Southern Easter Traditions

Does your family ever play "remember when?" "Remember when Momma and Dad would take us to see Santa Claus every year at the mall?" "Remember when we would drive around looking at Christmas lights?" Traditions are important. Most families, regions, and countries have traditions that feed the culture of its people. The South is no different.

Easter is a special time in the South. For generations every good and respectable family in the Bible Belt belonged to one of the town's many church congregations. UMC, FBC, A&E, or Presbyterian - it wasn't just a church. It was and is a community centered social gathering place. Easter being the most holy time in the church, Easter is also a time for Southerners to entertain, socialize, and carry on with traditions.

• New church clothes are a given. Girls get new dresses. Always. And sometimes a sweet hat, too. Boys get new suits. In the South we love seersucker and bow ties. That's as southern as it comes. 
• Egg dying is done every year. Now there are kits to glitter and glitz your eggs or wrap them in camouflage shrink wrap. But egg dying used to be an art form that took hours, even days to complete.
• Easter baskets that the Easter Bunny hides are essential for the kids. A chocolate bunny, jelly beans, and a sweet stuffed rabbit are most likely to be found in one of these.
• Egg hunts are an opportunity to socialize, show off your Easter finest, and take priceless pictures. If you've seen the movie Steel Magnolias, you have seen what a true southern egg hunt is like.
• Easter dinner. In the south we feed you. We'll feed you at every opportunity. We love you with food. Easter dinner is a tradition all in its own. For more details on that check out my post here.
• The highlight of Easter is our time spent at church. Families bring flowers from their gardens to add to the cross at church. Sunrise services are popular all around the South.

 I hope that you will feed your family with tradition. Feed their memories and "remember whens." But also important, I hope that you will feed them with the meaning behind the traditions and why it is important to keep our traditions and culture alive.

Hoppy Easter to you!
XOXO,
Abby

Photo Credits:  

http://imgend.com/5KeDj6Di

http://scprep.tumblr.com/post/21662508448

http://fineartamerica.com/featured/cross-of-flowers-renee-trenholm.html

http://www.fabulousfindsstudio.blogspot.com/

http://dreamywhites.blogspot.com/2012/03/our-easter-egg-dying-experimentmaking.html

http://www.flickr.com/photos/goannatree/5915626717/

http://www.marthastewart.com/274848/easter-basket-ideas/@center/276968/easter

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/brown-sugar-bourbon-glazed-ham-50400000111509/

The Southern Easter Menu

I love Springtime. If I could only find a sunny spot to sit in and let the warmth sink into my bones, I would. But this season of gray simply will not go away. Groundhog stew, anyone?

Here it is time for Easter, and all of the Easter dresses are sleeveless, the sandals are open-toed, and the suits are made of thin cotton seersucker. Oh, where are you warm rays of sunshine?

I wanted to share the traditional Southern Easter menu with you. Homes across the Deep South, as well as homes that long to be in the Deep South will spread these tried and true dishes on their family dining table to celebrate the Resurrection.

Ham - The star of the show, try this wonderful Brown Sugar - Bourbon Glazed Ham from Southern Living.

Southern Potato Salad - You simply must have this recipe in your back pocket for everything from Easter dinner to family barbeques. What makes it "southern?" Check out the recipe from Add A Pinch.

Deviled Eggs - The perfect solution for what to do with all those dyed Easter eggs! The folks at Mr. Food have an egg-cellent recipe. There are so many ways to prepare deviled eggs. In addition to this traditional recipe, this year I'll also be making some with hummus and some with guacamole.

Ambrosia - Ambrosia literally means "food of the gods." But if you ask me, it means "South in Your Mouth." This traditionally southern food can be found at Easter dinner, picnics, barbeques, and bridal showers. Like so many of our southern recipes, this one varies from table to table. Here is a great version at The Country Cook that is simply lovely.

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake - Don't be fooled. The ambrosia was not considered your dessert. But a pineapple upside-down cake is! One of our family favorites and requested almost as much as banana pudding, here is a recipe from Southern Living that you can pass down to generations.

Sweet Tea and Lemonade - Don't forget to quench your thirst with these two southern staples. Return to Sundays Supper has a sweet (pun intended) recipe for lemonade that can't be beat.


Most of these dishes can be prepared in advance. If you are attending a church service, plan ahead so that you can come home and enjoy a beautiful stress-free luncheon.

Hey Y'all, if you like this post and found it to be even the teensiest bit handy, would you please "pin" it? Please and thanks y'all.

XOXO,
Abby

P.S. If you are taking deviled eggs to a dinner at someone else's house, you really must have a deviled egg plate. Those suckers are slippery and won't be pretty when you arrive. I like this one:

Easter Mantle Ideas

 I've decorated our mantle for Easter. And, as always, I've used a mixture of new and old. That's the best way, don't you think? If everything was vintage or antique, we'd be missing out on some of the great new decorative items out there. And I love shopping way too much to do that. ;)

I like how effortless it looks. A lot of it was pulled from "shopping" in other rooms in the house. The only things that are always on the mantle are the antique mirror and the clock, everything else was borrowed from other places in the house.

Here you can see how I combined new and old.

What's "old?" The Fire King hobnail milk glass vase, the Brush-McCoy robin's egg blue egg & dart dish, the picture of my great-grandparents.

What's "new?" The garland, the eggs, the rabbit plaque, and the picture frame.

Sometimes when I am putting together a vignette or mantle, I simply walk around the house looking for certain colors. These old books were the perfect spring time color for the mantle.

Here are some other mantles that I found on Pinterest. I think they're lovely, don't you?

This one is from marthastewart.com. I like that it uses different shades of just pink and blue. 

This one is from Tattered & Inked. I love the mix of natural wood and burlap with the bright colors of the eggs.

Here is another one from Emerald Interior Design. It's fresh, simple, not too busy, and it will definitely carry past Easter and through Spring.

Finally, this was was too bright and cheerful to leave out. It's from Positively Splendid, and it is. Positively Splendid.

I hope you've been inspired to create a beautiful Easter mantle of your own. I found all of these lovely ideas on Pinterest. Join me there!

XOXO,
Abby