How was your Easter? Ours - which is simply our Spring Celebration held a few weeks late to dodge the usual un-spring-like snow - was nothing short of magical. It always is.
There was the Easter Bunny hiding baskets, the magical egg hunt out in the yard, and our adored Wish Bunny's appearance during the egg hunt (more on that later). Oh, yeah. Our spring celebration is loaded with magic.
We're magic junkies I guess. A spring celebration with not one but two magical rabbits is the giveaway. At other times of year you'll find us welcoming Santa Claus, Saint Nick, and the Tooth Fairy. Even the Winter Solstice Elves, the Pumpkin Fairy, and the Rhyme Elves. We're almost always entertaining folks from other realms over here.
We made a conscious choice when Sage was a baby to keep the magic alive and to invite all of these mystical folks into our world with each season. I know parents who have opted against this form of magic in childhood. They take the honest road with their kids, and don't participate in the customs that surround these myths. I was almost one of them. Years ago I argued that "magic" was just a friendly word for "lying" to your kids. Why on earth would I lie to my kids?
Because, I discovered, the magic of childhood sparks the imagination of the child in a way that nothing else can.
Children are born into magic. They live in a creative, imaginative world where anything is possible. The magic we allow into our customs helps to show our children that yes, anything is possible. Imagine it and it will be yours. Magic helps children be carefree - as they are supposed to be - and lets them dance in the joy of what only they can see.
Magic is vital.
In case you are curious yesterday's magic went something like this at our home: To celebrate the equinox the children woke with the sun and searched the house for their baskets, hidden in the night by the bunny. (As I talked about here, the treasures we put in our baskets are simple, natural, and modest. Yesterday Sage and Lupine found this items pictured above plus some a couple of fruit leathers, and honey sticks. They were beside themselves with happiness and played with the dolls all day long.)
We set the nature table to resemble an egg hunt and later in the morning (after the eggs magically appeared) we enjoyed that search as well - the highlight of the day for us all.
The final bit of spring magic happens during the hunt at our house with the appearance of the Wish Bunny. There is only one Wish Bunny to be found, hidden somewhere in the yard. She use to be made of chocolate but these days she has transformed into a great big needle felted rabbit. When one of the children stumbles upon her everyone gathers around and the kids offer her something from each of their baskets - a thank you or offering of sorts to bring giving (as well as receiving) into the day. Then they whisper a wish in her ear and accept a treat that she has brought with her (yesterday she brought lemon-almond cookies that were ridiculously good).
Sage absolutely lives for the Wish Bunny. He says that he can hear her talking in his head when he talks to her.
My boy believes in magic to a degree that makes me believe too. Because really, I do. There is magic everywhere if we slow down enough to feel it. But I believe in magic in an adult abstract way that I could never explain adequately to Sage or Lupine. Not half as well as the Wish Bunny can.
Would I readily trade all of this wonder for "mom and dad hid the eggs and baskets" or "mama made the dolls and the bunny?" Not in a million years. Magic belongs in childhood and I will be the last person to try to break that spell.
