The Book that Inspired this Post

My Easter Basket and the True Story of Easter by Mary Manz Simon

Blessed Inspirations: A Step back to the Days of My Youth

Growing up as a child in Boston, I remember several things. I remember being surprised with my brand new outfits. As I got older, I went with my mom to get my dresses…Sometimes from lay-a-way and other times bought flat out with cash. I also remember the preparation for having my hair styled. There was lots of colors involved whether sitting in the kitchen coloring hard boiled eggs with colorful dye. attending church services and seeing all the colorful outfits and flowers. Color was all around me. You could tell it had importance. I also remember Easter programs at the church, Easter egg hunts and Easter baskets.

In addition to selecting and receiving new outfits from head-to-toe, inward to outward, mom would be busy preparing food that she had being, buying, growing, freezing, canning and saving for this day of celebration of Jesus’ resurrection. I loved helping her frost the cake after I had practically lifted the batter bowl. She and I later would sit in the kitchen and dye colorful eggs.

Every year I received a new outfit, always in pastel colors. On the day before Easter or on Easter morning, I sat in the kitchen getting my hair pressed and curled. Since there were no electric flat irons or curlers in my house. It was the old fashion straightning comb and curling iron that you had to place on the stove to get it hot. Recently, I found the straighning comb in my mom’s “catch-all” kitchen drawer. While I held the pressing oil, my mom would give me a Shirley Temple style. When younger, it was a curly pony tail or pig tails. As I got older , the Shirley Temple style was replaced by the style of the year.

After the hair was styled, I got dressed in my new underwear, my Easter dress, shoes and picked up my new purse, hat and sometimes glove and headed to church. Easter Sunday for me was often a busy day. I usually went to the Presbyterian church around the corner from my house. I had been recruited by Rev. Washington, the clergyman to ,teach Sunday School and to sing in the choir. I then returned home and went to my mom’s Baptist church where I also participated in the children’s programs and Easter Egg searches around the church.

After Church I returned home where the dinner my mom had been cooking for the last couple of dates was finally ready for consumption. It was like Thanksgiving in my house….potato salad, baked hen, fried chicken, some sort of greens (usually grown by my mom), macaroni and cheese…the chunky kind, not the creamy kind), peas, beans and chicken bog. For the faint-at-heart, mom sometimes cooked chitterlings, pig feet and/or pig tails. This delicacy was eaten by all who attended. I realize now that it reminded my mom, dad, aunts and uncles of their farm home in South Carolina. There was freshly squeezed lemonade, sweet tea and Kool-Aid. The grown-ups also had Pepsi. And for dessert…5-7 layered-yellow cake with chocolate frosting, coconut pie, sweet potato pie, and maybe pound cake and/or banana pudding. What a feast! What memories. Think of the colors on our dinner plates.

I received Easter baskets bought by my mom and/or my Aunt Rella and Uncle Gonza Lee. The baskets were always store bought, a treat for me and a sacrifice for my mom who worked 2-3 jobs. Now older, I think my aunt and uncle came to the rescue with their basket…just in case. The baskets were always made of some type of colorful raffia-like material, green shredded paper or plastic grass, and of course colorful candy eggs and other candies. The baskets were always were filled by candy and toys. I remember the yo-yos, the jump rope, the crayons and coloring books. All of this wonderfulness was wrapped in its entirety in hard plastic.

On most Sundays, including Easter, I usually went to Pentecostal Church with some of my father’s first cousins during the evening. The music was inspiring. It was these engagements with Easter that inspired me to post my experiences.

Easter Inspired

The book is a bool full of rhymes, die-cuts, glitter, and religious-related meanings behind some of the colors of Easter. I had already decided to put together Easter baskets this year. Although I had not planned on making them, I am glad I did. Once I decided to make them, I needed a book inspired by my idea. When I found My Easter Basket: The True Meaning of Easter by Mary Manx Simon, I knew it was the book I was looking for. Think about it…the meaning of Easter, Easter baskets and color representation. What a Find! I immediately ordered it. I did this right before things closed down.

Because I am sheltered-at-home and “non-essential” places like the bookstore and libraries are closed. These closures restricted my ability to pick up one of my reserved copies. In order to share the book with you I included in this posting, Ann Marie’s reading. See more of her story time readings at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoOLT8TtqdFpisjQcMYajzw.

