News & Events
Celebrate Spring!
March 01, 2008
Celebrate the Season!
Recently a friend said that she believed March was the longest month of the year and she may be right. It has been such a long, cold winter that everyone I know seems to have developed a serious case of "Winter Blues". Are you sleeping more but not feeling rested, overeating, especially craving carbohydrates, experiencing anxiety, depression, joint pain or irritability? More than usual I mean. Then you too may be suffering from the "Winter Blues". One suggested treatment for the Winter Blues is to go to a climate where there is more sun!!! Not in your budget? Take heart, Spring is right around the corner... I hope. And in March there are a number of reasons to get out and celebrate. For example, St. Patrick's Day (17th) celebrate with green beer, the Vernal Equinox (a/k/a the first day of Spring) (20th) get out and take part in an Earth Day Celebration, Easter Sunday (23rd) exchange Easter Baskets and participate in an Easter Egg Hunt with family and friends, or, choose any of the other March Holidays and celebrate away (see list below).
Marching Bands and Green Beer
Celebrate St. Patrick's Day! It's a great day to be Irish, even if you're not!!! The day would not be complete without a meal of corned beef and cabbage, Irish soda bread and a pint (or several) of Guinness. And don't forget the parades. The first St. Patrick's Day parade was in Boston in 1737 and the one in Holyoke (our neighboring city) is still one of the largest in the country, second only to the one in New York City according to Wikipedia. You'll find parades in most major, and many smaller cities. Some get pretty interesting , like Chicago in 2005 when they dyed the Chicago river green. In Holyoke they paint shamrocks on the streets, and choosing of the colleen and her court is a huge social event. In addition to floats, and marching bands, including the Philadelphia Mummers, parade participants have included JFK and Jackie (1958), actor Pat O'Brian, actress Maureen O'Hara, Tom Clancy, various clergy, generals, astronauts, and of course, the contingent from the Greater Easthampton Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, of which I am a member.
In addition to the parade, there is a 10K road race, established in 1976 which was won by premiere runner, Bill Rogers. This year the race is expected to attract 3,000 participants, many of whom use this race to train for the Boston Marathon.
The Easter Basket
I was shopping in one of the Big Box Stores the other day, and of course I checked out their Easter Baskets. I don't know about kids today, but the baskets actually scared me! Some had to be 5 feet tall but when I looked closely, all I saw was a large piece of cardboard with a few pieces of candy attached. I remember the Easter Baskets we got when we were kids. They were so full of chocolates and toys that we couldn't lift them.
Being in the Gift Basket business, and having a curious nature, I decided to investigate the origins of the Easter Basket. I was surprised to learn that the Easter Basket is actually part of "Swieconka" (the blessing of Easter food). Our Easter Baskets were filled with candy and toys so I didn't occur to me that the Easter Basket had it's roots in this religious custom.
The blessing of the Easter food is a beautiful and meaningful custom in the Polish Catholic home. I remember my Mother setting out the Easter foods and the Parish Priest coming to our house to bless the table. Because the Priest from our church went house to to house, I didn't realize it was a more common practice for parishioners to place the food into a basket and bring it to the church for a blessing. These baskets were often decorated with ribbons and a sprig of greenery and covered with a colorful cloth.
Swieconka baskets contained symbolic foods such as: butter, horseradish, sausage, bread, salt, ham, cheese, eggs, bacon and a candle signifying the Light of Christ. The Easter tradition in my Mother's house has changed some over the years, but she still cuts a cross into a stick of butter and pours salt into a small dish. And of course we have plenty of babka bread from the Polish bakery and home made horseradish. There is still a basket filled with eggs on the table but today, the brightly colored eggs have "tattoos" of bunnies or chicks on them and Marshmallow Peeps add even more color to the arrangement!
When I think about it, at Laurel Mountain Basket Co. we have designed gift baskets with sausage, cheese, ham (canned of course) and even horseradish. However, most of our clients prefer their Easter Baskets to be filled with chocolate bunnies, peeps and jelly beans!
Still looking for a reason to celebrate? Just choose one or two days from the list below and have a great day!
marie
Dates to Remember:
- 1st Peanut Butter Lovers Day
- 2nd Old Stuff Day
- 3rd What if Cats & Dogs had Opposable Thumbs Day
- 8th International Women's Day
- 9th Get Over It Day
- 15th Ides of March
- 17th St. Patrick's Day
- 20th Extraterrestrial Abduction Day
- 22nd Goof Off Day
- 23rd Easter Sunday
- 26th Legal Assistants' Day
- 26th Make Up Your Own Holiday (really - I'm not making this one up!)
