Celebrating Easter

The most important Christian celebration will be celebrated this weekend. (In the U.S. Thanksgiving and Christmas remain among the most popular holidays.)

Easter Sunday, the day which marks the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is the most widely celebrated Christian holiday worldwide per most online sources. 

Its date is much later this year because, unlike Christmas always celebrated on December 25, Easter is one of the religious holidays without a fixed calendar date and called a “movable feast.” Simply stated that means it doesn't fall on the same calendar date year to year. Thanksgiving, while not a religious event, is the same type of holiday

Why? In the Gregorian calendar, Easter is always observed on a Sunday between March 22 and April 25. In the Northern Hemisphere, it's celebrated on the Sunday after the first ecclesiastical full moon following the spring equinox. The Catholic Church uses March 21 to mark the spring equinox to calculate this date, but the equinox can fall between March 19-21.

The Bible doesn't make mention of a bunny decorated eggs, or chocolate candy, yet all of these have become prominently associated with Christianity’s most important holiday.

There are various stories, including that the Easter bunny came to in America in the 1700s when German immigrants, who settled in Pennsylvania, transported the tradition of an egg-laying hare, “Osterhase” or “Oschter Haws.” According to the story, good children received gifts of colored eggs in the nests that they made in their caps and bonnets before Easter.

The custom spread across the U.S. and the storied rabbit’s Easter morning deliveries expanded to include chocolate and other types of candy and toys and decorated baskets replaced nests. Additionally, children often left out carrots for the bunny in case he got hungry.

There are other stories in which the association of a bunny with Easter originates from pagan and Christian traditions, with rabbits symbolizing fertility and renewal, and eggs representing new life and the resurrection of Jesus.  

The Easter egg is believed to have its roots in pagan practices celebrating spring and rebirth.The egg, an ancient symbol of new life, has been associated with pagan festivals celebrating spring. Christian tradition later adopted the practice, associating eggs with the resurrection of Christ.

Egg decorating is a tradition that dates back to at least the 13th century. One explanation for this custom is that in some regions eating eggs was not allowed by church leaders during the weeks leading up to Easter. Eggs laid that week were saved and later decorated to mark the end of penance and fasting. These were then eaten in celebration on Easter and also given to children as gifts. 

We looked as colorful as the eggs did afterwards

For years, we decorated hardboiled eggs with the grandchildren, who are older now with other interests. But, that family tradition hasn't gone away. Today, we continued it and colored a dozen eggs, none of which will be gifts, some will result in egg salad if not eaten Easter a.m.

Easter is the second best-selling candy holiday in America after Halloween. Chocolate bunnies and eggs remain the most popular choices. The most popular non-chocolate Easter candies are jelly beans and the sugary, pastel marshmallow confection, Peeps. In the past few years, Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs have risen in popularity even beating Peeps sales in some cities.

My childhood favorite was chocolate marshmallow eggs, which even came in their own carton; Patrick favored peanut butter ones. We both agree on our enjoyment of seasonal Cadbury Creme Eggs.

Do you have any favorites — then or now?

Easter Sunday won't be celebrated this late in April again until 5 years from now, but it will be celebrated in late March within 2 years. Here's when Easter Sunday will be celebrated for the next five years 2026 (April 5), 2027 (March 28), 2028 (April 16), 2029 (April 1), 2030 (April 21). 

Enjoy Your Holiday Celebration

We're dining at home and have invited two residents to join us.

Easter, a Moveable Holiday

Easter display outside our apt entry

Easter Sunday commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ three days after being crucified by the Romans about 30 A.D. But, unlike holidays set on a specific date, this important Christian holiday is a movable feast which doesn't fall on the same predictable date every year. 

This also applies to its related religious days of Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Good Friday. None are fixed calendar dates, but are assigned according to a lunisolar calendar, which aligns the moon’s phases as well as the sun’s position in the sky. (Passover and other Jewish holidays also adhere to the lunisolar calendar.)

One thing is certain — Easter is always celebrated on the same day of the week, Sunday, and known as Easter Sunday or just Easter. 

Why does the date change; how is it determined? 

It hops around like the bunny associated with the holiday. In the Gregorian calendar, it's always observed on a Sunday between March 22 and April 25; but it can be observed between April 4 and May 8 in the Eastern Orthodox Church, many of which follow the Julian calendar.

