The Easter Story

While I am babysitting my grandchildren in Columbus, Judy my sub is showing "The Easter Story" to my students.  I have pretzels and flavored water for them to snack on while watching the movie.

Pretzels have been around since the time of the Roman Empire.  Because they are made from a mixture of flour, salt, and water, pretzels were considered an ideal Lenten food.

Pretzels are said to have been first made by monks, who twisted long, thin strips of dough into a shape that looked like praying arms.  Thus, pretzels were first called bracellae, or “little arms.”  Some traditions say that the small twist in the middle of the pretzel represents a child’s arms, while the encircling part of the pretzel is the parent’s arms.  The three holes formed with this type of twist represent the Trinity.

For a long time, pretzels were considered strictly Lenten fare.  In some cities, pretzels were distributed to the poor during Lent.  In other places, pretzels were sold by street vendors, and eaten with beer or soup.  In Austria, pretzels were suspended from palm branches on Palm Sunday, for passersby to pluck and eat.

Pretzels come in many shapes and have very simple ingredients.  The ingredients of pretzels are ones that are easily found and yet have a story far beyond what we see.  People are often the same way.  Frequently we look at the outside and fail to see who they are beyond their surface appearance.

Canaan, the land flowing with milk and honey

After wandering in the dessert for a year, Moses sends 12 spies, one spy from each tribe to scout out the land of Canaan.  After scouting out the land for forty days the spies returned with a huge bunch of grapes and some figs and pomegranates.  The spies told Moses the land was flowing with milk and honey. 

Even though the people knew the land was prosperous and that God had been with them through their wandering they were fearful of the people living in Canaan, they wanted to return to Egypt.  God became very upset with the Israelites and wanted to destroy them.  Because Moses interceded for the people God did not destroy the Israelites but told them they would have to wander in the dessert for forty years before they could enter the Promised Land.

For the students treats I had fresh grapes and pomegranates and milk and honey ice cream.

Manna in the desert

As the Israelites are traveling to the Promised Land, Canaan, they do a lot of complaining.  One of their complaints were they are sick of the desert food, they think they want to back to Egypt where they had plenty of food.  God tells them He will send them quail in the evening and manna  in the morning.
The manna looked like little coriander seeds which the Israelite's ground up to make cakes.  In the book of Wisdom it says that the manna delighted everyone, no matter what his taste.  If you were craving sweet it tasted sweet if you craved salty it tasted salty.
The Israelites were instructed to only gather enough for one day except for the day before the Sabbath, then they were to gather enough for 2 days so they could be free to celebrate the Lord's day.  God was testing them to see if they would trust him to provide for them. 

So for my treat I made applesauce muffins.