Any holiday, Easter, Passover, ….. brings with it a lifetime of memories. By the way, thanks to Wiki for all the great pix. (No time to shoot my own)!
My kids grew up in a mixed household. But oddly enough, we celebrated Easter and Christmas, not Passover and Channukah.
I think it was being a Jew from New York made me pissed that no one ever gave the girls training (I never read the bible, never went to temple except for the holidays, where we would spend most of our efforts as kids sneaking outside to have a cigarette) because… well …. you know…. the boys needed the knowlege and the girls would just get married anyway. I mean, that’s what they really said when I asked why my brother was going to be bar mitzvah’d, and not me. In retrospect, there probably wasn’t enough money to throw two big parties. So it was probably more that, then anything else.
The holidays….allowed to sit in the kitchen and watch Grandma and my Aunt cook chicken and make chicken soup, not allowed to get religious training of any kind to understand where my history was.
And when I did get information like during the Sedar every year? I found myself questioning everything they said. So it’s probably good that I wasn’t educated that way, because I would probably have been labeled a ‘difficult’ child. Oh…. I probably was labeled that, just the same! lol
So that’s what comes up for me, personally when I think about religious holidays. Inequality. But I bet that made me who I am today, made me create nationwide brands and be the successful businesswoman I came to be.
Now, as an adult? An adult who married someone who celebrated Christmas not Chanukah? I now see not being educated in religion was a tremendous advantage. Growing up, I could be anything I wanted to. I had no fear of religion, the rules and what could be done to me. I wasn’t Catholic. I wasn’t Jewish. I was a free wheeling soul in search of what I called ‘honesty’, governed by a thing I called ‘the universe’. Following the 10 commandments, without really knowing what that was.
Not religious but I will say I do remember the Seders. I do remember the Easter Egg Hunts I created for the kids. And I’m happy to have memories of happy times, without having to deal with any religious issues.
Religion. Politics. What do they say? Keep the peace and don’t bring up religion at a dinner table. Yet here I sit blogging about these memories. Crazy huh?
NO CHEF. I THINK OF MY PAST TOO DURING THE HOLIDAYS.
Oh good. I thought it was just me for a minute there. WHEW!
Politicks? I was the girl who ran a McGovern campaign, and later sported the bumper sticker: “Don’t blame me…. I voted Mc G”. And that’s the last time I believed that it actually mattered who got into office.
So there you have it. Memories of who we have been, where we’ve come from and knowing we’ve done better with our kids. My daughter can and will do anything without feeling boxed into a standard, or feeling evaluated by someone else’s standards outside her own, and my son? He has great standards but not out of fear. A lot like his mom. All good in my book.
I think my kids have fond memories of Easter. And at the end of the day, isn’t that what we want? No matter what ……… to give our kids great memories?
Enjoy Easter Sunday. Enjoy finishing up Passover.
Happy Eating,
Chef Marian