An Easter Without Chocolate Bunnies

My Easter Weekend
This is my third Easter that I have spent out of the US. I spent one in England on a high school trip, one in Japan with Jen and now here one in Samoa. Over the years I have had a lot of memorable Easters from our many Easter egg hunts growing up, spending time with family, my Easter dinners with Brandi while in our apartment in Laramie, learning how to shoot prairie dogs in Sheridan with Jamie’s family, and many more. This year was more of a learning experience for me.
I have always thought of Easter being a Christian holiday, and I thought all Christians celebrate and observe it. On Good Friday I learned that is not the case. When I inquired about this to someone they said it is hard to follow something when the date changes from year to year. It is sometimes in March, sometimes in April. When someone dies it should be the same day each year. I am sure there are other reasons, but that was the only answer I got at this time.
On Thursday, the day before our Easter break, school was eventful. In the morning the four teams of students gathered in different rooms to practice their skits and singing performances. I got bored of moping around the teachers room (I was still sick) so I travelled to the different rooms. The kids all invited me to join in with their songs and for some strange reason asked me for help with their dance moves (have they ever seen me dance well?).
The students all gathered inside the classroom with it’s walls down to do their performances. Two of the teachers acted as a judge and one of them decided it would be fun to act like Simon from American Idol…only bringing it to a new level by saying he was from China. The groups took turn and did a great time. I saw Jesus die four times, and all groups were remarkable. The teachers had three categories that they were rating the students in and gave out trophies to the three group leaders. (The trophies were reused time and time again, as one was a soccer trophy, another was an academic one and the third was something else.)
On Good Friday I was too ill to go to church, and this is when I learned that only one of the 4 churches in my village observes Good Friday.
Saturday I went to my Seventh Day Adventist Church. Our fai’fe’au is the pastor for a few different villages which makes him an incredibly busy man. Saturday the three churches met together which was a nice change. There is a great sense of family as although we may be villages apart, everyone still knows each other, and they welcomes all of us by name when we entered. It was also nice as normally the church boasts around ten people, but for that day it was packed.
Towards the end of the lotu, all the women gathered in one room and the men in another. They explained that they were going to have the bread and wine that represented Jesus but they first had to show how they were humble. To be humble, they washed one another’s feet. It felt nice to me to have a foot massage for the minute, and I gladly returned the favor.
After lotu we all had to’ogani together, and it is so sad to see a feast of amazing foods when you cannot eat most of it. Some of it because I was doing my best to observe Passover, and the rest because I still was not feeling 100%. I still had an awesome chat with the pastor’s wife and learned about her family in Fiji, Fijian sports, and her upcoming baby.
Today is Easter and I was all ready to go to lotu. Dressed in my best white pulatasi and had my brother drive me to the church (he was going to see the cows at the plantation anyway). We drove to the church and not many people are there and found out that it was uma. They changed the time of the lotu and I didn’t get the memo.
Instead of going home I went with my brother and his friend to the plantation. It was my first time heading to the plantations in this village and I am happy I did. It is beautiful there. Our dog Champ decided to come with us and ran in front of us the entire time.
One of the boys climbed the tree and brought down many delicious niu. We quickly cracked them open with the machete. (I was proud of myself for being able to do it all on my own. )
Later in the afternoon I went to the Methodist Church Service.
Being in my village is great because I really get to explore the different religions first hand. On the surface, they are very similar, but when you start to dig deep, you notice many gigantic difference, from the way they sing their songs, how they collect money, and even where everyone sits. It is real interesting and I love being able to learn more about the different religions each week.
Although this Easter was very different than ones in the past (there were no chocolate bunnies) I still am having a good time experiencing life in a new way.