Baskets by Jean

My Connection to the Selected Book

I was inspired to make the basket as I reflected on Easters of past in my house. Many of my experiences of my youth are not “essential” for my millennial and G-Z children. I still sport something new, do or get my hair styled, cook a relatively big meal, and remember the colors of years past.

My decision to make the basket was satisfied because I was inspired by what the various colors mean, the smiles on my young people’s faces, past experiences, and my ability to share with you.

Significance of Colors of Easter Inspired by the book,

RED: This color is associated with the blood that Jesus Christ had shed for mankind. Thus, the color red is a symbol of blood, love, fire, martyrdom, suffering and the ultimate sacrifice for goodness of humanity. Red represents the passion of the Christ.

ORANGE: The color represents hope. It is associated with the dawn of a new day and a new season.

YELLOW: The color is related to the brightness of sun. It’s a color that represents pure joy and happiness.

GREEN: Green represents the hope of Christ’s renewal, rebirth, resurrection, the promise of eternal life, and hope. It is the color of growth. It signifies the holy Ghost.

BLUE: It is the color of heaven or the sky. It represents water. It suggests peace and harmony. Royal blue symbolizes birth of Jesus. Protestant churches use it to distinguish Advent from Lent. Blue also signifies beginning of a new creation.

PURPLE/VIOLET: Easter color purple is indicative of power and royalty. It is said that the color purple brings wealth. It represents penance, humility, remembrance, melancholy and spiritual wealth. Violet is also a symbol for pain, suffering and sorrow. It also symbolizes inward reflection and something special.

BROWN: This color signifies darkness and sadness.

BLACK: Black is the symbol of mourning and related to fasting, mercy and penance. Some say that black signifies darkness.

WHITE: This Easter color signifies purity, grace, light, innocence, joy, triumph, and glory

PINK: Easter color pink represents bountiful joy, jubilance of hope, and love. It indicates fresh beginning…a new start

ROSE: It signifies joy and jubilation.

GRAY: Gray is the color of ashes, and therefore a biblical symbol of mourning and repentance. It can be used on Ash Wednesday, during Lent, or on special days of fasting and prayer.

SILVER: It symbolizes brightness and purity.

GOLD: it symbolizes something that is precious and valuable. It represents glory and triumph, specifically Jesus’ resurrection and triumph over death. The color is indicative of the riches of our inheritance in Christ and His kingdom, our eternal home where streets are said to be lined in gold.

The Materials at Hand

Working on the Work

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Basket #1

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Basket #2

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Basket #3

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Symbolism of Easter Colors

Ideas and Activities to Engage and Connect

• Go outside and look for signs of new birth and growth
• While outside look for examples of the colors of Easter on nature
• Create an Easter basket for someone…maybe even someone at a rehabilitation or palliative care center
• Dye/Decorate hard-boiled eggs
• Decorate an area/room/house in the colors of Easter
• Decorate a tree with Easter eggs
• Make cascarones and/or Pysanky eggs
• Compare and contrast eggs from different countries (cascaron, pysanka, Fabergé, huicholed, beaded, painted, dyed, foiled, …)
• Organize an Easter colors program
• Organize an Easter egg search
• Create Easter poems
• Plan, design and create a decorative egg using something other than paint or dye.
• Create a Grateful for the color jar. Each day put in something of a specific color for which you are grateful. Example: I am grateful for the sunny day (picture of a yellow sun)
• Plan a colorful meal
• Decorate a cake or cookies using a representation of Easter
• Give an Easter gift to someone in need of a smile
• Create a themed Easter basket.
• Plan an Easter pageant, program, play or oratorical event
• Create an Easter Scavenger Hunt Checklist for home, a store, a neighborhood. Oriental Trading sells inexpensive sets.
• Create an Easter bingo game
• Make jumbo yard signs
• Decorate the yard with jumbo painted cardboard eggs
• Play games that require eggs like the Egg and Spoon Race.
• Plant flowers or vegetables. If you don’t have a yard, plant in a pot or box.
• Read Easter and Spring Children’s Books.
• Decorate with DIY (or bought) Easter crafts

Additional Resource(s)

• Free Skittles Easter Poem
• Activity: Tell the Easter Story with Story Prompts
• Free M&M Easter Tags

You are invited to share other resources and ideas below. Make sure to include a picture or share the link and if you want to be credited, the name/site you want credited.