Easter

easter The Malta Independent on Sunday 7 APRIL 2019

PASSION PAGEANT OBERAMMERGAU

DELICIOUSLY DESIGNED EGGS

EASY EASTER DECORATIONS

EDIBLE EASTER TREATS

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OBERAMMERGAU,

the Easter story told as a pageant Every 10 years, the inhabitants of Oberammergau, in Germany, take part in the retelling of the Passion of Christ and His resurrection.

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his came about as a result of a vow made by the town's people, way back in 1633. The Thirty Years War was well underway; savagery and starvation ravaged the country, and sickness was rife. When the bubonic plague reached the town, brought by a man travelling home for Christmas, it spread rapidly.

The people made a vow that if God spared their town from the plague, they would put on a play depicting Jesus’ Passion, from His entry into Jerusalem and His passion and crucifixion, to His resurrection; and they would do this every 10 years. Shortly after the vow was made, there was a sharp decline in the death rate; no more inhabitants of the town died from the plague. What is more, everyone then suffering from the plague recovered. Naturally the people kept their promise.

A play was written, based on manuscripts dating back to the 14 and 1500s.

And, in 1634 the first Passion Play was performed, during Pentecost. It was staged on the graves of those who had been victims of the devastating plague.

In 1680, the present arrangement of performing in years ending in zero began.

Two more plays were also staged in 1934 and 1984, to mark the 300th and 350th

anniversaries of the first production. Of course, the settings changed over the years, and adjustments have been made, in keeping with the times. Now the simple wooden Passion Play Theatre is the venue.

Over 2,000 actors, singers, and musicians take part, as well as hundreds of backstage technicians and costume makers; and casting rules are strict. Only those who have been born in the town or have been married to a local person for 10 years, or been resident for 20 years, are allowed to take part. Although in 1950 an exception was made so that several hundred refugee children could join the crowd scenes. And it is only comparatively recently that married and older women were first allowed to take part. And, it took an appeal to the local High Court, in 1990, to reach agreement for this controversial decision.

But the production certainly unites the

community and families, there can sometimes be four generations taking part at once. Certain roles can run in the family, with some families being able to trace their performances back centuries.

And since anyone in a musical part also has to be chosen from among the residents, any child with musical talent is encouraged and trained from an early age.

Preparations for each performance begin in November of the previous year. Any new scenery is built, costumes are made and the cast are given their roles so they can start learning their lines. Fifteen months before the first performance the male actors start growing beards. The local rule that policemen must be clean shaven is quietly ignored.

Only the main actors with speaking roles have understudies who replace them for some performances. The other cast members have no days off, although performances can last for about four hours.

Despite the harsh Bavarian winter, rehearsals take place out of doors. Actual performances are held on a stage which has evolved from the temporary planks over a plague pit to an open air theatre holding an audience of 5,000. Some comforts and shelter are provided for the audience, and a book with the script in various languages is given out for people to follow the words or keep as a souvenir. The pageant runs from May for five months, with five performances a week. There is always a full house.

The ethos of the play has evolved with the sentiments of its times. The script respectfully reflects changing beliefs, and presents a more modern theological interpretation as a theatre production. The performance is complimented by a number of stationary tableaux depicting scenes from the Old Testament, which are accompanied by music from the choir and orchestra.

Today entertainment comprises a multitude of forms and genre, and some may question whether religious history and beliefs should be depicted in such a way. But biblical subjects still attract cinema audiences, musicals and plays with religious themes still fill theatres and about half a million people visit Oberammergau to attend a performance of its pageant. It is the greatest story ever told.

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Deliciously DESIGNED EGGS

Almost too lovely to eat these Easter eggs are not so much a chocoholic's dream, more a work of art. And they do not come cheap!

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e begin with Betty's Centenary Imperial Egg, made by a company in Harrogate, UK, and created to credit its founder Frederick Belmont.

The egg is hand-moulded from white chocolate, faintly tinted with pink, and it literally shines. The decorations are traditional wild roses and golden leaves, all handmade from sugar, with delicately piped chocolate and royal icing designs. Deep within this beautiful egg nestles a golden, milk chocolate egg, which is also hand decorated with delicate sugar flowers.

The pink egg, which actually weighs over five kilos, has a creamy, fruity flavour while the decadent gold egg in the centre just adds to the sensation.

