Eggs, Bunnies, and Hunts...Easter in the US of A

Are any of you familiar with the figure above? Many of you probably recognize this as a rabbit...yes, it is a rabbit, but it's a little different. It's actually the Easter Rabbit, or most normally called the "Easter Bunny." "Bunny" is an informal way of saying "rabbit," and it usually refers to a small or young rabbit. During Easter time in the United States, many people paint (or dye) eggs. These eggs are then hidden by the Easter Bunny. Look at one family's Easter creations:

As you can see from the photo on the right, eggs are dyed (or painted) using food-coloring mixed with water. By leaving the hard-boiled eggs in the colored water, after a few moments the shells take on the color.






On Sunday (Easter morning), children take their Easter baskets and "hunt," or search, for the eggs. Some of them are the dyed eggs and others are plastic eggs containing sweets inside.

It all makes more sense now, doesn't it? The sweets are the main motivation of the Easter egg hunt! Do you think all these children would be running so fast for hard-boiled eggs??

Celebrating Sebastian

The last two weeks have been filled with celebration...and quite the cultural experience for me! Before last year, I had never celebrated Saint Sebastian--in fact, I didn't even know he was celebrated at all! In the United States, we don't celebrate too many saints--the one that I'm most familiar with is the Irish Saint Patrick. I took advantage of being in Palma for this special event and had a great time eating on the street, going to free concerts, seeing a laser-light show in the Plaza del Cort, watching the parade of demons with their firecrackers, and an amazing fireworks show in front of the cathedral. I especially loved the torradas, or as I think we would say in English, the barbecues. While barbecuing in the United States most likely means eating hamburgers or hot dogs, I was perfectly satisfied with my sobrasada and chorizo. How delicious!

...But did I mention the most special part of these celebrations for me? I've also been celebrating another Sebastian. The newest member to my family and the one that has made me an aunt! My little nephew is the son of my sister, and my parents' first grandchild. Born on January 4th, here's a photo of him in his first weeks of life:


How cute is he?!

I hope you all--like my nephew--had a wonderful San Sebastián!