It falls on the first Sunday after the full moon, also called the Paschal Full Moon, the first full moon of spring. It occurs on or shortly after the spring following the March or spring equinox. March 22 is the earliest Easter can occur in any year, April 25 is the latest. If the first spring full Moon falls on a Sunday, Easter will be observed the following Sunday.

The actual date of the spring equinox can differ by a day or two, but the spring equinox date used by the Catholic Church is always March 21. The astronomical date of the equinox can shift a day or two. In 2024, the astronomical date of the equinox was Tuesday, March 19. 

For those, who want to plan ahead, in 2025 Easter Sunday will fall on April 20.

Why are bunnies and eggs associated with Easter?

Our bunnies & eggs

What does a bunny have to do with a religious celebration? Quite frankly, nothing. The Bible doesn't mention a long-eared mammal bringing sweet treats to children. 

Some trace the bunny's arrival to the 1700s when German immigrants ,who settled in PA, transported the tradition of an egg-laying hare. Children made nests and the hare would lay colored eggs for Easter. As the custom spread, it expanded to include chocolate, other treats and gifts and decorated baskets replaced nests. 

Easter is the second best selling candy holiday in the U.S. beat out only by Halloween. It's believed that the end of Lent has helped popularize sales of Easter candy. That's because many Christians swear off sweets during this time. Easter marks the first day in over a month that they can indulge and they often do. 

Chocolate bunnies are the most commonly molded Easter chocolate. First handcrafted in the 1830s and 1840s, they became commonplace in the 1880s. We didn't buy chocolate bunnies this year. The brown bunny in the photo is from Dollar Tree; the white bunnies are washcloth creations given by a crafting friend.

Easter Egg Coloring: The custom of coloring eggs dates to ancient Middle East times when onion skins were used to color eggs. They were also decorated because of their importance. Many years ago during Lent, the time of fasting between Ash Wednesday and Easter, meat and also dairy products were given up and not eaten. It's believed that being able to eat eggs again was significant, they would be decorated to mark the end of fasting and then eaten in celebration.

We colored eggs as we do every Easter

Years ago during Lent, a time of fasting between Ash Wednesday and Easter, meat and dairy products were not eaten. It's believed that being able to eat eggs again was so important that they would be decorated to mark the end of fasting and then eaten in celebration. We always color eggs on the holiday, a long-standing tradition in our home and with the grands in their younger days. Unlike ourselves, the older ones have outgrown the tradition. 

1948's top musical film

Easter Parade: This tradition dates from the mid-1800s in NYC when society notables would attend Easter Sunday services at 5th Avenue churches, then stroll down the street after to show off their spring frocks and hats. Soon, onlookers started lining up along 5th Avenue to see the strollers. 

The tradition reached a peak in the mid 20th century and, in the 1948 film, Easter Parade, Fred Astaire and Judy Garland strolled along the avenue to the music of Irving Berlin. This film was the highest-grossing musical film of that year. We re-watch it every Easter. Our favorite scene is in the restaurant one with actor Jules Munshin air mixing a salad. It's a real classic.

Today, the parade tradition continues in NYC as 49th to 57th Streets are shut down to vehicular traffic on Easter. Other U.S. cities also host a parade including: Asheville (NC), Atlantic City (NJ), San Francisco (CA) .

A colorful egg collection, some bunnies and us

We're celebrating Easter at home in NH, as we did for Christmas, in keeping with a year of being home on major holidays. Previous years, we've travelled to visit family and friends on holidays. This year has been a relaxing change. We'll visit everyone later this year at non-holiday times.

Your Turn — Do you have any special 🐰 plans today?

Wishing all who celebrate a Happy 🐇 Easter

from Our Home to Yours

NJ Easter Road Trip

We were on the road once again last week, which will come as no surprise to regular readers of this blog as we are often many times on getaways, short or long. This was a family visit trip.

Siblings, Dorothy & Tony

Last week's road trip was to our home state of NJ for a two-fold celebration. My brother, Tony, had marked a birthday earlier in the week. We celebrated with him at a birthday lunch on an unseasonably warm day as you can see from our jacket-less attire. Although we ate dined indoors, the outdoor temperatures were in the 80s last Thursday in NJ.

