MARIAH LYNNE

EASTER FUN FOR EVERYONE!

Happy March! Happy Spring! St. Patrick’s Day. Daffodils. Tulips. And this year, the last day of March is one day away from Easter Eggs.

Yes Easter eggs. I love them. I love to color them in pretty pastels and share them with my friends and family. Of course I love to eat them. It’s hard to imagine but the tradition of coloring eggs goes back to ancient Egypt when during the spring festival of Sham el Nessim, a non- religious holiday still celebrated today, hard boiled colored eggs was a traditional picnic staple. It is believed that Egyptian Pharaohs hung dyed eggs in their temples to symbolize renewed life.

There are many spring holiday customs, but I learned about my favorite Easter egg tradition many years ago after I became engaged. My husband, who is of Armenian descent, taught me the Armenian Egg Cracking Game. One Easter week-end, we visited his Aunt Toorvanda who was getting ready for the holiday by baking her delicious rolls and dying eggs on the top of the stove in a large pot of boiling red onion skins. The eggs, now all the same color rose red, become harder with extra boiling and thus a more formidable competitor.

The competition is usually saved for after Easter dinner. The dyed eggs are placed on a platter in the center of the dining room table. The excitement builds. This is the Super Bowl for eggs.

First you must select your winning egg from the platter. The pecking order (bad egg joke) can be derived by seating position or maybe last year’s winner goes first whatever system is fair for everyone. Remember, you must choose wisely and look for an egg that’s lean with an elongated shape. After you select your champ (keep positive thoughts in mind), you must then select your competitor from those at the table. Draw straws, pick numbers or just say I want Uncle Adam.

Once you know who your competitor is, you have to decide who goes first. Flip a coin. But I’ve been told, it’s best if they go first. Remember this is serious stuff so getting as much good advice as you can, will only lead to victory.

Now hold the egg between your thumb and index finger of both hands so just the tip of the egg peers through the top. Make it as hard as possible for your opponent to crack your egg. Protect that egg with your index finger and thumb. Like football a good defense makes a strong offense. If your egg does crack, no worries, just flip it over and let them have another whack on the other side. Sometimes you can still win the match with one good side, but when both sides crack, you’re toast (Sorry).

If your egg does not crack, you move up the line of contenders until the last man standing has a perfect egg or one good side left. He or she is the winner!

What’s the prize? You get to eat your egg first and have good luck for the year, a prize worth coveting.

At our house, we still carry on this tradition each year only we use my favorite colored eggs and we compete at breakfast. Contestants pick their favorite color but the rest of the game remains traditional with a lot of fun and laughs!

I have since learned that other countries have similar traditions such as Greece, the Ukraine, and Estonia among a few .I would love to visit Armenia, but haven’t as of yet, but I have visited Estonia. The Estonians celebrate Easter in a big way as well with a big mid- day dinner, an Easter egg hunt, and egg painting. Similar to the Armenian tradition, the eggs are dyed with red onion skins or beetroot juice before setting them on a platter as a centerpiece for Easter lunch. After lunch, the egg cracking begins. If your egg is not cracked, you are the winner.

Very beautiful hand painted and decorated eggs are also part of Estonia’s traditions. I remember we went into a small coffee shop near Lake Bled and its castle and the proprietor hand painted the hollow eggs herself. To my surprise, my husband bought one and saved it for my Christmas stocking.

So this holiday, try something fun and different with your family. Celebrate with an egg cracking contest and start your own Armenian tradition.

Anglesey moat and castle in the heart of town- Wales.

Think St. Valentine’s Day has a lock on love? For most of us, this holiday does, but not for the Welsh. If you visit reading her compelling story, you’ll understand why.
Dwynwen, a 5^th century Welsh princess, was the most beautiful of King Brychan Brycheiniog’s twenty-four daughters. She fell head over heels in love with a handsome local young man named Maelon Dafodrill and the pair hoped to marry.
Tragedy, however, soon shattered their dreams when they learned they could no longer be together.
It seems that King Brychan had already arranged for the princess to marry another man, a prince. Maelon, of course, took the devastating news to heart; Dwynwen, broken-hearted and hoping to avoid this arranged marriage, fled into the woods to weep and pray to God for guidance. An angel visited her during her sadness giving her a sweet potion that would make her forget momentarily about Maelon while this same angel froze him in a thick block of ice.
God then answered her prayer and conferred on the princess three wishes. For her first wish, she asked that Maelon be thawed. Her second wish pleaded for God to help all true lovers; while the third asked that she never marry. Once all of her wishes were granted, Dwynwen, whose name means “she who leads a blessed life”, was so grateful, she became a nun and set up a convent on Llanddwyn Island, a scenic tidal island off the coast of Anglesey in North Wales. The picturesque ruins of her church remain on this small island and are visited by lovers of all ages during the year. They remember her favorite saying “Nothing wins hearts like cheerfulness.”
St. Dwynwen’s Day is by far the most romantic day in Wales, more so then Valentine’s Day which the Welsh celebrate as well. There are special cards, romantic dinners, and many hoping to propose present a most unique gift to their intended, a love spoon. The tradition of the love spoon is an old one, many think going back to men of the sea, who carved their beloved spoons of wood each with a specific intricate design on the handle. Keys, for example, are symbolic of a man’s heart. They then gifted the love spoon on St. Dwynwen’s Day to the woman they hoped to marry. This lovely tradition still holds true today with gifts of intricately carved spoons and spoon jewelry.
A few years back, I was fortunate to visit the beautiful island of Anglesey where my husband gifted me with a lovely love spoon necklace with a heart on its handle. Most recently, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle received love spoons during a recent royal visit to Cardiff, Wales. As we approach Valentine’s Day, let’s remember the date matters little, the gifts differ, but it’s the love in our hearts that really counts.
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Prior to visiting Anglesey, I visited my friends in Darbyshire, England. They took me to the most beautiful royal residence in Derbyshire called Chatsworth, the home of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. The manor house, surrounded by gardens, boasts over thirty rooms all furnished with valuable antiques and works of art. As we toured this lovely estate, my mind wandered wondering what life as an 18^th century duchess would have been like.
A few years later, I began to write THE DUCHESS’ NECKLACE. Of course her fictional manor was influenced by my visit to Chatsworth. My duchess, Amelia, does not fit the role of a royal woman of her time. She is feisty refusing to marry and relinquish her royal authority to a husband.
She soon meets and seduces a handsome young Time Traveler who steals her jeweled necklace, proof of her royal title. He Travels to the present to sell the jewels; she, with the help of a gypsy seer, follows hoping to find the scoundrel, kill him, and retrieve her title, but something called love gets in her way. Amelia is faced with the most difficult decision of her life. Love in the present or wealth and power in the past?