Pass Over the Easter Bunny

Spring has sprung, chocolate bunnies are lining supermarket shelves, long weekends abound and a couple of religious holidays make for lots of good food and days out with family and friends. 

I started the week at a Passover dinner - I wasn’t sitting down to the dinner, you understand - I was waitress extraordinaire and budding sous chef; ever ready to fill up your wine glass and field a hundred questions about where I was from and did I know your father’s aunt’s brother-in-law who hailed from Scotland many years ago.  This was my first Passover dinner and on reflection it may have been useful to do a little research on the traditions and etiquette, but I wasn’t that thoughtful; instead, I curiously wondered about the egg, the matzo, the horseradish and the awful looking gelatinous fish.  The experience taught me that there are different ceremonial foods for Passover which tell the story of the Jews exodus from Egypt: matzo, symbolizes the unleavened bread eaten while crossing the desert, horseradish is a reminder of slavery, a roasted egg symbolizes the life cycle and the fish, known as gefilte fish, is for luck.  Who says waitressing isn’t a cultural and learning experience?  I tasted the matzo by the way, I thought it would benefit from a half pound of butter and salt but that raised eyebrows amongst some...  I never gave the gefilte fish a look-in.

Dinner went off fairly smoothly though I inadvertently managed to hold up proceedings by not giving everyone a ceremonial glass of red wine.  Fingers were sharply clicked at me with shrieks of “red wine now” as the table fell into silence and stared at me expectantly.  I was tempted to break the silence by pleading “I’m Scottish, this is what happens when a Scottish lass serves at a Jewish dinner” but good sense washed over me and I stopped my mouth in its tracks. 

Now it’s on to Easter and a holiday that I understand entirely: copious amounts of chocolate, spring lamb, family dinners, chilled wine, hunting for eggs, oh and the resurrection of Jesus and the end of Lent.  Easter is the second biggest candy-consuming holiday in America, after Halloween. This year, leading market research firm, IBIS World, estimates that confectionary and food sales will account for half of the predicted $14.2 billion in very commercial and non-religious Easter spending.  Here in America, the Easter basket is the most traditional gift, introduced by German settlers in the 18^th century.  Typically baskets will be filled with chocolate bunnies, marshmallow confection, Jellybeans and small gifts rather than the large chocolate eggs that we devour in the UK.  I have also been told to look out for Easter Parades, which comprise of people or their pets donning fancy hats and their ‘Sunday best’ outfits.  This is potentially shaping up to be a very good day with an excuse for a new outfit and lots of candy. 

 

It was fascinating to watch the Passover dinner and hear the different traditions take place around the table, particularly as someone that’s never been exposed to Jewish culture.  Similarly, Easter for me has always erred towards family and food rather than a religious holiday so it was interesting to take a step-back this week and consider the significance of the day and the commercialization of it.  I make no judgment call on that other than to say I hope you too enjoy a good meal with your family and friends.