Back to the NJ road trip and more family photos.

Great nieces, Autumn and Savannah

The only youngster at this year's Easter get together was our great niece Autumn Rose. There was a traditional egg hunt in the front yard, arranged by her grandmother (my brother's wife). Her cousin, Savannah, celebrated in FL with her mom, my brother's younger daughter. These 3-1/2 year olds were born 2 weeks apart and will reunite this coming summer when Jamie and family visit NJ.

Tony & Patrick, Autumn & parents (Julie & Michael), and Us

No holiday get together would be complete without a bit of fun which my brother's wife (Anita) always provides at the dinner table. My brother donned bunny ears, Grenville wore the new shirt he bought in NJ during our getaway. Autumn and parents and ourselves with bunny glasses.

If you're from New Jersey, pork roll, also called Taylor ham, is a breakfast staple. This processed pork product consists of spices, salt, sugar cure, and preservatives and is smoked before packaging. According to the manufacturer, Taylor Provisions of Trenton, NJ,  the official product name is John Taylor's Taylor Pork Roll, which at first only came in a tube-like casing. It still does, but now also comes sliced in boxes. A few years ago, my brother sent us several of these as a holiday gift which Grenville said was the best choice!

Other companies produce similar products, but Taylor Provisions is the originator. According to Grenville, and others, those others are impostors. While found in most NJ supermarkets, into Pennsylvania and parts of Maryland, it's not easily found here in Nashua, NH, aside from one local deli.

We hope that your—Easter or Passover—was celebrated with family, friends or both. In NJ, holiday dinner ended with this sweet dessert 🐰.

Yes, it was very delicious 😋. There's no such thing as calorie-counting on a holiday which is a very good thing as we are back again on the South Beach diet plan. It's been called a life style, which is more in keeping with my future eating plans. We started before the holiday (of course, not the best time, but then is there ever one?) We returned home without any gains, maintaining our pre-trip weights. 

Blog reading and commenting, which was on hold during our travels, will resume this week in between laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning. Going away is always fun, but catching up at home takes a while—until the next getaway in May for our 1st date anniversary.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter wishes to everyone from our home to yours.

Passover is celebrated from April 5 to 13 this year. Chag Pesach samech to everyone who is observing this special time.

We're traveling to our native NJ for a few days where we'll celebrate my brother's birthday and the Easter holiday with family and visit with friends.

This ↑ surprise from our moving-out neighbors had several more bunnies and contained a couple of peanut butter egg treats 😋. 

Wherever and however you're spending the Easter and Passover holidays, we hope it's a celebration with family and friends. As we're on the road, I won't be commenting on posts for a few days. Comments are off.

Holidays Past & Future

This year's Easter lily overlooks the Nashua River

RI Grands, Bobby & Ellie, and mom Shannon

We (Grenville and myself) hope that all of you enjoyed any religious observance you may have recently celebrated or continue to observe this month. My previous post made mention of the three major ones this month, a rare occurrence.

The Easter holiday and observances surrounding it are over. We broke with tradition and didn't color eggs with the RI grands this year. Their mom is working on an MBA degree and has a research project deadline. We connected via phone and this photo they sent to us.

Passover will end this coming weekend on Saturday, April 23. The Muslim holy month of Ramadan will end a week later on May 1. It may be many years until these major religious holidays coincide again as the last time was in 1991.

Since my mind always wanders and, for no reason, I thought about theremaining major 2022 holidays. There's no holiday shortage in the U.S. for the next 8 months. While this post most likely misses a few, especially state and regional ones, there's enough widely celebrated ones. Some months will have multiple celebratory days, like next month when there's two coming up. Mother's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of the month, May 8. While it's celebrated on different days worldwide, the most common months are March and May and the holiday is a boon for florists as well. The month ends with the observance of Memorial Day on May 30. The date of this federal holiday changes annually, but it's always observed on the last Monday of May to honor men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. 

In June, dads get their day on the 19th, the third Sunday of the month. Two days later, June 21, marks the official, astronomical beginning of summer. Many meteorologists consider the summer months to be June, July, and August and many would agree as well.

