A very special Easter
Happy belated Easter to everyone who celebrates!
Easter is a holiday that fills me with nostalgia. I remember waking up to attend Easter mass in my fancy Easter dress, then rushing home to try to find where the very clever Easter bunny (mom) had hidden our baskets. My brothers and I would be given the candy of course, but my mom always included books and quiz cards. I am increasingly grateful for her persistence in raising genuinely curious children...which is probably how I ended up here, in India, this Easter!
As the holiday approached this year I began to feel the tiniest bit of homesickness for those memories with my family. I was asking my coworker, Pearl, where to find the best church for Easter without realizing that she is also Catholic. There are pockets of Catholics around India and it is the largest Christian population within the country (around 1.55% according to Wikipedia). Without hesitation Pearl invited me to spend Easter with her family. After I insisted that I did not want to impose, I found myself in a cab on the way to a north suburb of Mumbai this Saturday dressed in my best kurti. Even the security guard at the apartment told me that I looked very Indian!
I arrived at her family's apartment and was greeted by her lovely mother and aunt. It is common in India for single women and men to live with their families until marriage, when they move in with their spouses. We spent the afternoon chatting, sipping some homemade chai, and preparing for the Easter vigil mass. Pearl's mother helped me to apply my very own bindi to my forehead and Pearl lent me some earrings to match my Kurti.
We headed out in a rickshaw to her parish, St. Thomas, and were dropped off in the field adjacent to the church. Pearl explained that the crowds were so large for the holidays that they set up thousands of chairs and hold mass outside. Seems like Christmas and Easter Catholics are, indeed, a global phenomenon! There was a full moon in the sky as we waited for the mass to begin. People arrived in their most beautiful saris, and little girls wore their Easter dresses. I estimate that there were at least a couple of thousand people there just for that mass alone. They also held four Easter masses on the following morning. The mass was over three hours long, but my attention never drifted. The readings were done in many different languages and the music had an Indian flare. It was an Easter I will never forget.
Following Easter vigil mass, we met with Pearl's friends to celebrate. There was so much excitement in the air about Easter that it was contagious. We were out until 5am, which was admittedly painful for me because I had woken up to start my half marathon training 24 hours prior. The night/morning ended when I finally declared that it would be our last song at karaoke because the sun would be rising soon. While it was an exhausting day, I would not trade the experience for anything!
On Easter Sunday we woke up after a few hours of sleep and had breakfast and coffee with her mom. The doorbell rang, and the neighbor children brought marzipan eggs over to exchange with Pearl. The joy on the childrens' faces when they were given their eggs was unforgettable.
We went to her aunt's apartment for Easter lunch with many members of her family. They were incredibly welcoming and there was such happiness in the air as everyone relished in the Easter celebration. We dined on traditional Indian food, which included mutton, and her aunt had made some delicious Indian desserts. The brownies that I made in my convection oven looked pitiful when placed alongside her Gulab Jamun, an Indian version of a donut hole. We sipped on wine from Cana that her aunt and uncle had saved for Easter and had a lovely afternoon together. When my cab arrived to take me home, I could not believe that it was time for me to leave!
I went for a short walk around my apartment building that evening to explore the beautiful Easter decorations outside. A wave of gratitude rushed over me for not only for this Easter, but for the willingness of complete strangers to treat me like family. I paused to look out over the Powai Lake as the sun was setting and couldn't help but think: life is pretty wonderful.
Cheers,
B
Chai and Indian sweets
With Pearl before Easter vigil mass
Close up of my bindi
1/4 of the seats before the crowds arrived
The altar
Some Easter candies
A walk down memory lane...Easter 1992