i remember one easter with plastic eggs that had “vouchers” inside (vouchers for things like a dozen munchkins from dunkin donuts haha), another easter with gold, silver and bronze eggs corresponding to different cash amounts, and another easter when we decorate our own eggs to hunt… and i tried to make a johnny depp egg by pasting cutout photos from a teenybopper magazine. haha.

I miss Easter celebrations in Phillippines. In Manila, Easter to me meant a lot of church going with my friends or family…. church in Paco, Baklaran, Makati, Quiapo, etc. The Holy Week was long, and sacrifice and self-denial were the orders of the day.

But I also remember a lot of singing, especially, in the chapel across the road at the end of our street. During Good Friday, there was a continuous singing of the “pasyon” in the chapel. The singing would start early on Friday, and would end in the early morning hours of Saturday. Although there was a “core” of singers, anyone who wanted to could just barge in and join in the singing.

At first, there would be a lot of singers. But as night comes, many adults would leave for home, and mostly young people would be left behind. After the “pasyon” of Jesus Christ has been told and retold, the singing would cease, and there would be “salabat” and “kakanin” for all, but no eggs! I remember that as we drink “salabat”, and tried as we might to be solemm and serious, my friends and I would be joking at each other and pointing fingers at those who were singing out of tune or “sintunado”. Then, after a little bit more tomfoolery, we would turn off the chapel lights, and walk home quietly in dark, still whispering at each other, but feeling morally uplifted and somehow deeply satisfied. As they say, “those were the days, my friend”…. Would I were back home in the PI drinking salabat and exchanging pleasantries with my friends!

Happy Easter everybody!

(To Dodi: Thanks loads. I really appreciate the “link”.)

https://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/how-to/how-to-make-pysanky-020447

When the kids started coming the annual Easter Egg Hunt became important.

However, what to do the eggs always became a problem.

Would like to get Erlinda to go to this website: http://www.buhiworldwide.com. The name of the Filipino aquaculturist is Bonifacio Comandante, Jr. Apparently, he was able to develop a technique which makes fish “sleep” for their transport abroad even without water.