And it could be yours .... for something over €580.

An ordinary imperial Easter egg is hardly any less seductive.

This chocolate masterpiece is made by hand, to order, and personally delivered. It is named after the Imperial Suite at a Café Tea Rooms in Harrogate.

In fact, this grand egg is a celebration of spring created using five kilos of exquisite quality chocolate, either milk or dark. It stands 55cm and is decorated,

with precise craftsmanship, using beautiful spring flowers, including primroses, narcissus, bluebells and ferns, all made by hand. And it is yours from €292.

There is also a dark egg decorated with embossed birds and flowers, which has a great coffee aroma, and the caramelised wafer pieces that add fantastic crunch. This is held in a gold finished, milk chocolate bird cage.

But if you would prefer something a little more long lasting, what about an egg to wear? A gift of jewellery is always special and none more than a piece by Fabergé, a name synonymous with exquisitely jewelled eggs for over 100 years.

The first Imperial Fabergé Easter egg was created by Peter Carl Fabergé at the request of the Russian Tsar in 1885. It was to be a gift for his wife; and she, and chosen others,

continued to receive such eggs for several decades until the Russian revolution.

Today they are still the inspiration for beautiful jewels, worldwide.

On a simpler scale Easter themed, cufflinks, earings, charms and pendants are always popular. They make pretty or witty gifts and won’t up your calorie count.

For a humorous and unique twist on the traditional egg, you can't beat a pair of fried egg earrings or boiled egg gold cufflinks.

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EASY EASTER decorations Welcoming decorations, indoors and out, will make Easter celebrations extra special for friends and family

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hile Christmas has always been the time for intensive decorations, Easter is fast catching up. People like to take advantage of the warmer, brighter time of year, and the socialising that Easter brings, to fill their homes and gardens with the feeling of spring.

And, although Christmas trees came down some time ago, they are reappearing in a new guise as, naturally, Easter trees. Made from wooden canes and pieces, Oasis, bare tree branches, or small white, Christmas trees, dressed in new outfits. Once you decide on a shape, spruce is not obligatory at all, the basis for your tree will be easy to find. It can then be stood in a pot or an interesting stand, and painted, sprayed, varnished or left plain; whatever you like.

Decorations are where the fun really begins. Home -made or bought, having a theme or running riot, they can look superb. Children can have hours of fun blowing and painting eggs, or making them from papier-mâchÊ. Hanging flowers, birds, rabbits, lambs and chicks will look super-cute on the branches, and brightly coloured edible eggs will fill in the gaps, before they are all 'picked' and eaten.

Last year many front doors were adorned with Easter wreaths, cheering up streests and squares while the weather may still be a bit chilly. And Easter meal tables can look really splendid, with centre pieces every bit as ambitious as those appearing at Christmas time. Pretty posies, or baskets of lovely, scented, real spring flowers mixed with some of the very realistic artificial ones, found in good florists and garden centres, will make stunning arrangements.

Also becoming popular for their spring-like vibes and the

way designs can be adapted in so many ways, are bird nests.

Make them from off cuts of bendy stephanotis stems or dry lantarna branches, pine needles, twigs gathered on a walk in the country, or even packing straw. Fill the nests with chicks and eggs, or blossoms and tea lights, which should be in glass holders large enough to keep the candle flame well away from the decorations.

They can be hung outside from trees or wall hooks, tucked into branches, or placed on garden or terrace ledges and shelves.

Whatever you decide to create, from an Easter garden to a basket, or the perennial bonnet, there are a multitude of information online. OK, so some have instructions that have probably been roughly translated from Serbo Croat, or are beyond fiddly and demand so many bits and pieces and effort that you seriously wonder who on earth has the time! But others are inspiring, and you can see where any 'short cuts' can be made.

These will make cheerful, charming decorations or gifts to carry the Easter vibes well into summer.

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EASY EASTER treats You’ve been really good at sticking to your Lenten food choices, so here are some sweet and savoury treats with a special Easter angle.

Method Break the chocolate into pieces put them into a pan with the chopped up Mars bars, butter and syrup.

Melt the mixture over a low heat, stirring all the time so it doesn’t stick or burn. When it has evenly melted put it aside for a few minutes.

