Easter is an odd time for grown-up atheists.
When I was a child, I wholeheartedly embraced the belief that rabbits pooped brightly colored eggs sometime around the same time as crocuses were shooting through the snow cover.
Now, I was not raised in any religious tradition, unless you think non-belief somehow counts as a religion (it doesn’t, for reasons which are too complicated to get into right now, but which are obvious to non-believers, and not obvious to everyone else).
As an adult (and living now in California, where crocuses show up whenever they wish), I have been told that I am too old for Easter eggs. Certainly, my attitude toward bunnies as a whole has changed. I am a bit confused at why religion had to come along and make a perfectly magical holiday about bunny rabbits eating marshmallows into something about a guy getting beat up and bleeding all over the Easter eggs, but that’s my own personal burden to carry.
The revelation that I should no longer have Easter egg dyeing parties came when I invited all my friends over for Easter and they all showed up, and I was the only one dyeing any eggs, because the rest of them were sitting around in nice clothes eating chocolate and Peeps and wondering if there was to be any ham. This was right around the same time I realized that pumpkin carving would either be a solo event, or not happen at all.
In other words: I may not be “too old” for Easter eggs, but my friends apparently are.
Fortunately, there is a rather sizable portion of my world which does not look even a little askance at a grown woman becoming excited over discount Easter egg dyes after the holiday has passed. Spinners and knitters are lovely people, not the least because we all understand that, sometimes, you want your yarn to be a canvas for more than your dexterity. It’s a canvas for your eyes!
Thus, one week after Easter, my local spinning guild came together in the garden behind our local yarn shop for a wonderful, heartfelt day of making glorious, multicolored messes of our pristine yarns and fibers.
I present to you that the day really was “To DYE For!”