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On April 18, 1908, someone sent an Easter greeting to his/her grandmother via a postcard which was cancelled in Fitchburg, Massachusetts and addressed to a street in Clinton, Massachusetts. It took just a one cent postage stamp to wish her a Happy Easter.

Easter postcard featuring the Easter bunny in a cart pulled by two lambs

It would an interesting study to learn when bunnies first entered the Easter holiday theme, or how they came to deliver Easter baskets full of chocolate bunnies, jelly beans, and now “peeps.” My mom, playing the role of the Easter bunny, would always gather up many goodies and place them in a big woven basket covered with colored, transparent wrap. She seemed to love to engage in this activity and the basket was so large, it was difficult to think of new places to hide it. Where did this tradition originate?

When the German settlers settled in Pennsylvania, becoming known as the “Pennsylvania Dutch,” they brought many rich traditions with them from Europe. During the late nineteenth century, they were the first to make chocolate Easter bunnies. The oral tradition that depicts the Easter bunny as bringing eggs arose in the Alsace region. It may be based on the work of Georg Franck von Frankerau titled De ovis pachalibus in the 16th century. The “Oster Hawse” (a term that has various spellings) actually means “Easter Hare.” Rabbits are prolific breeders and can be interpreted as a symbol of fecundity. The same goes for hens. In the spring, when we celebrate the renewal of growing things and life itself, both animals are symbolic of life’s continuance.

Easter hats are another matter. Their importance, again, is steeped in tradition. Now, (at least when I was growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, hats were an important commodity to wear to church). If you are familiar with the musical “Easter Parade” (1948), it would be easy to see the importance of Easter hats. To catch a glimpse of the show and to hear the song, “Easter Parade,” just key in the words: “YouTube Easter Parade,” in your search engine. Long before women strove to keep the milliner’s in business by buying extravagant head gear, children prepared their own hats, lining them with straw, in anticipation of the “eggs” they would receive, which at one time, were a forbidden Lenten food.

I love to know the history of traditions we take for granted and thought you might, too. It was fun finding an Easter card written in German as it ties right in with this post.

Wishing you a very a happy and blessed Easter weekend! It is snowing in New Hampshire!

Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications

This Easter, Christians across the world will celebrate the Risen Christ and the hope of Redemption and the Life Hereafter.

This card was distributed at my grandmother’s funeral. She was a staunch Irish Catholic who died at age 71, a year before I was born. A prayer is on the back of the card.

As a child, when I would wake up on Easter morning, I knew that my mother would have prepared a large Easter basket with all kinds of chocolate candy and jelly beans. She wrapped the whole basket in colored cellophane.

One year, when I was about seven years old, my brother Jack, who was working at a local supermarket and had some spending money of his own, bought me a black duck that you see me holding in the photo, below.

The flounce skirt, knee highs, and patent leather shoes were the height of fashion in 1958. I can’t tell what I am wearing on my head, but it seems to be an improvement over the usual “new Easter bonnet.”

If I remember correctly, the song, “Here Comes Peter Cottontail, Hopping Down the Bunny Trail,” was a hit tune, at the time.

Flowers were an important part of celebrating Easter. The church was always full of white lilies. Here is a photo of Lilies taken by Charlotte Croft.

I came across a little poem that had been saved in the family album, by my mother. It is short, but poignant, and says a lot about being in contact with those we love, while they are still here.

“Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant us peace.”

This holiday, I shall remember times past, and think of all of my good friends, whom I treasure.

Happy Easter!

Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications