Of course, in the midst of this mad social whirl I've been trying to fit in my Easter baking. Here are the cupcakes I made- some for work, some for the Easter egg painting party, and some for Easter dinner today. You can't see it in this picture, but they are in cute festive cupcake papers.
On Good Friday, I of course went to the service at my church, and we also had our annual family Easter egg painting party, this year at my brother's family's place in Halifax. On Saturday morning, a gang of us went to cheer on my brother-in-law's hockey team which was playing their final game of the season. This involved getting up early; the two teams are a bunch of guys who rent the rink every Saturday morning from 6 am to 7 am so they can play, running from the early fall through until spring. This meant that I had to roll out of bed around 5 am to get ready and get to the rink in time for the game... which is why we usually only attend the last one of the season. The two teams play for fun... and for this trophy: It's a rooster standing on a coffee mug, reflecting the early hour at which they play; it was made by one of the guys, who's a welder by trade. Unfortunately my brother-in-law's team lost 5-4, so no rooster trophy for them this year. Of course, in the midst of this mad social whirl I've been trying to fit in my Easter baking. Here are the cupcakes I made- some for work, some for the Easter egg painting party, and some for Easter dinner today. You can't see it in this picture, but they are in cute festive cupcake papers. And of course, these are the hot cross buns I made- without raisins because, as I believe I once related, due to an unfortunate childhood incident the thought of eating raisins makes me nauseous. I also made these pies, one banana cream and one chocolate. I had signed up to bake a ham as well so I did that yesterday, in a pineapple glaze. I also threw together a pasta coleslaw; I'll add the dressing to right before the meal, which we're having in the Valley. It'll be later in the afternoon since we all have our respective church services and then have to travel there, which takes about an hour and a half for most of us. My church is having an Easter sunrise breakfast and service but I'm going to miss that because I and a couple of my sisters have gone to spend Saturday night and Easter morning with our parents at the homestead and will be attending their church's Easter service instead. It's going to be a full and happy day; may your Easter be a blessed one as well.
Comments
It is, of course, Easter week, which is the holiest week in the Christian calendar. It's a busy one for me between work, church events, and preparing for our family Easter dinner, but I have been doing a bit of Easter reading as well as watching. One poem which I read the other day was Easter Hymn by English poet A. E. Housman (1859-1936). Housman was not a believer, so this is a rather surprisingly thoughtful - and brief- examination of the account of the resurrection of Christ. Easter Hymn “If in that Syrian garden, ages slain, You sleep, and know not you are dead in vain, Nor even in dreams behold how dark and bright Ascends in smoke and fire by day and night The hate you died to quench and could but fan, Sleep well and see no morning, son of man. But if, the grave rent and the stone rolled by, At the right hand of majesty on high You sit, and sitting so remember yet Your tears, your agony and bloody sweat, Your cross and passion and the life you gave, Bow hither out of heaven and see and save.” - A. E. Housman The poem succinctly sums up the two possibilities about the person Jesus; either he was just a man and "You sleep, and know not you are dead in vain," or he was who he said he was, with all that entails. "But if" that is the case, Housman concludes- sounding almost wistful- "Bow hither out of heaven and see and save.” It rather seems as if the poet hopes it is true, even if he can't quite bring himself to believe it. The stark choice articulated here reminds me of a statement made by C.S. Lewis in his excellent book Mere Christianity. Lewis himself was no stranger to unbelief; he was an atheist for many years before returning to the Christian faith, due in no small part to his friendship with devout Catholic J.R.R. Tolkien, as well as the writings of George MacDonald and G.K. Chesterton. In Mere Christianity, Lewis states that it's all or nothing with belief in Jesus as the Christ, dismissing those who say they accept Him, but as only a great teacher or philosopher: “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him [that is, Christ]: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic–on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg–or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse…. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come up with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.” These really are the only two options: either Jesus was an ordinary man, in which case he was mad and/or bad, or He is the Christ, Son of the living God. In the end, we each have to decide for ourselves which option is the true one. Personally, I'll take door number two. Related Posts: Oddly enough, "Easter Parade" began its existence as a First World War song... or at least, the tune did. In 1917 Irving Berlin wrote a song entitled "Smile And Show Your Dimple" which was about encouraging a girl to keep her cheer up while her guy is overseas in the war. It was recorded by Sam Ash, a vaudeville performer, but it was a so-so song that wasn't particularly successful. So in the early Thirties, Berlin pulled out the tune again, modified it slightly, and set some newly written lyrics to it (Easter Parade) for a Broadway revue by one of my favourites, Moss Hart, entitled As Thousands Cheer (1933). The show was a series of satirical sketches interspersed with witty and/or sentimental songs written by Irving Berlin. One of these was, of course, "Easter Parade"... another still well-known today was "Heat Wave". Berlin's tune was a lot more successful as "Easter Parade" and soon made the leap from musical theater to motion picture. In 1938, the movie Alexander's Ragtime Band premiered; it was written by Irving Berlin and was semi-autobiographical. In addition to "Easter Parade" (sung by Don Ameche) and "Heat Wave", the film contained 24 more of his popular songs such as "A Pretty Girl Is Like A Melody," Blue Skies," "Cheek To Cheek," and of course, the titular "Alexander's Ragtime Band". The movie starred a number of really big stars of the time- Tyrone Power, Ethel Merman, etc.- and became a smash hit. "Easter Parade" next appeared in Irving Berlin's 1942 film Holiday Inn, starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. In it, Crosby plays a Broadway performer who, wanting to get away from it all, buys a white elephant of an inn which he opens for a big show on major holidays. While the most remembered song from this movie is definitely "White Christmas", "Easter Parade" is also expertly performed by Crosby: "White Christmas" got it's own movie in 1954- again starring Bing Crosby, except with Danny Kaye this time. But "Easter Parade" also got a film- in 1948- starring Fred Astaire and Judy Garland. Astaire's role was originally intended for Gene Kelly, but he broke his ankle before filming started so Fred Astaire was asked to take the part, coming out of retirement to do so. Easter Parade again contains a number of Berlin's hits, including "Steppin' Out With My Baby," "I Love A Piano," and "We're A Couple Of Swells" in addition, of course, to "Easter Parade" sung by Astaire and Garland: Of the three versions above, my favourite is the Bing Crosby one, no doubt partly because I like the movie Holiday Inn better than I like Easter Parade. And the song "Easter Parade" is not my favourite in either of those films. But hey, I'll listen to just about anything written by Irving Berlin. The lyrics for Easter Parade are fairly self-explanatory, except perhaps the lines: "On the avenue, Fifth Avenue, the photographers will snap us, And you'll find that you're in the rotogravure." As I mentioned in part one of this song story, Fifth Avenue was the street most famous for people parading their Easter finery, many as they left St. Patrick's Cathedral. As for "the rotogravure" well, rotogravure was a mechanized process developed in the early 1900's to print photographs for newspapers. Frequently photos of interest- such as society pics- would be printed together in a supplement for the papers; this supplement was generally referred to as "the rotogravure" and that's what is being sung about in Easter Parade. Also, the "sonnet" which the singer considers writing about the Easter bonnet is, of course a form of poem which has been around since the 13th century; it has fourteen lines and a strict rhyme scheme. The term "sonnet" is Italian for "little song" and during the Renaissance it became the most popular mode of poetry for expressing romantic love for a person- or in this case, a hat. At one point, the singer says "I'll be all in clover/And when they look you over/ I'll be the proudest fellow/ in the Easter parade." The idiom "I'll be all in clover" used here means to be at ease and prosperous, and takes its meaning from cows living their best life, chowing down on prime clover. The expression dates back at least to the 1700's and can be found in Samuel Johnson's 1755 dictionary: "To live in Clover, is to live luxuriously; clover being extremely delicious and fattening to cattle." The earliest known written use of the phrase was in a 1710 poem entitled "To The Divine Apollo": "I liv’d in Clover, to my thinking,/’Till I perceiv’d the Rino (Money) sinking." Well, that's about all I can think of to say about "Easter Parade"; just a reminder that any Easter plans you have can only be enhanced by the wearing of an Easter bonnet- or, for the guys, escorting a lady who is accoutered in her finest millinery. Related Posts:I recently sewed a few baby bonnets for Easter- got them done ahead of time for a change. Easter bonnets used to be a much bigger deal than they are today, and not just for babies. When women habitually wore headcoverings to church- heck, when they habitually attended church- Easter was an occasion to debut a new hat/bonnet, or a refurbished one if money was tight. Actually, Easter was traditionally a time for people to don not only new hats, but new clothes as well. The period of Lent is supposed to be a time of sacrifice and self-denial which ends at Easter, a time of spiritual renewal as well as a renewal of the