Stir about a third of the cereal into the chocolate mix and stir till it is well covered. Continue adding the cereal, bit by bit till it is all coated in the chocolate.

Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper, or put 12 paper cases into a cupcake tray.

Put 12 spoonfuls of mixture onto the baking tray or into the paper cases Press three eggs into each nest, while the mixture is still soft.

Leave the nests to harden in the fridge for a few hours or, ideally, overnight.

Decorate will fluffy chicks on top of the nests before serving.

EGGS IN A NEST (Gluten free)

AVOCADO AND CHOCOLATE ORANGE EASTER EGGS

Ingredients 200 grams marshmallows, there are gluten free versions available in Malta 1 tbsp. butter 385g rice puffs 1 tbsp. strawberry or apricot jam warmed for 10 seconds in the microwave Chocolate vermicelli, or grated chocolate Coloured chocolate eggs

Ingredients Mousse: 2 ripe avocados Juice and zest of 4 oranges 6 tbsp of cocoa powder 1 very ripe banana puréed, or two tbsp of maple syrup 1 tbsp organic raw coconut oil for extra creaminess (optional)

Method Warm the butter in a non-stick pot over a medium heat.

Add the marshmallows and mix slowly. Keep stirring until the marshmallows have completely melted.

Turn off the heat and slowly add the rice puffs. Mix well till the rice puffs are thoroughly coated in the marshmallow mixture.

Take small amounts of the marshmallow mix and form the nests with your hand using a deep round spoon or ice cream scoop to make a nest shape. You should be able to make about 20.

Leave the nests to cool and dry on a tray.

Warm the jam for about 10 seconds in a microwave and brush round the insides of each nest.

Sprinkle the nests with the vermicelli or grated chocolate, and place a few eggs in each one.

Ideas for decorations Orange zest Seeds – sunflower, pumpkin, sesame seeds Dried fruit – raisins, cranberries, goji berries Fresh seasonal fruit – mango, grapes, oranges, banana, apple, pear Desiccated and flaked coconut Nuts – flaked almonds, pecans

EASTER BUNNY BISCUITS Ingredients 300g plain flour, plus extra for dusting 150g white caster sugar 150g slightly salted butter 1 large egg 2 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste For icing 500g royal icing sugar your favourite food colouring gels

BIRDS IN THEIR NESTS Ingredients 75g milk chocolate 75g dark chocolate 2 Mars bars 50g unsalted butter 2tspns of golden syrup Crumbled cornflakes, or similar cereal Mini chocolate eggs, sugared almonds or flowers and baby chicks made of marzipan, to decorate, and eat! You could also use royal icing painted with food dyes to make decorations for anyone who cannot take marzipan.

Fluffy yellow chicks, as ornaments only.

Method Put flour and sugar in a bowl. Add the butter, chopped, and rub together with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine wet breadcrumbs and there are no lumps of butter.

Beat the egg with the vanilla and add to the mix. Stir a bit with a table knife to combine all the ingredients then gently knead the dough by hand, so it will not be tough.

Shape the dough into a disc, wrap in cling film and chill for at least 15 minutes. Meanwhile heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4.

Line two baking sheets with baking parchment.

Put a dusting of flour on the work surface and roll out the dough as thin as a Euro coin.

Using a rabbit or egg-shaped biscuit cutter cut out as many biscuits as possible and place them on the baking sheets, leaving a small space between them.

Bake for 12-15 minutes. The biscuits should be pale gold. Leave them on the baking sheets for 10 minutes, to cool then move onto a wire rack.

Decorate the biscuits as you like when they are fully cool.

Add enough water to the icing sugar to make a thick icing that holds its shape when piped.

Decide how many colours you are going to use and divide the rest of the icing into that many portions, using the gels to dye them.

Add a few drops of water to each icing if necessary then put them into piping bags, and pipe patterns or faces on each biscuit.

Leave them to dry for a few hours.

Method Cut both avocados in half from top to bottom and remove the stone, carefully.

Scoop the soft green avocado flesh into a bowl or blender, leaving the shell intact, as this will become the natural, egg shaped bowl for the mousse.

Zest all of the oranges and put 4 tsps of zest aside for decoration.

Put the remaining zest and the other mousse ingredients into the blender/bowl and blend or beat with a wooden spoon until it is completely smooth.

