Re(tro)view: Easter bunnies and gritty 80's TV

I Hate Pastel. There are a lot of reasons I dislike pastel, but Miami Vice is not one of them.  To be clear, Miami Vice was pure awesomeness.  I have multiple photos of me from that era in pastel t-shirts wearing linen jackets with the sleeves pushed up and my shades on low. Yes, I really rocked the Don Johnson look back then.  But today, I have this longstanding antipathy for anything pastel, at least at this time of year.  Let me tell you a story...It begins with the nest of the German Lapwing, commonly, but incorrectly, called a "Plover".

This is the nest of the Northern Lapwing, a bird common to Europe and, in particular, Bavaria.  You may notice it nests directly on the ground.  The eggs of the Lapwing suffer from two major problems: First of all, they are delicious. Second of all, being a ground nesting bird, it really does not require much skill to find a Lapwing nest.  Each spring in Bavaria children would be sent out to hunt for the eggs of the Northern Lapwing since it was an easy gathering task that even a small child could be moderately successful at. Because the Lapwing's nest is on the ground it was not uncommon to find a Hare (not a rabbit, but a cousin) that had taken over the nest for its own use... So children would often come across bunnies (although Hares really aren't bunnies) sitting on a basket (Lapwing nests look like baskets) filled with eggs at Easter time (you know: Spring).

At some point folks realized that eggs from the grocery store did not require sending your kiddies rummaging through the grass so the tradition of hunting for eggs at Easter fell to the wayside.  But the Germans, who never met a holiday tradition they didn't like (ever heard of Krampus?), decided that this whole thing was too fun to let go.  So the Easter hare began hiding eggs in Lapwing nests all around the house each year for der kinder to go and find.  As the years passed and the availability of both Hares and Lapwing nests waned  the tradition crossed the ocean to the good 'ol USofA where we have neither Lapwings nor many Hares....but we do have baskets and bunnies. Enter this guy...

The Easter Bunny.  The reason pastel makes my skin crawl a little. Don't get me wrong, I love the tradition.  It's fun, the kids love it, and the candy is always great.  It's just the notion that a fun tradition that was born of simple pleasures has come to nearly overshadow the whole nature of Easter with it's implacable pastel saccharine sweetness.      For me the colors of Easter are holy white and royal gold.  I want symbology that screams, "All hail the King! The Lord of the Universe!"  I want gravitas and grandeur.  I want pomp and circumstance.  Usually I get pastel bunnies and purple plastic grass....sigh. This is why I love the Triduum.

In case you come from a church tradition that did not have the Triduum, or maybe you are just unfamiliar with the word it means the three services of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Vigil.  Each service on each of the three days packs an astounding punch of deep, meaningful, soul shaping importance. On Thursday we see Jesus as he is about to be betrayed; washing the feet of the disciples and communing even Judas the betrayer with his body and blood. On Friday we take time to visit the last hours of Jesus' life and experience the crucifixion through the service known as The Tenebrae, or the Service of Shadows where the light of Christ in our building slowly goes out. Then on Saturday's Easter Vigil we meet outside in the dark to re-kindle the light with a bonfire and return into our sanctuary to re-light the church with the news of Jesus' escape from the grave. In truth it isn't three services but one service in three parts.  It is the anti-pastel. The wold cannot and will not approach the sanctity of these three days as the death and resurrection of Jesus is simply too powerful a thing to be overcome by sappy sentiment and worldly pursuits. I hope you spent this year celebrating Easter by prepping for all that pastel with the unabashed grandeur of the Triduum.  If you didn't then maybe next year you try a little Triduum...it's like insulin for your soul. As always if you liked this please comment or share.  Thanks.