physical world, as winter turns to spring. This was commonly celebrated by the wearing of a new suit of clothes on Easter Sunday. The earliest written reference to wearing new Easter clothes is found- where else- in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, produced somewhere between 1591 and 1595. In it, Romeo's pal Mercutio is teasing his (Romeo's) cousin Benvolio for lecturing him about being short-tempered and quick to fight: "Thou hast quarreled with a man for coughing in the street because he hath wakened thy dog that hath lain asleep in the sun. Didst thou not fall out with a tailor for wearing his new doublet (jacket) before Easter? With another, for tying his new shoes with old ribbon? And yet thou wilt tutor me from quarreling?" A work produced around the same time- Wits Miserie And The Worlds Madness (1596)- by English writer and physician Thomas Lodge contains a moralizing tale about a farmer who spends money he doesn't have to buy fancy new Easter duds: "The farmer that was contented in times past with his Russet Frocke & Mockado (fake silk velvet) sleeues, now sels a Cow against Easter to buy him silken geere for his Credit". Tsk. Naturally Samuel Pepys, the diarist who recorded all the minutiae of his daily life in the 1660's, made mention of what he was wearing on an Easter morning... not a new suit, but a remade one: Sunday 30 March 1662 (Easter day). Having my old black suit new furbished, I was pretty neat in clothes to-day, and my boy, his old suit new trimmed, very handsome. To church in the morning, and so home, leaving the two Sir Williams to take the Sacrament, which I blame myself that I have hitherto neglected all my life, but once or twice at Cambridge. Dined with my wife, a good shoulder of veal well dressed by Jane, and handsomely served to table, which pleased us much, and made us hope that she will serve our turn well enough. My wife and I to church in the afternoon, and seated ourselves, she below me, and by that means the precedence of the pew, which my Lady Batten and her daughter takes, is confounded; and after sermon she and I did stay behind them in the pew, and went out by ourselves a good while after them, which we judge a very fine project hereafter to avoyd contention. So my wife and I to walk an hour or two on the leads, which begins to be very pleasant, the garden being in good condition. So to supper, which is also well served in. We had a lobster to supper, with a crabb Pegg Pen sent my wife this afternoon, the reason of which we cannot think; but something there is of plot or design in it, for we have a little while carried ourselves pretty strange to them. After supper to bed. Also, in Poor Robin's Almanac- an English almanac popular throughout the 17th and 18th centuries- this rhyming couplet appeared: At Easter let your clothes be new Or else be sure you will it rue. I mean, it's not exactly Shakespeare, but you get the point. Incidentally, Benjamin Franklin copied the style of Poor Robin's Almanac for his Poor Richard's Almanac (published from 1732-1758). There's also an old Irish adage- I'm not sure how old- that states: "For Christmas, food and drink; for Easter, new clothes." How getting gussied up for Easter services turned into women wearing elaborate hats as they swanked up and down 5th Avenue in New York (and in other places, though not as famously) is an interesting historical tidbit. Not, of course, that it was without precedent; as far back as the 4th century Emperor Constantine had purportedly issued a decree about Easter garb, in which he "ordered his subjects to dress in their finest and parade in honor of Christ's resurrection". The more modern Easter Parade got its start in churches, specifically the New York churches: St. Thomas Episcopal, Trinity Episcopal, Christ Church, and St. Patrick's Cathedral. In the mid-1800's, these churches started bedecking their sanctuaries with flowers for their Easter services. Every year the displays became more elaborate and it seems that attendees felt challenged to wear outfits which would live up to their surroundings. A newspaper report of Easter 1873 described the service at Christ Church: "More than half the congregation were ladies, who displayed all the gorgeous and marvelous articles of dress... and the appearance of the body of the church thus vied in effect and magnificence with the pleasant and tasteful array of flowers which decorated the chancel." By the 1880's the increasingly ornate outfits had spilled out of the churches into the streets, becoming a spectacle separate from the religious meaning of the holy day. It's probably not a coincidence that the New York Easter Parade developed along 5th Avenue, which is the street that St. Patrick's Cathedral is on. After the service, well-to-do attendees would parade the length of the avenue in their finery- and elaborate hats- to see and be seen. By the time the 1890's rolled around, the Easter Parade was an important event in the New York social calendar. And this brings us, finally, to the song Easter Parade, which I shall discuss in part II. Related Posts: |
About MeI'm a lover of good books, classic movies, and well-written shows (as well as some pretty cheesy ones, to be completely honest). Categories
All
Archives
March 2024
Fun SitesOdds & Ends |