Easter Eggs vs Chocolates

[oremus1]

BTW--Unlike Christmas, where giving and receiving presents might be expected, for Easter, giving Easter eggs--whether hard-boiled or candy, or other Easter treats--is optional, except that parents (and perhaps grandparents or other close relatives) are expected to give Easter eggs to their children. (Again, if someone disagrees, please speak up). That is not to say that giving some type of Easter egg or treat to an adult would not be appreciated or appropriate, only that in most cases it is not required or even expected.

​I like to give them to Priests, Bishops and Religious Orders. Priests like to be remembered at special times, mainly for thoughtfulness. Religious Orders usually have a big celebration for Easter so it is good to add to their choco supplies. Bishops, only if I know them fairly well personally, and mainly because It is very funny to think that a bishop will eat an easter egg

[little2add]

My kids got a solid Chocolate bunny, jelly beans, toothpaste and a new toothbrush in a wicker basket with plastic grass, early Sunday morning, every Easter from the day they started crawling until they left home for collage

[dUSt]

Is that a blank post?

[dUSt]

Testing something. Ignore me.

[dUSt]

Test.

[dUSt]

Test...

[dUSt]

Test...

[little2add]

Is that a blank post?

​It wasn't supposed to be, I cut and pasted  The first time and it showed blank, so I pasted it again under edit and it worked

[Credo in Deum]

Test

[Nunsense]

I think perhaps that Easter traditions are a bit like Christmas ones - depending a bit on the family involved. My family was bi-national so we had traditions from my father's upbringing as well as my mother's. For example, at Christmas, in addition to the usual US customs, my mother would put a pillow case on the end of our beds on Christmas Eve. This magically got filled with presents from Santa overnight (until we got old enough to stay awake and see the magic in action), whereas the ones under the tree were from our parents - separation of myth and reality!   We also had stockings which had cheap little toys or stocking fillers put in them but at the toe of every stocking we always found an orange. That one might be a Scottish tradition as my mother got it from her childhood.

At Easter in the US we had baskets with the shiny cellophane grass and lots of different kinds of candy. But when we came to Australia this changed to baskets with chocolate eggs in them or chocolate bunnies or the marshmallow chicks etc. 

As for giving chocolate eggs to others, well here it is very acceptable to swap eggs. If one works in an office, the co-workers often leave a small chocolate egg on each other's desks - no note or word of who it came from, just the egg. By the end of the day, everyone had a few eggs to take home (or eat at work during tea breaks.) It is perfectly natural for adults to give each other chocolate eggs here.

I don't know of many families here at all (maybe none in my acquaintance) who actually color hard boiled eggs. But we still do it for the kids. Usually we have a competition for the best egg (we draw pictures with crayons before dying them) and if someone does an exceptional egg, they might want to keep it. I had one for years of the Sydney Opera House but it got cracked finally so I had to throw it away. My nephew had a similar experience of one he painted with a Star Wars motif. Of course, the solution to the problem of boiled eggs going rotten or cracking is to 'blow' the eggs instead of boiling them, but that was never a family tradition of ours. I did it once with a Benedictine convent, and it was fun, but I still prefer my family's way.

The day after the coloring (which was usually done on Saturday night), the adults would hide the eggs around the yard and the kids would have an Easter egg hunt (the little ones got help). Then we would do the 'cracking the eggs' tradition which is where one person holds a boiled egg and the other taps their egg on the top of it, and the one that cracks is the loser and has to peel their egg and put it into a bowl (to be turned into egg salad or included in the potato salad or deviled eggs etc). Then they get another egg and try with someone else. Once all the eggs are peeled, the food is made and then we eat a big family meal. It was always a lot of fun. this year we are scattered and have different schedules, so some of us are having a get together tonight and some are getting together tomorrow night for coloring with the next generation of kids. Sunday is going to be quiet with maybe one or two meeting up  for an hour or two. But half the family is overseas still so it's not the same as it was when I was young and we were all together. I like the idea that the next gen is still having some of the same traditions though, but I have noticed that each family has also incorporated new ones from their spouses. That's why I think that these kind of things are basically family based, they evolve and change with each new generation.

 

 

 

[Era Might]

Went to the Dollar Store, ate my Cadbury Eggs. Forgot how sweet they are...kinda nasty, actually.

[homeschoolmom]

I should not buy Easter treats on Good Friday. We always end up with way too many. I love them all. Especially the jelly beans. And Peeps. And malted milk eggs. And any kind of chocolate. So hungry. Sorry Jesus. 

[oremus1]

when do you EAT the easter eggs? Easter Sunday? or throughout the octave?

[Nunsense]

Went to the Dollar Store, ate my Cadbury Eggs. Forgot how sweet they are...kinda nasty, actually.

​That's why I'm glad they only come out here around Easter time. They are so sweet they hurt the teeth. But every now and again I want one. Then I never want to see one again! LOL