Traditional

 Today I will be engaging in an age old tradition, the dying of eggs. People have been dying and decorating eggs since ancient times. I've read where it began with "pagans" and Christians simply carried that tradition forward making it their own. It's been said Christians did that with the Christmas tree as well. Old habits and old traditions never die! But I'll be dying my eggs because that's what I have done since I was a small child. A rabbit used to dye and bring those eggs, along with candy when I was very young. At least that is what I was told. Peter Rabbit. "Here comes Peter cotton trail hoping, down the bunny trail, hippity-hoppity Easters' on its' way." Did you realize that song was first recorded in 1950. Gene Autry, the singing cowboy, did that song in a movie in 1951. I looked that up and was surprised having thought the song was much older than that. Peter Rabbit is but not the song. Peter Rabbit was born in 1902 and is celebrating his 122nd birthday. 

 Easter is associated with dying eggs or is it vice-versa? I've read where the egg symbolizes new life and that is one reason for it at Easter. But that is all a part of folklore. It is very hard to say with any certainty the origins of such beliefs. I'm certain some traditions, along with some habits, are simply modified to meet the occasion. We humans do like our symbols, don't we? We have been waving flags and displaying symbols of our beliefs since the earliest times. A tradition that is carried on today on a massive scale. The rainbow has been transformed to fit a narrative. The WW2 victory sign changed into a peace sign. I hear about the various gangs and their colors. I just associate dying eggs with Easter because it is what I have done all my life. I have never attempted to place any real significance on that activity. It's simply fun to do and now it reminds me of my youth. 

 I do remember my parents hiding some eggs around our house when I was very young. My siblings and I searching for them. I don't recall ever going to an egg hunt like they may have today. What I mean is big, organized events with entertainment, food vendors and the like. One local church here is having what they call an "eggstravaganza" on Easter Sunday. This church celebrated Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday a week early to hold this event on Easter day. The hope being it will attract those that don't go to church on Sundays, an opportunity to gather some more into the flock. 

 I remember breaking the ends out of those hard-boiled eggs and attempting to "blow" the egg out of the shell. We would hold them in a certain way and bump them together too. If your egg didn't crack but your opponents did, you got their egg! On at least one occasion my father had dyed an egg that wasn't hard boiled. Yes, that was quite a surprise. Happy Easter! Another year we didn't find all the eggs that had been hidden. It was discovered a long time afterwards. It didn't smell bad or anything, I guess because the shell hadn't been broken, but no one was brave enough to crack it open to find out either. 

 Other traditions associated with Easter are dying out, I think. The biggest being getting those Easter outfits. I did get a new suit every year at Easter. Some years it was just the jacket, but we always had a new outfit to wear to church for Easter. My sister would have the gloves and the bonnet so closely associated with all of that. The pictures would be taken outside the church following the services. All the parents and grandparents with their Brownies. You remember them, those little box like cameras. You looked down into the camera to see the image through the lens. Memories made. Yes, it was a day to celebrate! He has risen, he has risen indeed! And he had new clothes too. 

 I can honestly say I never associated Peter Rabbit with any religious beliefs. They were and remain totally separate things. Two celebrations, one day. The one was serious and the other just for fun. Yes, the risen Christ is serious business. Peter Rabbit is just a fairy tale, an amusement to celebrate spring. So today I'll dye some eggs, relive some old memories and tomorrow enjoy eating them, with lots of salt. I don't have a basket full of candy though, I just have the candy. I confess I already ate my chocolate rabbit. I just love that cheap chocolate that they are made of. It's probably not even chocolate but I have one every year, it's a tradition, or a yearly habit depending upon your view. 

 I have my fathers' baby spoon. He was born in 1924 when Peter Rabbit turned twenty. It was long before the song. On the handle of that spoon is Peter Rabbit himself! Oh, it is the original depiction of Peter, and I must say a bit scary looking. The spoon is silver, of course, and the handle bent in a curved shape as baby spoons are. My dad would show that spoon to us kids every Easter, it being Peter Rabbit. Now it sits in his baby cup on a shelf in my living room. Dad would be one hundred this September and Peter one hundred and twenty-two. It's a good tradition. 

                                                                                 

                     

                                                      There's Peter!