No not the woman with the funky hat! Gee whiz how could she, she doesn't have arms.
In France there is no such thing as the Easter Bunny. No bunny! Can you imagine Hallmark without a bunny? It sure burst my bubble when my children were little to find out such nonsense, "No bunny?" Culture shock set in. You see in France the bunny is just something my neighbors eat, in France it is the Church Bells that bring the Easter eggs. I love the tradition…the Church Bells spread the Easter eggs far and wide.
On Good Friday the Church Bells all over France stop ringing. Instead they take wing and fly to the Vatican to gather the Easter Eggs, then they return on Easter Sunday morning.
We live next door to a church, we hear the bells ring at least 372 times a day or more. You see, or I should say you hear the Church Bells ring every hour twice. For example if it is ten in the morning or in the evening, the church bells ring ten times once, then a few moments later they ring ten times again. They also ring twice every half hour. They ring sadly forty times for a funeral, joyfully around a hundred times for a wedding, and they ring a million times when there is Mass, which is everyday. The Church Bells are part of the texture of living in a French village.
On Holy Friday the bells in France grow silent. Silence seems odd, not golden. Silence means that the spirit has left. I miss the bells: The constant reminder that the day is going by, that life is changing and transforming lives.
On Easter Morning, the Church Bells in France will ring endlessly. And as they ring the Eggs that they have gathered they will be scattered across France to every city, hilltop village, garden, home, and bedside.
Maybe they scatter eggs to the Easter Bunny too… at least that is what I told my children.
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