multitude of Easter Lilies, to signify the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the hope of eternal life.
Another concept associated with the pure white lily is that of womanhood. In some early paintings, the Angel Gabriel offers pure white lilies to the Virgin Mary, and this symbolizes that she will be the mother of Jesus. Other paintings show saints bringing vases of white lilies to Mary and the divine child. According to the legend, the flowers were formed when Eve cried repentant tears upon leaving Eden, and the tears became lilies. The point of this legend is that true repentance leads to beauty.
Established through the centuries as a symbol of purity, grace, and the regal lifestyle, the white lily is a suitable reminder of the greater meaning of Easter. These flowers grace millions of homes and churches every year, embodying joy, hope, and life; whether given as a gift or displayed proudly in one’s home, the Easter lily remains a beauteous reminder of how Easter is a time for celebration and rejoicing. So when you purchase Easter baskets for your loved ones, don’t hold back with decorated eggs and chocolates, but be certain to include a few Easter lilies as well!
If you ask most kids today what “Easter Eggs” are, they’ll probably tell you that they’re undocumented features found in computer games and DVD’s. Of course, when it comes to the history of Easter gifts, it refers to brightly-colored eggs. The egg tradition associated with Easter is an old one, predating the arrival of Christianity in Europe. It has long been a fertility symbol in many cultures.
One the other hand, Easter - which in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches is considered the main observance of the liturgical year - has a close connection with the Jewish holiday of Passover, or Pesach, which celebrates the exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt. During the traditional seder meal, hard-boiled eggs flavored with salt water are eaten. (In fact, the “Last Supper” was actually a Passover celebration.)
Colored eggs are also part of traditional Easter gift baskets, and many of these are works of art. In Russia, Ukraine, the Czech Republic and other Slavic-speaking countries, Easter eggs are painstakingly painted with highly elaborate geometrical patterns in vivid, contrasting colors such as brilliant whites, reds and yellows against black dark maroon and deep blue. This decoration method is known as pisanka.
In Iran, colored eggs have been part of the Persian New Year celebration of Nowruz for over 3,000 years. Nowruz coincides with the spring equinox.
It nearly all of these cultures, the egg represents dormant life waiting to be born - a fitting metaphor for Spring, and for Christians, symbolic of the resurrection of the founder of their faith, Yeshua ben-Yosef, or Iesus Christos as he was named in Greek.
In the Roman Catholic Church, Easter also marks the end of a forty-six day period of fasting and privation known as Lent. During Lent, it was traditional to give up eating animal flesh and/or dairy products as well as eggs. Of course, one’s chickens didn’t stop laying during that time, so it was common to boil them in order to preserve them and avoid wasting food. Hard boiled eggs are an ingredient in many traditional Easter dishes, such as hornazo, a savory pork-and-egg pie eaten in Spain.
Today, eggs are often as not made from chocolate and are a welcome part of children’s Easter baskets. If you are in Scotland during the Easter season, you might even be able to get your chocolate Easter egg deep fried from a fish-and-chips establishment!
Other Easter egg traditions include numerous games, such as the Easter egg roll, a speed contest in which hard-boiled eggs are pushed along with a spoon; rolling eggs down steep slopes; and of course, the ever-popular Easter egg hunt. It’s possible nowadays to get “beeping” Easter eggs that allow children with visual impairments to join in the fun, as well.
Easter holds such beautiful memories from my childhood. Every year we would drive “over the river and through the woods” to my grandmother’s house. There was a feeling of excitement in the anticipation of the traditional Easter Egg Hunt. With eleven grandchildren that was a lot of Easter eggs! As much as grandmom was an expert in the kitchen, Grandpop von Hohen was a expert Easter egg hider! He got such a kick out of it! There was always “one more egg” which no one could find. It would usually turn up in a basket grandpop had tied to the ropes of the flagpole and hoisted to the top of the pole! We’d all laugh when the older cousins would finally discover its location and try to get it down.
This special holiday comes at a most wonderful time of year - spring time! Adding to the fun and festive atmosphere of the day was the beauty of my grandmother’s gardens. There were bulbs galore! All different varieties and colors of daffodils, tulips and narcissus. There was also a lovely backdrop of the forsythia hedge. Oh, and who could forget those fuzzy ***** willows! We’d be running around the yard in our Easter bonnets and it felt more like we were in the middle of a fairytale. The beauty around us seemed almost magical.
