Happy Easter.(Kevin Hughes) Aloha All,

I know it is the biggest Holiday in the Christian World. From Catholics, Anglicans, Evangelicals, Non Denominational, Holy Rollers, Mormon, you name it…if they belive in Christ and his Resurrection - the Easter is the biggest Holiday…rising from the Dead is no small feat.

But as a kid growing up on the lower West Side of Cleveland, Ohio…all the Spiritual aspects escaped me. Oh I was told the stories. The Nuns had us say: Hail Mary’s at every Station of the Cross, and then: “the Lord’s Prayer” at the last Station.

We were told to Fast for Lent, give up something we loved, and thereby experience at least a little suffering that Jesus went through. Which when you are a kid, is hard to grasp, that not having candy, somehow is showing camaraderie with someone having the flesh flailed off their back- but we did that. And no meat either!

I was an Altar Boy, as were all my brothers. And if you want to experience Eternity, go to a High Mass on Easter Sunday at a Catholic Church. It might still be going on.

So for those of you who have Faith…please don’t feel I don’t understand the depth of meaning this Day has for you. I am not being flippant, cavalier, or dismissive of the importance of the day. I am just relaying how I thought of Easter as a kid. So here we go.

The first thing I loved about Easter, was the color! Flowers everywhere. Those horrible Purple drapes were pulled off of all the Statues and Crucifixes. Symbolizing rebirth…I get that.

And in Cleveland, Easter could be cold, wet and damp, or a beautiful Spring Day. But no matter the weather, the colors were never dampened.

And it wasn’t just flowers that were arrayed in gorgeous displays of color…the women and girls burst with rainbow displays of pinks, yellows, whites. Along with dresses, hats, gloves, and shoes that would make any flower jealous.

The Church Congregation was blooming! Flowers were not only everywhere on the Altar, pews and the little alcoves that were scattered around, but they were everywhere on the girls and women too! Some of them even wearing Tiara's made of flowers.

Some wore wrists corsages, some had them pinned to their blouses or dresses. Others had them in their hats. Every kind of flower you could imagine. Rich people - or the better off, had orchids of every style and color. Some only had carnations - white and pink, being the preferred colors.

I used to just gape at the colors around me. If I was an Altar Boy for that Mass, well I got to see everybody! I drank it all in like an Art Lover in a museum. It was just…pretty. If I was stuck in a pew with my overly large family (and even Dad showed up for Easter…LOL). I just admired anyone nearby.

The girls in my Class went from the frumpy pleated and vested plaid outfits, to expressing them selves in colors and flowers that just screamed: “I am alive, and beautiful!” And they were both.

And next was the smell. Easter smelled as wonderful as it looked. The scent of flowers could be overwhelming, and all the Women and some of the girls wore perfume. And that added to a rainbow for the nose experience.

If you had a girlfriend, and you hugged her, she smelled …alive. Sweet. Soft. Gentle. That is what Easter is to me…sweet, soft, gentle, pretty, and alive! The Scent of youth, rebirth, joy was everywhere.

But it didn’t end when the Mass did. Although I do believe it wasn’t just us kids that were glad the Mass was over. Because then you got to mingle with all the folks in their Sunday finest.

Because you now all went home to Feast. And I mean Feast. The smell of cooking drifted out of every kitchen. Pies, Cakes (you know for us kids those were the more important parts of the meal, hence they popped into my mind first. LOL)

But chicken, ham, mashed potatoes, string been casseroles, sweet potatoes with carmolized maple syrup, corn on the cob, peas, carrots, onion rings, and all kind of dishes only made that one time a year.

It was all delicious. I remember helping unload my older brothers and sisters cars. Yep, every Family brought stuff for the meal. Kay, or Ann Marie, or Sheila - it didn’t matter, they all could cook, and we all got so much stuff to lug in covered in Aluminum Foil.

And the pies. All homemade. All freshly baked. Oh. My. God. You had a choice! Apple, pumpkin, cherry, pecan; my Mom’s favorite pie.A pie which I bypassed every Easter…and still do to this day. Oh, and lemon meringue pie. So light and fluffy it was like eating lemon cotton candy. My favorite was apple pie.

Back then I could not stand a scoop of ice cream placed on my perfect apple pie. I ate pie alone, like God intended. Then I ate Ice Cream, in its own little dish, with is only common polite etiquette. LOL And yes, you could have pie AND Ice cream! Heck you even had cookies with your hot chocolate, as the Adults had them with their tea or coffee.

And when I was a kid, you set a proper table for Easter. The “good silver” came out. Silver that the little ones had polished to spit shine shoe level earlier that week. I remember Timmy and I pulling fork after fork, spoon after spoon, out of these gorgeous green or red felt lined boxes- and knives too- then polishing them under Mom’s watchful eyes.

I know how to set a table, how to line the cutlery from the outside in, where to put the glasses, salad bowls, and bread plates. Easter dinners when I was a kid - were formal. And the table all set up, without anyone or any food, was in itself a work of Art.

Gravy bowls, crystal salt and pepper shakers, cruets for vinegar and oil, serving bowls, platters that would soon hold anything from ham, to turkey. All of them matching.

Then after dinner, you cleared the table, reset it for desert! And again the table looked like a flower garden with different pies, bright cookies, and neopaliton Ice cream sitting along side the inevitable vanilla and chocolate half gallons.

Once everyone had their first serving, seconds, or even thirds were allowed! The Adults drank their coffee and tea out of beautiful and delicate china cups. We drank our Eggnog out of glass glasses. No plastic back then. I am fairly certain a couple of my Aunts turned their Eggnog into a Hot Toddy with a touch of brandy, or whiskey. LOL

Everyone wore their good clothes to dinner too. So the dinner table was bursting with color and flowers galore too. So pretty. So very pretty. I remember my Sisters and my Mom looking like the personification of Spring. And my girlfriend(s) were the bloom of youth, hope, and a future too far away to think much about.

I know Easter means more than the superficial trapping. But I believe that those trapping were the embodiment of the Day. Rebirth, born again. Blossoming in every way.

Oh, yeah. My mind if filled with colors, smells, textures, tastes, and memories. Winter is over, Spring is here. We are alive again!

Happy Easter Everyone!

Smiles, Kevin

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