“I read the Scriptures at the American Cathedral on Christmas and Easter; that’s it. It’s a task I love.”
Olivia de Havilland, actress, age 102
There’s an old black and white photograph when I’m about 2 or 3 years old, glued in a faded album. Mother must have taken the photograph because my father is squatting beside me as I hold my Easter basket. The expression on my face is one of confusion as if I’m not quite sure why I have a bonnet on my head, white gloves on my hands and a dress that sticks out in every direction. Every Easter until the day he died, my dad would sing Irving Berlin’s song — “In your Easter bonnet with all the frills upon it, you’ll be the grandest lady in the Easter parade.”
I believe I always had and will always have an Easter dress. This Easter I ordered the same dress four times from a popular online retailer. Every time I ordered the in-stock dress, three days later I received an email saying my dress was no longer available. Finally, I called customer service and explained I felt like I was bidding on this dress and losing. Three days later the dress arrived. My intense preoccupation with an Easter dress sparked my curiosity, where did the idea of an Easter dress begin? Is there really an Easter parade?
Seems the idea of new Easter attire signified the end of Lent, renewal of the year, coming of spring and continuation of a European custom of new clothes and hats for sacred and special occasions. Even if your new dress was fashioned from a printed flour sack or remade from another dress or curtains, or bought fabric from the general goods store, it was new and special and later became your “Sunday best.”
As for Irving Berlin’s “Easter Parade” song, it took Berlin 15 years to write and was first performed in a 1933 Broadway musical revue, “As Thousands Cheer.” Then in 1948, the song was made famous in the movie “Easter Parade” featuring Fred Astaire, Judy Garland, Peter Lawford and Ann Miller. Multiple internet sources still provide access to the movie. But was it just a movie, or was there a real Easter parade?
Sometime during the mid-1880s in New York City, alongside the magnificent edifices of the Fifth Avenue churches, a spontaneous walk-along took place with ladies and gentlemen in their finest attire and flamboyant hats strolling along the avenue after church services. It was a showing of respect and attention to the occasion as well as a spring fashion show. The churches were awash in floral displays and everyone was welcomed. The spontaneous event eventually became an official Easter parade that in 1947 attracted over a million people. New York City no longer hosts an official Easter parade, but streets are still blocked off, there is a spontaneous gathering, and Fifth Avenue churches continue Easter displays.
The original parades are also a possible link to two Biblical processions, the triumphant entry on Palm Sunday and the road to Calvary, also referred to as the Stations of the Cross.
Who knows, perhaps there could be a spontaneous community Easter parade with bonnets and all the frills upon it.
Email reaches Shannon Bardwell of Columbus at [email protected].
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