The beauty of the outside graced the inside of grandmom and grandpop’s cozy home with colorful floral arrangements scattered throughout the dining and living rooms. But what always graced the center of the Easter Sunday Dinner table? It was the traditional Easter Lamb Cake. This was a pound cake baked in a lamb shaped mold and covered with white frosting and coconut with jelly beans for the eyes, nose and mouth. The silver tray it rested on was beautifully decorated with paper doilies, green Easter grass and sprinkled with colorful hard boiled eggs and all types of Easter candy - jelly beans, chocolate butter creams and coconut nests are the ones I remember most.
I hope you are making beautiful memories for your children and grandchildren. If not, why not start now? They will be so impressed with YOUR Easter Lamb Cake as a centerpiece to your holiday table. Below is the recipe for the Easter Lamb Cake. Enjoy!
Best Pound Cake
Take 2/3 cup sweet butter and 1
April 28, 2010
Do you remember doing those fun Easter Bunny family crafts when you were a kid? Well now you are able to do Easter bunny family crafts with your kids and give the fun experience that you had. As you are doing your crafts you will be able to sing those famous Easter songs such as Peter Cottontail. Within this article we are going to give you some nice Easter bunny family crafts ideas.
First we are going to tell you how to make the Easter bunny himself. Seriously, what would an Easter be like without having the Easter bunny? We guarantee your kids are going to have a lot of fun making this Easter bunny. You will not need many materials. All you are going to need is some cardboard and chocolate pudding (the instant kind). You can take the clean piece of cardboard and make it into a bunny shape. Then you take a mall bowl of pudding and let the children “finger paint” the instant pudding onto the bunny in order to create their very own chocolate bunny picture. Yes, this can be sloppy so you may want to put some newspapers down.
With this next Easter bunny family crafts project you will need a bit more materials than you did in the last craft. With this craft you will need pink construction paper, white poster board, a pencil, scissors, tape or a stapler, glue, coloring accessories and Easter stickers (optional). Take the poster board and cut a strip that is about 2″ wide and 24″ long. Next you will want to take the poster board and cut out ears that are about 8
April 24, 2010
In my Family, Easter holidays are a big deal. In most families - unless the family is very religious - the Easter holiday is something that passes by without much notice. You might hunt some Easter eggs, have a chocolate Easter bunny, and eat chicken and eggs for lunch, but that is about it. My mom, however, has changed Easter bunnies into a religion.
Way back when we were kids, our parents actually used to dress up as Easter bunnies. We were smart kids - we recognized them in costume, but we loved that they were playing make believe with us. We also enjoyed the fact that they would give us delightful chocolate Easter bunnies when they were in costume! Nothing compares to a chocolate Easter bunny in the minds of children everywhere. They are not just cute, sparkly, and substantial, but they are totally made out of chocolate! We would also get Cadbury creme eggs, colorful Easter cards, and the chance to put up Easter decorations with our parents. The most enjoyable part of the day, however, was the Easter egg hunts.
Easter Bunnies - the set up
My parents would actually prepare the whole thing - the exciting Easter eggs hunt, the decorations, the meal - dressed-up as Easter bunnies. To some people, this might look a little bit odd, but to us kids, it was one of the most delightful things you can imagine. Seeing your mom and dad become big, fluffy, hug giving bunny rabbits is something that any kid could appreciate!
Easter Bunnies - memories that can never be forgotten
Each year, the Easter egg hunt was different. My parents had traditions, but they didn’t exactly have routines to follow. No two years were exactly the same because they could never remember how they did everything the year before. Some years, the Easter bunnies would have all of our friends and family over, and we would have an Easter egg hunt that could beat anything else in the world. Other years, on the other hand, was a pretty small affair. Sometimes, during rainy days, all of the Easter eggs would be hidden inside the house. Other years, we would finish the egg hunt early so that our “Easter bunnies” could bring us to the zoo where we could see real rabbits! The only thing that the different years had in common was that it was always all about Easter and it was always about having fun. Easter holidays are some of my warmest memories in my childhood, memories that will never be forgotten.
