EASTER’S GONE CRACKERS

One old (and nearly forgotten about) Easter tradition is that potatoes should be planted on Good Friday.

Apparently Catholics planted potatoes on Good Friday in order to make them holy – and therefore OK to eat – and the seed potatoes were often sprinkled with holy water before being planted.

Another theory for Good Friday planting is that Good Friday was the first day off for many after Christmas, and therefore it was the first chance for gardening.

And another explanation has links to another age-old tradition of ‘gardening by the moon’.

Although a lot of people think this method is purely based in folklore and superstition, there is also scientific research to support the findings. It is fascinating.

At it’s most basic, it is thought that just as tides are highest at the new and full moons, gardening by the moon works on the premise that water also rises in the soil at this time and that seeds absorb most water at a full moon.

It appears that Good Friday is always a good day in the cycle of the moon to plant root crops.

But it seems we are getting bored with these age-old traditions and replacing them with newer ones – Easter crackers, Easter wreaths and decorated Easter trees.

According to research by the retail analysts Mintel, Easter was estimated to be worth £550m to UK retailers in 2016, and the figure is rising. In 2021, almost one in 20 Britons brought home decorations for Easter, rising to one in 10 between the ages of 25 and 40, and it’s predicted that this year, with social distancing rules no longer imposed, householders will be buying even more decorations.

Retailers sold out of ‘Easter egg kits’ weeks ago and it seems that chocolate eggs are being overlooked in favour of painted, decorated ones and even eggs beaded with Fabergé-inspired designs – all of which are used to adorn special Easter twig trees. At John Lewis, sales of Easter trees are reportedly up 65%. Really?

It’s a fad – I mean ‘tradition’ – that has passed me by thankfully.

It seems that Easter will soon be the new Christmas. ‘Eye-roll’.