I hope everyone had a nice Easter holiday yesterday. Today is a new day and I have to go to work like many of you but in a way today still has that holiday feel. We can never have enough holidays in our busy lives and today should be a day for picnics and eating outdoors with family.
It rained yesterday but I made sure to ride my bicycle as I have almost every Easter for about thirty years. Because Easter comes at the start of springtime it is a time of renewal and I like to get out and stretch my legs after winter is done.
I suffered through many long winters back east and it was always a treat to get out on my bike for the first nice day of spring. Sometimes that was around Easter, sometimes not but on many occasions I would start out from home on my bike before daylight with headlights and taillights for Easter sunrise service. I made it a tradition with my local bike club in Maryland and I have done the same thing a few times since moving here to California.
But my first Easter on a bicycle was for sure the most memorable. That is when I discovered the after Easter holiday Italians call Pasquete. This was exactly thirty years ago and I was on a bicycle tour through southern Italy with my brother and our friend Gerald. We began our tour in Catania, Sicily and by the time we reached the area around Naples, it was holy week.
We rode our bikes through every little town along the way and we couldn’t help bit notice the occasional church procession. A number of these elaborate celebrations featured people in hooded costumes that made them look exactly like Ku Klux Klandsmen. Some costumes were red, some black and some white. I didn’t see any crosses burning but it was a little unnerving.
By Easter Sunday we had been through the Amalfi coast, Sorrento and Pompeii. Monday after Easter we found ourselves cycling through the beautiful countryside between Avelino and Gioia del Colle. We didn’t know that the holiday season continued, but we soon found out. Everywhere we went people were enjoying the outdoors with their families. We were invited to join many a table and feast on delicacies from proud cooks. It was like a rolling party all day long. We wondered why all of a sudden people were so welcoming to strangers in this beautiful country.
Later we found out that the day after Easter was a special day for outdoor feasting in Italy. Going out for a picnic in the countryside is especially popular but making a feast in your back yard is also popular. We drank home made wine, heard music from local musicians, conversed in our best yet inadequate Italian and had a roaring good time through a hundred miles of rolling vineyards strewn with blooming mustard plants. It was wonderful! That is how I learned about Pasquete. Happy Pasquete everyone!
