Easter

Alleluia He is risen indeed.  Happy Easter to all who are celebrating today.  It was a lovely day outside, and the sun was out, few puffy clouds (Or, as one of my friend’s kids used to say to me “fluffy pink cows”) We ordered lunch today, since nobody had the energy to cook.  Jerry was enthusiastic about the delivery because someone came to his door, and they smelt of food.  He waited with some patience until Don got up to do something, and pounced on the remainder of his chicken.  Being yelled at had no effect, he just wriggled and wagged his little tail and looked proud of himself.  Then he jumped on my lap and lay on his back and twisted until I could massage his tummy.  Spoiled brat!  Don is fine, apart from losing his supper because he left food where this little monster with surprisingly telescopic legs could reach.

Easter is easily my favourite season, even more than Christmas.  I mean, I love Christmas, and all the family rites and the love and everything.  There are so many lovely elements, and I could go on for ages about Christmas.  But Easter is more special.  It’s about renewal and rebirth… in Trinidad, it comes towards the end of the dry season.  The grass is drying up, but there are flowers in bloom — the poui, in its pink or gold glory (see photo) or the immortelle flaming scarlet on the hills, bougainvillea and Barbados pride all adding their colours.  There will be a short rain shower, appearing suddenly, and then in a day the grass — which was a dusty brown — is again verdant green.  It’s just taunting, because the real rains won’t come for at least another month, but it’s enough to remind everyone that this dryness will end and life will resume.  You know, the message of Easter, carefully packaged in flowers and grass.  Here, in Canada, Easter comes at the start of spring, where flowers, trees and grasses are returning to life and light is growing again after months of death, cold and darkness.  I love the message and the symbolism of renewal in nature at this season.  At home, Easter meant that the dry heat would soon break to be replaced by a damp heat (it’s hot year round, I’m saying 😂)   This time of year, though, the nights are cooler, the air carries the perfumes of the flowers and the seas are calmer and warmer.  (Yes, there’s a difference.  Locals can always tell.  And we laugh at tourists for their silly behaviours.). Apart from the rejuvenation of nature, the readings and the liturgy for Easter are powerful and evocative.  There are many images of escape, of water, of change, of renewal, and the Litany for Easter — the Exultet — is full of beautiful, evocative language.  It sings of the night that shines as bright as day, the night that changed everything.  It’s a glorious prayer, and I love the imagery, pomp and ritual of the celebration, from the lighting of the Paschal fire to the blessing of the candle, through the readings, into the blessing… I can also go on about this for a long while, as you can see.

In the church’s year, Easter is the biggest festival, requiring 8 weeks of celebration.  At school, Easter accounted for a “mere” 2 weeks of vacation, as compared to 3 for Christmas and 8 for August.  From that perspective, therefore, it wasn’t that big a deal, but it was still a magical period.  Easter is a time of joy, and I love it.  As St. Pope John Paul II said, “We are an Easter people and our Alleluia is strong.”  Let’s rejoice and be glad in this day, and in all the beauty that there is, and the beauty to come before the end of the 2 months of Easter.  Good night!