July 4 is considered the birth of American independence and it's the major summer holiday with festivities including fireworks, parades, concerts and barbecues. Since it's falls on a Monday in 2022, that means a 3-day holiday weekend for many. (The Congress had voted on independence on July 2, 1776, but it was not declared until July 4.) 

Labor Day is the holiday associated with the end of summer and it's on Monday, September 5. This federal holiday, celebrated on the first Monday in September, pays tribute to the contributions and achievements of American workers. Created by the labor movement in the late 19th century, it became a federal holiday in 1894.

Halloween, while not an official holiday, is observed on the last day of October and is known by various names, such as Halloween or Hallowe'en, less commonly as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve. The date is observed in many countries on October 31, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows' Day.

Veterans Day (not Veteran's Day or Veterans' Day) is on Friday,  November 11 and notes the end of WW I at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918 when the Armistice with Germany went into effect. The holiday honors and celebrates the service of U.S. military veterans.

Again it's a double celebration month as Thanksgiving is celebrated on November 24, the last Thursday of the month. It's followed barely a month later by Christmas on Sunday, Dec 25. The weekend occurrence means the public holiday is Dec 26, the Boxing Day holiday in Great Britain and several Commonwealth countries: Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. Years ago, servants or trades people had to wait on their masters on Christmas and could visit their families after the holiday. Employers would give them boxes with gifts or leftover food. Similar to what happens here, it's become one of busiest days to return holiday gifts to stores.

New Year’s Eve on Saturday, December 31 is the final day of 2022 when many reflect over the past year and/or look forward to the next one. 

So, mark your calendars for these remaining 2022 holidays and celebrations. It seems to me that this year is moving along faster every day. At times, it seems like January 1 was not so long ago and maybe it seems the same to you as well.

Our great niece, Autumn, not only went on an egg hunt in NJ, but also met the Easter Bunny who made a stop at the home of her grandparents (my brother and his wife).

Early today, and very surprisingly, these after Easter treats were left outside our apt door. We don't know who left them, but they were appreciated by the chocoholics who live here. The surprise treats were acknowledged with a thank you note left in their place. 

These will be enjoyed too—ears 🐰 first, of course. 

Did you get any treats?

We bought peanut butter eggs this year.

April Celebrations

Today is Easter Sunday, a Christian holiday and this year by unusual coincidence, a major holiday of Judaism and Islam will be observed on or around the same time. The last time this happened was over 30 years ago (1991).

Our best wishes to those celebrating: Happy Easter, Happy Passover or Blessed Ramadan

The Holy Week began with Palm Sunday on April 10 through to Maundy Thursday on April 14 and Good Friday on April 15. The same day the Jewish observance of Passover (Pesach) started at sundown and will end a week later at sundown, April 23. Passover commemorates the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and the end of their slavery.

While Passover and Easter usually occur close together in early spring, they're not always celebrated the same date. This year, both major religious celebrations occur during Islam's Holy Month of Ramadan. 

Muslims celebrate the month of Ramadan (Eid al-Fitr) which begin the evening of April 1 and will end the evening of May 1. Ramadan is one of the five main pillars of the Islam faith which commemorates the first revelation of Islam's founder and main prophet, Muhammad. 

This year's overlap of all three religious holidays is unusual since each faith follows a different calendar. The Christian calendar is set by the course of the sun and widely used in the Western world. The Islamic calendar is aligned with the moon and the lunar year. Twelve months in a solar year is 365 days, but only 354 days in the lunar year.

Grenville and I will celebrate at home in NH without family visits or egg coloring this year. Instead, phone calls will be made to wish family & friends a happy celebration. We'll attend a service, watch the 1948 film Easter Parade, and enjoy a home-cooked meal just we two. 

Comments are off. We hope your day will be a good one, no matter how/where it's spent.

Giggles Galore

That's the best way to describe how things went this past Easter weekend for a first (and long-awaited) family get together with the grandchildren and their mom. We'd been vaccinated over 2 weeks prior to our weekend reunion.

As expected and long-anticipated by us, there was the usual holiday event of egg coloring. While it had been a couple of years since we had last done this activity with both grands, they willingly obliged and joined in again. By way of a video visit, youngest granddaughter joined in as she and her mom colored eggs in PA.

