Creative Ways to Celebrate Holy Week During Quarantine

Soon we will begin the week called “Holy” by Christian denominations. What will we do in this season of the coronavirus? How will we be ready for Easter?

These are the externals, although important, and are not all that Easter means. It will take some creativity to use what is in our homes and help our family celebrate. White hard-boiled eggs can be decorated with magic markers and put in a special bowl.  Wearing scarves and headbands by children can imitate the Jewish children who walked to Jerusalem with Jesus on a donkey. Palms can be branches from the back yard and carried by children and adults in the family. Tune everybody’s phone to the same spirited song and parade around the house pretending to follow Jesus to Easter. At the end of the parade, share grapes and cheese at the kitchen table.

As a child years ago, our family tried to be quiet on Good Friday from 1:00 to 3:00 pm which was remembered at the time Jesus was on the cross. A few activities could fill the time with a focus on quiet drawings, or composing a prayer for reading later to relatives on FaceTime. Using a large hairbrush as a pretend microphone and asking family members what Jesus was doing during his walk to the hill will allow imaginations to work in “interviews.” Don’t leave anyone out, including the pets in the home! Plan afterwards to make something for supper with everyone doing a part.

Saturday could be spent making the house ready for Easter with some cleaning or arranging furniture in new ways, baking cookies, decorating bags for a few neighbors with magic markers, their names and cotton balls on the behinds of the rabbits. A cupcake in the “Neighbor Bag” can be left at a few doors. “Egg hunts” work if eggs are cleverly hidden in the house.

We just might this year, with restrictions of family and place, make our remembrance during Holy Week meaningful in new ways for ourselves and children. These are not sober or pious celebrations. They can be imaginative and fun in new and familiar celebrations and will be remembered in years to come.
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Sister Karlyn Cauley, SDS

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