Watching a Mary Berry cookery programme on television in-between trying to hang the washing to dry on Friday night I realised that Lent is nearly over and I haven't really given a thought to Easter. Today is Palm Sunday and it really is time to start !
Usually I am on holiday over the Holy Week but this year because Easter is so early I shall be working up until Maundy Thursday and that does feel a little strange. It is at times like these that I do fall back on little family things that we have done to make this week special with the children. Today my youngest said that he was too old to make the usual bread cockerel but that he wouldn't mind eating one at lunch, so I guess we have come full circle back to 30 years ago when I first made one for the baby ShoestringUSA.
What is a bread cockerel ? It is a tradition in some parts of the world to decorate a cross on Palm Sunday with sweets and streamers and top it with a sweet bread cockerel. The children carry the crosses in procession singing Easter songs and then eat the cockerel at the top (or share with their family if it is a big one !) Gradually over Holy Week the streamers and sweets are removed and by Good Friday all that is left is the wooden cross which has been planted in a bowl of seeds which have just started to sprout into green. By Easter Sunday the seeds have made a nice grassy bed for a few chocolate eggs !
The cockerel also reminds us of Peter's anguish as he realises that he has denied knowing his friend 3 times in one night just as his friend told him he would. But his friend still laid sown his life for him.
Do you have any special traditions for Holy Week ?
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