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These grandmothers are bringing Easter cheer despite Covid-19 lockdown
Ask the grandmothers and they’ll tell you about special Easter traditions and how they’re keeping up the cheer this year
After the lengthy Lenten season comes one of the most joyous celebrations in the Catholic church. Easter at home means the exchange of colourful Easter eggs, bunnies or chickens made from marzipan. But this delicious recipe, though innovated in a number of ways, is a tedious process that only the grandmothers might tell you about. Grandmamas are known to keep traditions alive. And this year, with the Covid-19 lockdown dampening Easter spirits, it is the grandmothers who are yet again keeping up the cheer in small ways.
For Goa-based Christine D’Silva, Easter begins with the service on Maundy Thursday. “After mass, we would prepare the hot cross buns and even begin preparations for the Easter eggs,” says D’Silva. The grandmother of a two-year-old grandson says the whole family would attend a Sunday morning Easter mass — the only English mass in Goa, after which the festivities would commence. “I would let each of my kids decorate their eggs with brightly coloured icing and sugar flowers,” she says. But due to the lockdown owing to the coronavirus pandemic, D’Silva says she is saving the groceries for necessities and may only make a limited number of Easter eggs this year. Now, she tells us, her eldest daughter carries on the Easter tradition with her firstborn.
Special traditions
Ann Lynn Fernandes’ artist name was inspired by a nickname her grandkids gave her. Gama Lynn has painted a number of unique paintings, which are on display in her apartment in Khar. She tells us that as her grandkids couldn’t pronounce the word ‘grandma’, she decided to shorten it for them. And this septuagenarian artist has unique gifts for all her four grandchildren and children this Easter — individual portraits that she painted herself. Some of her creations include an earthy-toned iguana she fashioned out of a log she found on the road, which she also wants to include in the gifts.
“I wanted to do something different. I know I will not last forever but I’m hoping my art will,” she says. Having missed the regular Easter vigil mass and family lunch they do every year, Gama Lynn, 74, says she is “the happiest” when her grandkids staying abroad call her for recipes or other inquiries.
Josephine Soares, 71, has her own unique tradition. Known to her eight grandkids as ‘Josephine Nana’, she proudly proclaims, “Whatever I cook comes out well.” The inventor of 3-in-1 cake, Josephine Nana has been making this cake with walnuts, cocoa powder and other ingredients she finds in her cabinet. The result is always a lip-smacking dessert that she shares with her family. But the Andheri-based resident is still undecided on what she will put into the cake this year as groceries are in short supply. “I will want to still bake the cake so I will rummage around in the cabinets and see what I can whip up,” she laughs.
