‘How come we have an Easter Bunny and not an Easter Chicken?’ I asked in innocence when I was four (1955).
‘The bunny’s the boss and brings the chicken along with him to lay the eggs. It’s a special chicken that can lay a lot of eggs in one day… not just one like our chickens’, my mother replied.
I believed her, as I believed everything she told me. She didn’t tell lies, my mother.
*****
Easter Egg Preferences
I
Winter pyjamas hang on bodies
tossled hair falls about shoulders.
My children flash white teeth
send stars forth from their eyes
as they stand beside the boxed
Humpty Dumpty eggs
and a basket of smaller
chocolate offerings.
II
No photograph to remind me
of Easters past:
painting hard-boiled eggs with water colours
helping siblings design one for each of us
or competing with them to see
who could draw the happiest face
to smile from the egg-cup and
not wanting to chop off
the top of an egg’s head and tears
when first told I must.
With dexterity came permission
to drive pin holes
in each end of fresh eggs
and blow the contents away
leaving shells to be painted
for long-lasting decorations.
III
Our 1950s Easter Bunny
brought two-toned sugar eggs
in pastels and white
joined in the middle
with rock-hard icing wrinkled
into a pattern around the edge
and a dab to hold a gold paper bunny
flat on top.
Small pieces of broken eggs rattled inside
or if we were lucky
conversation lollies with messages
were found when we ate the icing
and the egg fell in two or
when this was too hard for young teeth
and we resorted to smashing the egg
into manageable pieces.
If we were very lucky
one of these sugar scrolls marked
Forget Me Not Smile For Me
or Love Me Tender
would be heart-shaped.
We savoured these once-a-year treats
making them last all day
sometimes several days
to shorten the 365
between bunny visits.
IV
Chocolate eggs first graced our table
as I stumbled into adolescence.
Confusion reigned each following year:
My parents preferred sugar eggs
said they were the ‘real’ eggs
available only once a year ~
the inference that chocolate
was constantly in abundance
didn’t ring true in a home
with no money for sweets
on ordinary days.
Sugar eggs remained most years
until I could buy my own
then drifted from the market
and my mind
replaced by a selection
of chocolate Easter treats.
V
Mid-1980s my children
showed me the ‘new’ sugar eggs
and asked for them
‘instead of boring chocolate’.
I didn’t bother explaining
that chocolate eggs
were the real treat ~
I knew they wouldn’t understand.
*****
Easter 2020 is a low-key affair at my place, as it has been for many years. Sugar eggs have come and gone from the market, but chocolate eggs have remained constant. Chocolate Easter Bunnies have even hopped onto the shelves and settled amongst the eggs to tempt little children with big imaginations. These days eggs come in numerous sizes with various fillings, and are available for months prior to Easter instead of just the last week before the bunny drops in, as was the tradition in my childhood.
With age, my desire for Easter eggs has waned and I am happy to share a bowl of tiny – even if, solid – chocolate eggs with my husband.
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