For those of you looking forward to Easter time, the one thing that makes Easter incredibly special are decorated Easter cookies. Just like Christmas cookies have become a staple of Christmas time, so have Easter cookies become a part of Easter tradition. There are many great ways to adorn the Easter season and decorated Easter cookies are just one of them. Here are some tips on putting smiles on the faces of your children or friends this Easter season.
Decorated Easter Cookies Come in Many Shapes and Sizes
Decorated Easter cookies can come in many shapes and sizes and if you can conceptualize it you can truly prepare it. For most people Easter is associated with bunnies, rabbits, chicks, lambs and Easter eggs. For the most part you can usually find most of these shapes and more in the form of cookie cutters.
Cookie cutters are usually easy to purchase at all discount shops, supermarkets, and craft shops. Or you can generally make them yourself- you just need some pliable metal and an idea. If you don’t have a cookie cutter, no big deal. In fact a lot of people that are artistically gifted choose to cut their own shapes out of cookie dough by hand, without using any cookie cutter.
Decorated Easter Cookies Start Out with Delectable Cookie Dough
The most essential thing about the embellished Easter cookies that you create is that must taste just as great as they look. No one likes a nasty tasting cookie. For many chefs, a great cookie begins with delicious cookie dough. Yes, you can purchase the dough already pre-made and ready to cut, but for the purists out there, start with a family recipe that is either chocolate chip or of the sugar cookie variety.
Decorate Your Cookie Using the Tools of the Trade
It’s easy to adorn your Easter cookies, just make sure you have all the accessories of the trade. They usually include, food coloring, colored icing, sprinkles, delicious candies such as licorice, M& M’s, nuts, marshmallows, etc. Once you have gotten the cookie shape, let yourself or your kids use their creative magic to make cutely decorated Easter cookies. You can find food coloring and many cool decorating accessories at your local grocery store. You can even purchase pre-made Easter embellishments to add to your cookies, cakes or Easter eggs.
Presentation is Key
Once your newly designed Easter cookies are finished, make sure to show them off to the rest of the family and even give them away to your coworkers and friends. Savor the Easter spirit by showcasing your delicious and beautiful decorated Easter cookies.
One creative idea is to take some photographs of your adorned Easter cookies and include them in your annual Easter scrapbook, so you can always look back at the delicious and beautifully adorned Easter cookies that you have made.
You can also print the cookie recipe on an attractive recipe card and include a photo of your Easter cookies to give to family and friends. Most everyone appreciates handmade gifts, especially when it’s a beloved family recipe.
If you are looking to magnify your gratification of Easter this year, take part in creating wonderfully decorated Easter cookies.
April 22, 2010
It’s like almost yesterday the Christmas happened and only in a minute we will be celebrating the Easter holiday! This Easter spirit is coming closer, closer in the weather. And because it is a spring time it won’t be so hard to decorate the house and make beautiful table setting.
The spirit and nice decorations are very important in celebrating Easter. They make our mood better, they live the house, make food more delightful. And one of the most important place in this celebration is of course dining room with its centered dining table. We spent most of our holiday Easter break on sitting at home and around the table - let’s make it look beautiful!
To do that you should be creative and use your imagination! As it was said, at the spring time it will be quite easy to make a beautiful table and home decorations. You just have to use some inspiration from nature and not forget to put an Easter touch in it.
Very helpful in doing that will be of course flowers. One or two pots may stand in the centre of the table. As good as pots with hyacinths or tulips might be vase with catkins and some handmade Easter eggs hanging on it. It’s good to decide on one type of plants to make the table look more elegant. But in the whole house we can put different flowers. For example different in children’s room and different in dining room to live up the house.
Flowers are also used to make other decorations. One of them are seasonal door wreaths that are welcoming visitors over the Easter holidays. The most beautiful one are hand-crafted with fresh foliage, herbs and moss, decorated with Easter nests, eggs and ribbons. You can do them on your own or buy them this time of the year in almost every shop with home accessories.
Setting the table on Easter holiday doesn’t differ so much from setting it for Christmas. The tablecloth and napkins should be of course clean and elegant. Both would probably look better if they had the same pattern - flowers, eggs or bunnies on it. Sometimes putting the tablecloth in one spring solid color (green, yellow) will also make a nice look. For example a green napkins with brown bunnies and a yellow tablecloth will make a great match!
