By Anja Porto
I was born in Denmark and married an American/Italian. Between us, we have a lot of traditions that we would like to pass to our children and grandchildren.
And Easter is perhaps the most tradition-heavy holiday. We get ashes on our foreheads every Ash Wednesday to remind us that from ashes we came and to ashes we will return. We each set different goals for Lent, such as helping others, praying, or giving more. We may also give up ice-cream, candy, or soda as a silent sacrifice to demonstrate our love for God.
One of the traditions I grew up with is called “guessing letters.” These letters contain a hand-written poem that the sender would sign by writing one letter of their name per line. It was tradition to include a little white bell flower inside. The receiver (usually your aunt or grandma) would guess who wrote it. My relatives would make believe they did not know who sent the letter. This resulted in their purchasing a chocolate egg for me at Easter. If they guessed that I sent it, I would have to buy a chocolate egg for them.
In my house, we color the eggs as we always did in Denmark, making very small holes in the shell in both ends of the egg, then putting our lips to one end and blowing. The contents of the egg exits through the other hole (and we save it to use in baking).
Our whole family of 16 recently gathered to paint the blown-out eggs. Using acrylic paint, we make beautiful designs on the delicate eggshells, which we then tie to tree branches cut from the backyard. (After we dry the paint on some of them with a blow-dryer.) We use the branches to create an indoor Easter tree. To tie up the eggs, we take a match stick, break it in half, and tie thread around it, which allows us to insert it into the top hole of the egg. Then we can hang it on the branch.
The rest of the house is decorated with little yellow chicks and fresh spring flowers. I love having a small vase with yellow tulips or daffodils.
In keeping with my mother-in-law’s Italian side, we make the Easter lamb. We take many different cuts of lamb, cover them with cheese, parsley, garlic, a little red wine, and plum tomatoes and bake until it is nice and tender. Accompaniments include mushrooms, mashed potatoes, and a green salad. For the Danish part of the meal, I make baked ham with all the trimmings.
Dessert is all Italian at our table. There are Easter tarallis, a type of cookie with anise icing, coconut cream pie, and the latest addition from our daughter-in-law, Nutella triangle cookies. We spend hours around the table eating and chatting. In between, the kids hunt for Easter eggs, which gives the adults a chance to stretch our legs.
The kids have so much fun. After all, it is all about traditions.
Anja Porto, a Rye Record photographer, and her husband, Robert, own Rye Camera Shop.
