Easter

Happy Easter season to all my readers.

I’m taking a short break for the weekend and will see you again on the other side!

Maundy Thursday 1957

Maundy Thursday, the Thursday before Easter, is when the sovereign hands out specially minted coins to selected people – one man and one woman for each year of his or her reign. It is distributed at a different cathedral each year. Symbolic of giving alms to the poor it was traditionally given to poor parishioners of the diocese but usually nowadays it is presented to those who have given long-term service to their church or community on the recommendation of the clergy.

Here is my poem from the poetry group’s Platinum Jubilee collection on the subject, a recollection from my childhood:

Maundy Thursday 1957

The year St Alban's Cathedral
was the venue for the distribution
of the Maundy Money
by the Queen.

An incomplete memory
and questions linger; I mean
why was I at school that day
so near to Easter? Surely it should
have been a holiday!

I do not remember the weather
though I think the day was fine and clear.
Nor do I remember what she wore,
you couldn't really see that well
as she sat in the car.

The brief memory of an eight year old;
I recall we stood in line,
beside the road along her route,
in our school uniforms (brown and gold),
waving out flags and cheering

while the Queen was driven slowly past,
on her way through our small town,
sitting in the back of her black limousine,
smiling and waving.

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Easter Break

I’m taking a short break over the Easter weekend but will be back in the middle of next week. I wish you all a Happy Easter.

Easter

Easter
arrives early
this year, yet
Winter’s grip does not
relent.

Easter Day Quotes

“On Easter Day the veil between time and eternity thins to gossamer.”
— Douglas Horton

“Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection, not in books alone but in every leaf in spring-time.”
— Martin Luther

Shrove Tueday Elfje

Shrove
Tuesday, Pancake
Day. Lent begins.
The days lengthen towards
Easter.

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Lent: An Old English word meaning ‘lengthen’. It simply refers to the fact that the days get longer during Spring. This was adopted by the Christian church to refer to the time Jesus spent in the wilderness. On Shrove Tuesday people would attend church to be ‘shriven’ of their sins before a period of fasting leading up to Easter. All  foods forbidden during ‘Lent’, which begins on Ash Wednesday (tomorrow) would be eaten up beforehand so the custom of making up eggs and milk into pancakes came about.

For more information about the Elfje form please visit Simply Elfje and check out the “About” page.

An Easter Quote

“The Lord of all things lives anew
and all his works are rising too.
Hosanna in excelsis.”

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Lines from an Easter song I learned at school.

Eostre

Greetings to thee
Eostre, goddess of the dawn,
of new beginnings and fertility.