In such occasions it is important not to put favourite, best plates and tablecloths we got. While having different kinds of dishes on the table and hosting many people there is slightly chance that some food might land on the table not on the plate, and some plates may end up on the floor. Thinking about that might make you nervous and the holiday atmosphere will be ruined for you.
Some of Easter decorations may also be putted on the chairs as embroidered napkins hanging at the back of the chair or colorful ribbons on it. You can use chairs to make a sweet surprise for your guests and family. Just put a big chocolate bunnies at all dining chairs and you will see how the grown ups are happy like a child. Why big bunnies? Because the small ones might not be visible to your friends and family, and someone might sit on them.
Don’t forget about the look of smaller tables at your home. Bedside table or coffee tables may also look nice if you change them the same way as dining table. Putting a white linen napkin and the vase with spring flours (tulips, pansies, daises etc.) will totally change the look of a living room and bedroom.. If you also put some pots with grass on the window-sills and hang some Easter eggs in few places when possible you will have the whole house done!
When everything is done there is nothing left to celebrate the Easter holidays with all the family and friends gathered around one table - in pleasant moods and beautiful surrounding.
Tasty eggs and happy Easter holidays!
April 20, 2010
Have an Easter party for kids to celebrate the upcoming spring holiday! Kids love parties, holidays and having lots of fun. Your Easter party can include an Easter egg hunt, party games with an Easter theme, and yummy Easter treats that kids can make themselves!
Let your children help plan and prepare for their Easter party. They can help plan what games to play and treats to make. As a fun craft project, have them make invitations to be given to their friends, family and neighbors. This is the time to decide how many children to invite.
If you are going to include an Easter egg hunt, cut your invitations into an egg shape. Let the kids decorate the front of the invitation in pretty colors like an Easter egg! Add colorful glitter with spray on glue to complete the pretty eggs. Each invitation will be unique. On the reverse side of the invitation, list the date, time, and location of your Easter party.
If you are fortunate to have mild clear weather, plan your Easter party for kids in the backyard. After a long cold winter, we are all looking forward to being outdoors! Decorate for your party with lots of pastel colored balloons. They look like very large Easter eggs! Hang all sizes of plastic Easter eggs from trees, large bushes and patio eaves. Pastel crepe paper rolls hanging in long streamers will blow with the breeze and look very festive.
Active fun games are a must for every children’s party. Kids have lots of wonderful energy and using this energy in relay and circle games ensures everyone having fun. Here are some familiar children’s games that can be adapted to include the Easter theme:
Three-legged Hop Race Egg Toss, using a plastic egg Duck, Duck, ***** Game Pin the Tail on the Bunny Egg Roll Relay
Don’t forget the traditional Easter Egg Hunt to be held after the other games are played. Give each child a pastel colored paper bag to collect eggs in. Use plastic eggs for your egg hunt so you can hide them earlier in the day before your party starts. There will be no worry of real eggs sitting out in the warm weather. Add special treats such as jellybeans, stickers, and small toys in the plastic eggs for a special surprise. These can be taken home as party favors.
Now it’s time for yummy Easter treats. Kids love to make their own treats to eat. Birds Nests are always easy to make and delicious to eat. Melt chocolate pieces and stir in chow mien noodles. Give each child a small mound of mixture on wax paper. Let them form a round nest shape with their hands, and place several tiny jellybeans in the nest to look like eggs. Let the candy nest cool.
Another idea is to let kids decorate their own Easter cookies. Before the party, make large egg-shaped sugar cookies. Purchase colored decorating frosting and pastel colored sprinkles. Give each child a paper plate to decorate their eggs on for easy clean up.
I hope you have lots of fun with your Easter party for kids. Don’t forget the camera to take lots of wonderful photos of this special day!
April 19, 2010
This Easter weekend in Guyana,my homeland,thousands of people,young and old will turn out to fly kites.It is a vivid kaleidescope of color and light,a warm,friendly family outing that give many children an important bonding experience with their parents.
I have been unable to find the origins of this national event in Guyana. None of the neighboring countries in South America and the Caribbean have similar mass kite flying. It has been suggested that Guyanese kite flying is their way of celebrating the risen Christ.In multi-cultural Guyana Kite flyers are not only Christian but Muslim and Hindu.Our nation of six peoples have among them people who originally came from China and India–two countries which have long kite flying traditions.
