Looking Back
Spring flowers, colorful candy and sunrise services made the occasion especially memorable.
Colorful candy and sunrise services at church made Easter memorable.
The Easters of my childhood were nothing like today. They were simple. Growing up in the ’50s, my sisters and I could always anticipate a visit from the Easter Bunny. As soon as these holiday goodies arrived in all the stores uptown, our father went shopping.
I couldn’t wait to rip the bags apart and dig out the black jelly
beans—the best kind. I finally figured out that we had so many sweets because Dad loved candy, and that was fine with me. Since we didn’t eat it every day, those treats were special.
On the spiritual side, though, the highlight of my Easters was those early sunrise services at Mount Pleasant C.M.E. Church in rural Hope, Arkansas. We got up long before daybreak, dressed in our best, piled into the car and headed off to church. I liked it when this holy day came in late April, as I preferred attending services on a warm, sunny morning when I didn’t have to wear a sweater over my pretty dress.
The air would be pungent with the sweetness of early spring. Daffodils bloomed up and down the highway—a sure sign that spring had brought Easter with her.
Like us, believers across the world would attend church before the break of dawn, in keeping with the spirit of Christ’s resurrection, when Mary Magdalene and the other women went to the tomb before the rising of the sun. When we gather on Easter morning, we are those women. We are looking for Him, too, as we commemorate the celebration of our risen Savior.
As the sun peeped into the windows at Mount Pleasant, the congregation began singing an old traditional Easter hymn, “He Arose.” I never saw that composition in any songbook. It may have been made up by the old-timers in those not-so-modern country churches. But as we worshipped in glorious song, Jesus’ resurrection became as real to me as though He arose that very morning.
Southern black women wear their finest to church anyway, but Easter was an extravaganza. I adored those sweet-smelling ladies in their fancy hats, frilly dresses with full petticoats underneath and the highest heeled shoes they could walk in. Those sisters strutted down the aisle proudly, as though they were marching in the Easter parade—heads held high, heels clicking and pretty dresses flowing in the gentle breeze.
Besides the “fashion show” at church, Easter was not as festive as Christmas. But the brightly colored eggs and candy, a beautiful new dress, the Easter Bunny, spring’s budding flowers and soft, green grass added beauty and simple joy to the occasion.