Celebrating Easter in the Home

Mrs. M

This article is from Marsha Johnson of the Ask Mrs. M column which will debut in May with an interview with Marsha Johnson. Marsha also hosts a lively Yahoo discussion group on Waldorf Homeschooling that can be found here.

Please send her your questions on Waldorf Homeschooling. You may leave them in the Comment section below.

Easter is approaching and in Waldorf schools we recognize this very important festival with a week before and a week after….on a break from school.

Two whole weeks. The first week is often a transition week, settling in, often traveling, kind of debriefing, doing all the house chores we have been putting off for months.

With the second week, we really do finally relax for at least part of the week, and then of course like good teachers, we spend the last few days getting ready for the back to school time.

Easter represents a true division in the time of the human on earth, it is a critical juxtaposition of the spirit world and the earthly world, when the being of Christ transformed the boundary of death into a living real experience. He transcended the boundaries of the finality of death.

Rudolf Steiner has many interesting things to say about the time of Easter and the Christ Being. Many groups do schedule a time of 3-4 social study to read aloud some of the Easter texts and marvel at the new insights (always new) on this event in history.

In the olden days, the Easter time was the start of the new year, putting away the past history and moving into a new epoch. Families still can sense this great moment and often traditional celebrations of Easter are carried forward into the present day, with ancient symboles of rabbits, chicks, eggs, and certain cultural foods….often spring vegetables like asparagus and fresh green peas.

I hope you will find time in the next few days to create traditions with your own family that will enhance your Easter experience, sacred shrine creations, nature table additions, dyeing of eggs, and setting of the Easter Table, the Easter procession, the quiet sober Maundy Thursday night, with Passover traditions too, we can find our own sorrow over the human state of being and then the fantastic realization that the end is not….the end!

Favorite recipes, home made eggs and treats, sweets like delicious fruit and nut studded Hot Cross Buns….what a wonderful way to greet the new season and celebrate our own victory as communal beings…

KID FAVORITE HOT CROSS BUNS

Ingredients and Directions:

• 1 cup soy or animal milk, heated to blood warm
• 1 T. dried yeast, stirred in
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1/3 cup brown sugar, organic
• 1 egg
• Add yeast to warm milk, stir well and add syrup and sugar. Let sit until bubbly and foamy. Beat in 1 egg.

Add:

• 1 1/2 cups wheat flour
• 1/2 cup spelt flour
• 1 t. salt
• 1 t. cinnamon
• handful of dried cranberries, another of diced chopped nuts, and another of organic chocolate chips.

Stir well and then turn out onto floured board and add more flour as needed until the dough is well kneaded and smooth, stretchy and not too sticky.

Roll into an oiled bowl and cover in a warm place and let rise until doubled. Punch down and form into 9 rolls and place into an oiled baking pan. Let rise again, about 20 minutes.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 25 minutes until well browned.

Cool.

Mix 1/2 cream cheese in a little baggie with a dollop of honey until blended. Use a zip lock baggie. Snip the corner of the baggie to make a small hole and then use the cream cheese to make x’s on top of each bun. Serve with scrambled or hard boiled eggs…..makes a great Easter Breakfast or Easter Tea treat!

Enjoy!

Marsha Johnson is a longtime Waldorf teacher and parent, the founder of Shining Star Waldorf school as well as two other Waldorf schools and the moderator of Waldorf Home Educators, a Yahoo discussion group. She is the Ask. Mrs. M Columnist and lives in Oregon with her husband.