Both grandkids have really grown since we last saw them in 2019, which seems such a long time ago, 16 months to be exact. Both have been distance learning at home for nearly a year and expect to return to classroom learning by this fall — he in 9th grade and she in 5th.

Because the outside weather, while sunny, was unseasonable chilly (this is New England), there were several hours spent playing indoor board games, including the above chess game between grandson and grandpa, which grandson won.

A photo request resulted in a series of very happy faces and showed how glad everyone was to see one another again.

Although we were not able to visit with other family members, these photos were sent. The top photos show youngest granddaughter. Not one, but two Easter bunnies visited my brother's NJ home to the delight of his granddaughter our great niece. Wearing her holiday finery, she posed with her grandparents. My brother also celebrated an Easter birthday.

We hope that your holidays had happy family moments. Hopefully, this was the just the first of more travels this year as it becomes easier and, of course, safer.

Happy Spring Holidays to All

 Happy Easter or Happy Pesach to all who celebrate either holiday.

Our Best Wishes to ALL for a Happy 2021 Springtime

Happy Birthday today to my "baby" brother, Anthony, on his 69th 🎂

It's been over a year and half since we've visited our home state of NJ, where my brother lives. We hope to go there this spring for a face-to-face belated reunion. Enjoy your celebrations. (comments off today).

Beatrice & Grenville

We Are Eggs-ilarated

Because today we're on our way for a weekend visit with the grands and their mom for the first family visit in a while. We're fully vaccinated and so ready for a face-to-face visit — an event long overdue for many.

Naturally, there will be sweet treats like chocolate rabbits, jellybeans, and marshmallow chicks. But, a long-time favorite holiday activity this Saturday afternoon will be coloring eggs.

Egg coloring is a long-standing holiday tradition in this family, maybe it's the same in yours as well. Grandson, now 14, was a toddler when he started with mom and grandpa.

Grandpa is a big fan of egg coloring, but more so he enjoys the results afterwards. He was very keen to show how to peel an egg and then cover it with mayonnaise.

When she was about the same age the tradition continued with his sister. Again, grandpa was there to help out. As you can see, she enjoyed some holiday chocolate.

In years past, we all donned bunny ears because grandchildren can't have all the fun.

However, wherever, and with whomever everyone is be spending this holiday weekend, we hope it's joyful in as many ways as possible. We all need more happiness; this will be ours.

Easter/Passover Wishes

There's no doubt that this will be a very different Passover and Easter holiday for so many people worldwide.

Individuals and families will self-celebrate observe religious traditions in their own homes. 

They won't be able to attend houses of worship. Nearly all synagogues and churches are remain closed. However, many are streaming services online.

And like many other fellow bloggers, we will observe Easter in the privacy of our apt away from family. As much as they'll be missed, we take comfort in knowing that they are safe as we are too.

Sure, we'll miss the traditions of egg hunts and egg coloring shared with grandchildren in years past. Instead, we'll rely on memories of these fun times.

Since we won't be seeing the grandkids to distribute Easter treats, we sent them some, not in the traditional basket, but in a box. Thankfully, the USPS remains operational and postal employees continue doing a wonderful job under stressful conditions. We appreciate them.

We remember when our Easter holiday was celebrated with new clothes and treats. Here's a trip down memory lane with vintage holiday pics from our family albums. Dorothy/Beatrice is shown with her mom and younger brother, Anthony on the left and in the center. That's Patrick/Grenville with his parents and a very large bunny on the right.

While we didn't color eggs with the grandkids this weekend, we had fun doing it at home and shared a video chat with them. 

We hope that you and those you love are safe and happy, and that you get some special treats too. Through a video chat session today, we were able to see and talk to family members in several states to share Easter greetings. Did you do the same?

Chag Sameach and Happy Easter to Everyone

Egging Easter On

Yes, the post title is totally punny. But, it's no surprise that holidays are coming faster and faster, thanks to retailers.

Easter is still many weeks away according to the calendar, yet in-town retail pharmacies and dollar stores have shelves lined with candies, and a lot of stuffed toys.

These were a couple of my favorites on display. Of course, I tried the Palm Pet®, which really did chirp. Peeps® are always a perennial favorite of mine, but only in yellow.

Enjoy Your Weekend, Everyone.