In Jamaica, where I lived for many years, Easter is associated with bun and cheese eating.The Easter Bun is loaf sized and spicy. Our minds have tremendous associative power.Easter brings images of kite flying,Palm Sunday processions,Hot Cross Buns, Good Friday Fish meals and Jamaican Easter Buns. This is a fusion of my years in Guyana and Jamaica.
Guyanese hot cross buns are small and round with a cross on them.I guess we inherited them from our British masters.As Easter Weekend kite flying is unique to Guyana so are Jamaican Easter Buns which, as far as I know ,are only available in Jamaica or in large Jamaican communities.
My mind goes back to the 80’s when I watched in fascination as our ‘helper’ Maureen made Easter Buns. It was a production that included stout,raisins,eggs,mixed spice,nutmeg and cinnamon.Jamaican Easter Buns are traditionally eaten with processed cheese available in large cans.
My childhood memories of kite flying Kite Flying in Guyana are of getting up at 5 a.m to be ready by six o’clock so that we could get a good space on the sea wall that protected the city of Georgetown from the Atlantic. My mind dredges up snap shots of a stark blue sky filled with many thousands of colorful dots swaying in the Atlantic breezes. Thre are other shots of long kite tails sky dancing,buzzing falling kites, the thrill of reeling out twine,hoisting kites,tangled twine and kite tails.
Many societies claim to be the first kite flyers -China,India and the South pacific islanders are among the most persistent claimers.The most famous kite flying story I know is about is Ben Franklin’s experiment to prove that lightning is electricity by flying a kite in a storm. Please don’t attempt to replicate this dangerous experiment!
This Easter Guyanese around the world will bond if you mention kite flying.For Jamaicans wherever they live Easter will not be Easter without bun and cheese.Simple images,everyday actions that bring people together making them feel special.
April 18, 2010
Like dumb sheep to the slaughter, most of mankind continues to blindly follow pagan traditions, rather than obey God’s clear commands (Mark 7:7). Has it ever occurred to those stuffing their faces with Easter ham that Jesus would puke at the thought? Neither Jesus or Peter, James or John ever ate forbidden foods. They wouldn’t feel too comfortable at plenty of people’s dinner tables.
Even the early Gentile converts to Jewish Christianity respected the biblical dietary laws (Acts 15:20), understanding that not all foods are sanctioned by the Creator in the Holy Scriptures (I Timothy 4:5).
When John the Baptist recognized Jesus as our Passover sacrifice, he declared: “Behold the Lamb of God” (John 1:29). He didn’t say, “Here comes the Easter Bunny!” Again, like the Easter ham, the Easter rabbit is also rejected in the Bible as an abomination (Leviticus 11:6-7).
The very name of Easter exposes itself as a heathen festival, although it’s cloaked as “Christian.” Easter/Ishtar/Astarte is the Babylonian spring goddess our British-Israelite forefathers foolishly worshipped. Hence the fertility symbols of rabbits and eggs.
God isn’t fooled by such baptized paganism, such whitewashed heathen customs (Deuteronomy 12:30). He commands us to commemorate Jesus’ death every Passover and recognize His atoning work of redemption as our resurrected High Priest in Heaven, unleavening our lives of sin (I Corinthians 5:7-8).
The early Church followed Jesus’ Jewish example for several hundred years until Gentile opposition (from false converts) threatened them with a death sentence if they didn’t bow before Easter observances (the Quarto-Deciman controversy)!
A growing number now know, understand and believe the biblical account that we’re to observe Passover and that Jesus was resurrected before sunrise Sunday, “when it was yet dark” (John 10:1). Others prefer to reject this light of understanding to remain in their traditional darkness and die in their sins (John 3:19)– it’s that serious! Because if our nations don’t repent of such idolatry and immorality we’ll soon suffer national destruction, defeat and deportation! That’s why this article of faith is part of our plea to diehard Catholics and Protestants to repent.
Thankfully, every generation has those chosen few who are willing to reject holidays for holy days and “earnestly contend for the faith once delivered” (Jude 3). Hopefully, this plain truth about Easter will cause you to question your beliefs and provide some “kosher” food for thought!
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