ELLIE,"THE POET IN ME"

MY EASTER, WHEN I WAS LITTLE

	
	Three weeks before Easter we are celebrating, as is the 
	custom, Apogria(Carnival), during which we dress up with 
	colorful costumes, put on paper masks, use paper thin cut 
	reels of ribbons and confetti that we throw at each other, 
	and have the twirling noise makers and the whistles that 
	you blow. The ribbon, you hold on one end and toss it 
	to your fiend who gets tangled in it. The confetti 
	thrown at you, gets in your hair and clothes; that is 
	difficult to clean. Those days;

	We paraded up and down the main street among floats 
	created by the town. Animals brought in for the kids 
	to see and touch plus lots of music. The sundays became 
	more crowded, because everyone was home and you saw grown 
	ups among the kids where traffic was dense and the costumes 
	were more spectacular. The streets got filled with ribbons 
	and confetti. Each town had its own theme and they all 
	went around the neiborhoods, so everyone could participate.

	The last sunday night the grown ups made sure that they 
	were invited to somebody's party, where they all 
	celebrated the last day of Winter until the small hours 
	of the morning, eating goodies, dancing and having a 
	good time. The next day all that disappeared. The 
	costumes were put away until next year, eating and fun 
	were replaced by the forty day Easter Lent, where you 
	were not allowed to eat meat and dairy products and 
	life went back to normal.

	During these forty days we followed the church services 
	and learned all about the events that affected Christ's 
	life in Jerusalem. There were also the films played at 
	the Movies that described in detail Christ's life and 
	lots of kids were brought to the movies to watch it; in 
	the big screen. The Big night after the forty days, my 
	Mom always made sure I was rested by taking a nap, so 
	I did not be a pest in the Church. At my age, it was 
	not easy to stand still throughout the mass in a 
	crowded church among the grown ups, who squeezed in 
	to be present when the priest declared Christ's 
	resurection and gave out the light of life.

	I was dressed up with a white beautiful new dress and 
	shoes and had to be extra careful, when all who had 
	their candles lit, not to have my dress and shoes 
	soiled by their candle dripping wax. All the candles 
	during Lent time were dark color, but tonight we all 
	had white candles, larger in size. Mine was decorated 
	with white silk ribbons and white flowers.

	I was so pround to be among the crowd and I tried to 
	quetly wait in reverence listening to the mass. The 
	Priest came out of the Alter and holding the white 
	candles in both his hands he announced loudly "Christ 
	is Resurected" three times and proceeded to give out 
	the light of life to the people standing close to the 
	Alter. Everybody wished each other "Happy Easter, 
	Christ is Resurected" and received the light from the 
	person who was standing next to him, who received it 
	from the priest and thus the light was passed on to 
	all who were in the church until the whole church was 
	gleaming with happy faces holding their lid candles.

	It was very moving to see all the people praying 
	together and thanking God for the blessings of the day. 
	The priests proceeded to the grounds of the church to 
	bless the people who could not fit in the church and 
	waited outside. After that the priests came into the 
	church to continue the midnight mass for all who had 
	no kids and wished to stay until way past two o'clock 
	to receive the Easter communion.

	My Mon always brought with her eggs and cookies to the 
	church to be blessed, she gave us the egg and cookies 
	and we proceeded to do the traditional cracking of the 
	egg. In pairs, one person holds one egg and the other 
	hits it with his; trying to crack it, no one knows 
	whose egg will crack first, then the other person 
	tries to crack the other's egg. Anyway, anyone whose 
	egg ends up intact is the winner and his reward is 
	the other person's cracked egg.

	This is a ritual that is repeated throughout Easter 
	time among young and old and lot of people come home 
	with their pockets filled with eggs; if they had a 
	strong egg. This is also done on the table before 
	eating. Also when friends, relatives and kids meet 
	each other they wish each other Happy Easter and 
	out come the eggs ready for the challenge.

	For as long as, we had unbroken eggs on the Egg 
	Dish, the ritual went on, and it was lots of fun 
	for us kids. My Mom dyed red; several dozen of eggs, 
	with four kids in the family, plus my parents. My 
	job was to wipe them clean with a solution of 
	vinegar and oil that made them shining and the dye 
	did not come off on your hands or clothes. I had 
	to stack those eggs carefully on the Egg Dish to 
	be taken off one by one by all of us.

	My Mom placed one of those eggs at the top of the 
	braided sweet traditional bread before it went to 
	the baker, along with other buttery sweet cookies 
	I loved so much to eat; to be baked. Meanwhile back 
	to the church, the bells sounded their happy tunes 
	and people lighted firecracker of different sizes, 
	colors and formations that spread like rainbows,
	circles, stars, splashes, etc.. The noise was 
	deafening and I always hid myself under my Mom's 
	coat, being a scary cat. After that the crowd 
	dispersed to all directions and we started for home.

	My older brother lifted me on his soulders because 
	by then I was almost tired. My Mom stopped at the 
	baker's to get the leg of lamb she had given him to 
	be baked on the way to the church; those days we did 
	not have oven stoves at home. When we got home the 
	table was set, and all run for our places and started 
	filling up our dishes with everything on the table, 
	plus portions of the hot leg of lamb.

	Of course, I made sure I picked everything from each 
	platter on the table, as much as my three brothers 
	and mimic my brothers trying to eat as much as they 
	did. But before I finished a couple of bites I was 
	out, being up so many hours, my Mom put me in my bed 
	and they all continued with their Easter dinner 
	without me. The next day, when I woke up I started 
	searching for all the goodies I left on my plate the 
	night before.

	But there were so many good things to eat, different 
	for breakfast, lunch and dinner. My Mom's sweet 
	aromatic bread, the white sugary cookies that melted 
	in your mouth, the cracked eggs, the fruit marmalades. 
	My Mom was famous for, such as the spring rose petals 
	marmalade, I loved so much.
	It was not easy to exist in a household with three 
	older brothers. You tried to compete with them in 
	stamina, strength and whatever they did, but I was 
	too little to do any of that. So, I was always 
	teased a lot. I was reminded a lot of my age and 
	ignorance, them being several years older, they 
	new much more than I and I was constantly reminded 
	of it.

	The next day, all that was forgotten and off I went 
	to my friends and cousins my age and size to show 
	off my new Easter clothes and repeat the egg 
	cracking ritual. By the end of the day my feet were 
	hurting and when I came home I went to sleep 
	instantly. Easter day, in the afternoon there is 
	a "love others as much as you love thyself" mass, 
	that the young people attend. The church got filled 
	with young people that wanted to be blessed, there 
	were eggs given to all, when the mass was over. 
	It was, and is a great dradition. 

	That was my Easter with my family, an eagerly 
	waited holiday full of relegious ceremonies, 
	traditions and lots of love.

Note:The Globe has become a small village and no one knows where a
person will find himself in the future. Knowledge is a treasure which
you take it with you. These poems were written upon request from the
visitors, and not to convert anyone to christianity. To buy the preschool 
books CLICK on the Alpha and One-to-Ten links for info. As a bonus, you will get the free poems. If you liked the reading, tell all your friends, fill in the form below. Thank you. Happy Easter to Christians and non- Christians. ellie.

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