"Here comes Peter Cottontail.....Hopping down the bunny trail....Hippity Hoppity Easter's on its way!"
"Little Peter Rabbit had a flea upon his ear.....Little Peter Rabbit had a flea upon his ear.....Little Peter Rabbit had a flea upon his ear and he flipped it and he flopped it and it flew away!"
Two of my favorite Easter songs. When I think about Easter I remember the Easter baskets we would get as kids.....the bigger the better. There was always a chocolate bunny in the basket (I especially loved the solid ones.....not the hollow ones). Usually toys were in the basket too....with the green grass and jelly beans.....how I loved those! It was like having Christmas in the Spring!
Dyeing eggs.....also a lot of fun......in school they would have us prick a hole in the raw egg and blow the contents out of the shell....ugh I didn't like that part. Then we would decorate them and hang them on a tree....or rather on a piece of dried wood tree. I'd rather dye hard boiled eggs and then decorate them. If you used a candle or a wax pencil that was included with the kit of dye....you could make designs on the eggs. Funny thing though....I would never eat the eggs after they were dyed...Yuk!
When my daughters were growing up.....one year I hid the eggs in the apartment we lived in.....HUGE mistake. About a month later.....there was such a bad odor in the house. From then on it was strictly plastic eggs that were hidden....and we ceased to dye eggs.
I remember one year when we lived in Kansas City, MO., I did something like a scavenger hunt......poetic rhyme clues were inside each plastic egg which then led to the prize at the end....usually cash! Then....I would say whether they were close to finding the eggs by indicating whether they were hotter or colder. One of my more creative hunts.
The other favorite I had on Easter were Hot Cross Buns! I don't know why.....but for some reason I liked those....although you don't or hardly seem to find those nowadays.
Easter was always the end of a period that started off as Ash Wednesday and then no meat on Fridays. At church on Easter Sunday.....every one was dressed to the "nines." My mom always bought me a brand new dress and white shoes! Such happy times!
However....Easter has a more beautiful meaning....it celebrates the resurrection of Christ in the Catholic religion that I grew up in. However.....over the years I have experienced other religions as well.....I tried Southern Baptist when we lived in Missouri. I tried Nichiren Shoshu (Tina Turner's a well known follower of this religion). I attended Lutheran services...and the most recent religious ceremony I attended was a Buddhist service that was done in what was once a Catholic church. The stained glass windows from the Catholics remained on the windows by choice. The Buddhists felt such peace when the Catholic nuns allowed them to acquire their church......Now....that's my kind of religious belief.
This experience came at such a time when after studying Art History, Philosophy and Comparative Religion in college I read quite a lot about Buddha and Bodhisattvas. It saddened me to hear about how the Buddhas of Bamiyan created in the 6th century AD were destroyed by the Taliban in March 2001. These were gigantic about 180 feet high! Although there are people that have committed to re-creating these again....I was saddened for the loss of such a treasure in the name of religion....because one religion frowned on idol worship the statues were dynamited.
In the spirit of Easter today....let us believe in love for ALL mankind. Religion should not be about separatism....we are all one......we are all connected. Let us heal our world!
Michael Jackson sang a beautiful song called "Heal the World" and co-authored "We are the World." Both are so beautiful....see for yourself on YouTube!
http://youtu.be/zqMSnigL0aA 1993 in Pasadena, CA
http://youtu.be/ydP-2hu8dS0 We are the World - Video for Africa Benefit
http://youtu.be/v2y1pE3yn6M Lyrics for "Heal the World"
Have a very joyous Easter!
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