“If I remember correctly, I’m crying in every photo I have of me encountering the Easter bunny,” I shared with my wife as we contemplated the upcoming holiday. She was showing me a slideshow of terrified children next to horrifying Easter bunnies, and I began to wonder why people subject their children to this. Photo after photo showed people in demented looking rabbit costumes that I can only hope were homemade. Without fail, the children’s faces demonstrated their fear quite clearly.

Before Gracelyn was born, several people recommended to us that we intentionally establish traditions with our little girl. I remember people’s faces lighting up in one of our parenting classes as they shared traditions that their families instilled in them, and my mind daydreamed what those traditions will be for Gracelyn. Here we are, a few days from a major holiday, and we’ve done nothing to celebrate our daughter’s first Easter. Sure, she won’t remember it, and she’s probably too small to actually do anything, but I feel like it’s important to do something so I’ll be really committed to continuing the tradition next year.

Growing up, Easter meant visiting my grandparents on my mom’s side, delicious blueberry muffins (made from a box), having my photo taken with that terrifying bunny, lots of chocolate, and dyeing easter eggs somewhere along the way. Sera’s traditions included going to church, having a big lunch, and if she was in Madagascar, that lunch probably included a rabbit. The dinner table is probably a more appropriate place for a rabbit than in a photograph with screaming children.

In the spirit of creating traditions, I thought it’d be relevant to share some of the meanings behind the symbols of Easter. While it was a wonderful thought, I didn’t realize the complexities that come with the history of this holiday. Different symbols stem from various cultures and locations around the world, and even understanding where the symbol might come from doesn’t indicate any definitive reason why that symbol was chosen.

Many cite the name “Easter” as coming from the name “Eastre,” a god of spring. The rabbit and eggs are both symbols of fertility, but might have been chosen entirely for other reasons. Dyeing eggs might stem from a Russian tradition where royalty would give each other expensive, decorated eggs. In my quick research, I also discovered that some countries completely ignore the Easter bunny and have other animals represent the holiday. Even the date of Easter is decided in a peculiar way. Easter is the first Sunday after the paschal full moon that occurs on or after the vernal equinox. This means Easter can occur between March 22 and April 25 on any given year and is loosely tied to Passover. Did that clear anything up for you?

Unfortunately, knowing this historical perspective hasn’t exactly helped me along the journey of identifying what our family traditions might be for Gracelyn. Will it be dyeing Easter eggs? Sera thinks that could be too messy. Perhaps an extravagant Easter egg hunt will be more our preferred tradition. This Sunday marks two months since Gracelyn was born, so maybe it’d make sense for us to have a photo taken with that enormous bunny at the mall just to commemorate that milestone (but I’m not holding my breath on that one). No matter what, we need to do something to think more about the traditions we want our daughter to be excited about as she grows up.

What are the traditions you fondly recall from your childhood? Don’t forget to celebrate them in your adulthood. Sometimes we regulate our childhood fun to mere memories when we could instead be actively participating in creating new moments to cherish. I hope this Easter weekend you’re able to have a moment worth remembering for next year. Gather your friends or family together and start a new tradition – that’s what the Knutson’s will be doing.

 

Matt Knutson’s column appears in the Tribune every Friday.