Shopping for Easter Eggs & Much More, Faithful Gearing Up for ‘Easter Feast’ in City
Mangaluru: With Mangaluru called as the “Rome of the East”, with a large Christian/Catholic population and an avid holiday vibe, festivals like Christmas and Easter have always been celebrated with great enthusiasm and collective happiness. With families venturing out to have a good time over the long weekend, restaurants and bakeries in the city have put on some of their finer colours and to serve a more elegant fare. With the sad days after Good Friday being over on 19 April, the joyful celebration of Christ being Risen called “Easter” which is just around the corner on Sunday, 21 April, and Mangaluru is gearing up to host some fanciful culinary and bakery/cakes extravaganzas, and the Christian/Catholic faithful are all geared up for the big shopping spree, buying the Easter goodies, meat items like Dukra Mass (Pork) , Mutton, Chicken and B….?, and all other necessities to make the “Easter Sunday” a ” Happy Day”!
Easter is more than just a long weekend. It’s also the perfect time to celebrate the ‘goodness’ of Easter and by that we mean the ‘goodies’ of Easter, and for those having a major sweet tooth, you can’t resist a good Easter treat from various bakeries & pastry shop sin the City, and one among them being Vas Bakery, Bendore managed by Bryan Vas, where in lieu of our greed, you can celebrate the love of Easter. Goodies, eggs and cakes, Bryan and his Bakers have to offer. And if you are not cooking at home on Ester Sunday, then head on to the “BEST EASTER BRUNCH” in town at Hotel Taj Gateway, Old Port/Bunder Road, Mangaluru, where they are putting up quite a special show this Sunday with a gourmet buffet spread, including unlimited “Cold Ones”? -and of course, live acoustic music by Linus. A special hospitality and Easter treat by General Manager Peter Nirmal and his Team, is all ready to welcome you at the Taj!
When I was a kid I had no idea what a Easter Egg was, but these days Easter like Christmas has become so commercialized that Easter is incomplete without Easter Eggs, Easter Bunnies, and other fancy goodies. And especially for kids these days, the meaning of Easter is to crack open Easter eggs and eat the candies stuffed inside them ? Since couple of days, Mangalorean Christians have been hopping around the city to grab some Easter eggs and other Easter goodies. Few bakeries/pastry shops in town have been selling Easter eggs and other goodies, like Easter bun with a cross on it etc; etc; pertaining to Easter. And all the owners/managers of these stores said that the business is brisk, with people shopping for variety of Easter eggs, cakes, candies, pastries etc. Most of these decorated Easter eggs are either made of chocolate, vanilla, chocolates and marzipan.
Sources reveal that the tradition of Easter eggs was introduced in Mangaluru by the Britishers who lived in this coastal town before India got Independence. The story behind the Easter egg is that – the hard shell of the egg is believed to be the sealed tomb of Jesus Christ and the cracking the egg symbolizes Christ’s resurrection from the dead. And the fun part is that the children are made to believe that Easter bunnies (rabbits) bring Easter eggs and hide it in the house or the house yard/garden. ( For that matter the “bunnies” happen to be kids parents/relatives/teachers). Although Easter Egg Hunt is not so popular in Mangaluru- the ” Rome of the East”, but in many Christian countries, especially USA, there’s no Easter celebration without a ‘Easter Egg Hunt. Even the President of United States participates with the kids during the Easter Egg Hunt, that takes place annually during Easter at the White House lawn.
Talking to Bryan Vas of Vas & Son/Bakery-Bendore, where he said, “This year Easter Eggs sale has been brisk, since we had 5-6 different colours of eggs. These days demand for Easter eggs and other modern Easter goodies are growing, ever since we started making these eggs few years ago. This year we have prepared over 1000 Easter eggs, and most of them are already sold, and will add few more until Easter Sunday afternoon, since we close at 1pm. We also sold many ‘Easter Buns with Cross on it’ named as “Hot Cross Buns, since it is very popular item during Easter, among Catholic families. There has also been a huge demand for home-made wine and rum/raisin cakes. Each Easter egg is priced between Rs 40 and above depending on the size”.
People in queue to buy Dukra Mass (Pork)- a must for the Mangalorean Easter Meal?
Ullhas Rasquinha, Proprietor of Gerosa Company said, “There has been great demand for the relics/statues of Risen Christ, and this year we had a large collection in various sizes and colors. Demand for these items are from Churches and religious organizations. At Easter we celebrate the joy of the Lord, the joy of Jesus’ resurrection. But lately the real tradition of Easter has been lost, instead it has been very much commercialized like Christmas, where its all about Easter goodies and cakes”.
Easter Hot Cross Buns
As Easter Vigil Eucharistic ceremony is held at various Churches in City, Church volunteers are see giving a final touch to the arrangements. At St Sebastian Church-Bendore where the Easter Vigil is scheduled for 7 pm tonight ( 20 April), the Bethany Sisters and the lady members of Legion of Mary of Bendore Church, are busy in setting the Altar backdrop, and other settings. At Rosario Cathedral, the arrangements are getting ready for the Easter Vigil mass, where Bishop of Mangaluru diocese Rev Dr Peter Paul Saldanha will celebrate the Mass, and after the Easter Vigil, the Bishop will release the boo on “Constitution of India” translated in Konkani (Kannada Script) in the presence of Roy Castelino and Sushil Noronha, Co-Convener and the Secretary and other members of the Diocesan Citizens Awareness and Development Committee respectively.
With a bunch of themed cupcakes, Easter has never been cuter this year. Along with Easter cookies and cake pops, the Easter cupcakes will leave you drooling for more, especially the fondant bunny ears atop a lovely chocolate base. With so much fun and frolic that will be going on for Easter, enjoy a happy Easter with some of the amazing food options, goodies in the true spirit of EASTER. Team Mangalorean wishes our readers Easter greetings in advance- “Happy Easter to you and your family. May you enjoy a joyful and lovely Easter holiday filled with the Lord’s contentment”.
