Why is it that Easter Sunday is not much of an event here in our country? As the only Christian country in Asia, don’t you think we deserve to celebrate “Pasko ng Pagkabuhay” in the same way we celebrate “Pasko ng Kapanganakan” with much gusto?
From the ashes comes the bird reborn
I thought about that the day after Easter, when I checked my social network accounts and saw my friends from Europe sending me virtual Easter presents. It made me salivate how these colorful Easter eggs and foil bunnies might contain chocolates or sweets, like what I’ve seen from Easter egg hunts from plush hotels in the metro. Some of my friends even posted their kids’ Easter basket that contained not only chocolate Easter eggs and bunnies but all the delectable food they could eat on the way (think Danish butter cookies, sweetmeats, cheese, milk cartons). How insensitive could they be, my stomach growled. Can’t they just send the real Easter gift basket on my doorstep? Hehehehe…
Pinoys can celebrate Easter better than this. Don’t we celebrate Christmas once the month on our calendars end with -ber? Why can’t we do that with Easter Sunday? That doesn’t mean burning a hole in your pockets by checking in hotels that offer Easter egg hunts for your children.
We can start off with personalizing Easter home decors! We can start decorating on the Saturday before Palm Sunday. It’s safe to buy the Easter party supplies at local shops on Holy Tuesdays as most of them close up by lunchtime the next day, as most Pinoys go to the provinces to celebrate Lent. Stock up on candles, matches, colorful art papers, eggs, sweets, balloons, small bottles, colorful plastic or tissue paper, colorful strings and small baskets or colorful gauze bags for the Easter favors.
To give it regional flavor, what about decorating the yard with coconut fronds? Then put an accent of chained white flowers (real or not) at the stem. Quite useful especially if you’ll have “pabasa” for the week. The tablecloth for the altar and the dining table could be white lined with blue. Candles of different colors and sizes can be used as centerpiece for the dining table. A set of pretty vases can hold white lilies for the altar that flank a crucifix. A personalized Pinoy Easter basket can be lined with colorful tissue papers and placed with a small slice of “puto” and “kutsinta”, a piece of “itlog na maalat” and a handful of “itlog ng pugo”, a tissue-wrapped parcel of tinapa and a small bottle of paombong vinegar. Kiddie easter party favors can be placed in colorful gauze bags filled halfway with kending delimon, yema, panutsa, pilipit, and pastillas. Wouldn’t that be a treat?
A sample of European delicacies for Easter. This basket will be blessed on a Saturday and ready for consumption on Easter.
Before going to the traditional ”Salubong”, the real Easter party preparation begins. The Easter banner can be made of cut-out art papers shaped like eggs. The dining table’s centerpiece candles can be lined with hardboiled “pugo” and “itlog na maalat”. The house can be decorated with colorful balloons. Easter favors for both young and old can be placed on a small table, ready to be given away to family and friends after the hefty lunch, without sweating it out on an Easter egg hunt on a typical sweltering Pinoy summer day. During the Salubong procession, one can invite peope over for an Easter lunch. After the mass, you can freshen up and of course, be ready for the Easter party!