Test taste the mousse and add a little maple syrup if necessary, then scoop the mousse mix into the avocado shells and there are your chocolate orange eggs.

Serve them with a selection of tasty tidbits at the table.

People will be enjoy decorating decorate their own eggs with whatever they like.

SPAGHETTI NESTS These are so simple they don’t need a formal recipe.

Just weave a portion of your favourite spaghetti or penne shaped pasta into a nest shape and fill with sauce. Add hardboiled quails’ eggs, oval cherry tomatoes and small mozzarella balls as an seasonal finishing touch.

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PLANTS for Easter After the sombre shades of winter, spring naturally provides the most colourful contrasts with its variety of beautiful flowers.

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he ‘Easter egg’ plant is a member of the same family as our local brinjal, or aubergine, and is best grown as an ornamental plant.

It is a small version of the egg plant and has a green stem and leaf stalks which may have a faint purple tinge and

some fine, white spines. The leaves have waved edges, and the flowers are lilac in colour. Its name, of course comes from its fruit which is egg-shaped and, at first, look like a hen’s egg. But as it grows, they develop pastel shades of yellow and orange. As the ‘Easter egg’ plant doesn’t grow too large, it is suitable for gardens and courtyards and would thrive in an attractive container or growing against walls or trellises.

It can be grown from seed or as a seedling and needs a warm summer to thrive, making it perfect for our climate.

If you start them off indoors they should be well ahead by the growing season and have time to mature and bear fruit.

The fruit may look delicious and it is not exactly poisonous, but, as a member of the deadly nightshade family, it falls into the category of inedible; so look but don’t touch would be good advice.

Crocuses, which come from the Iris family, are mostly grown in pots or window boxes here, in Malta; but their natural habitat is wide, grassy spaces and woodlands. They mostly bloom in spring, in a gorgeous, varied colour spectrum from creamy white, through golden yellow, rusty red and rich purple. Their grassy leaves often have a white centre stripe, and their small,

goblet shape brings to mind an egg cup; which may be why they are so often chosen for Easter floral displays.

Their name comes from the Latin crocatus, which means saffron yellow.

And, indeed, the valuable spice, saffron, comes from the stamens of the Crocus sativus, which is one of the species of crocus that actually blooms in the autumn. The growing and harvesting of the plant for saffron was first recorded in the Mediterranean area, largely on

Crete. And they are known to have been grown in the Netherlands, from bulbs brought from, in the 1560s, by an ambassador to the Holy Roman Emperor. By the next century, many more varieties had been grown, with colour blends much like those we see today.

Violets are another spring/Easter flower, and there are between 525 and 600 different species to be found. They mostly grow in the temperate Northern Hemisphere, but can also be found in widely differing areas from Hawaii, and Australasia to the Andes. They also grow perfectly well in Malta. The plant is a ‘runner’ and would do best in a flower bed that it does not have to be a very big one. Once planted they pretty much take care of themselves. They die back during the summer months but their heart-shaped green leaves spread again from late autumn and their lovely, violet coloured, subtly-scented flowers can appear as early as February and continue till May.

This year why not DECORATE an EASTER TREE The tradition of decorating trees at Christmas is observed worldwide, but Easter trees are also popular in many countries.

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he origin of the centuries’ old custom of decorating trees and bushes with eggs for Easter has been all but lost in Germany. But still eggs, which are an ancient symbol of life worldwide, are hung on trees and on cut branches indoors.

And although Easter trees are mostly found in central European countries, nowadays they are becoming an attractive part of the celebrations in private gardens and houses everywhere.

One of the best examples of a splendid Easter tree was Saalfelder Ostereierbaum, an apple tree which stood in a garden in the garden belonging toVolker Kraft In 1945, while on his way to school, Kraft saw his first Easter ‘tree’. It was actually a lilac bush, but from then on it was his dream to have a decorated tree. The dream began in 1965, when Kraft and

his family started decorating their tree, with only 18 coloured plastic eggs. The tree grew bigger and bigger, and by1994 the number of eggs had increased to about 350. The Krafts needed more and more eggs to decorate the tree and these they obtained by blowing the eggs they used during the year, and keeping all the eggs year after year.

An annual average of 700 new Easter eggs were hung on the tree between 1994 and 2009.

But due damage, by storms and vandalism, the net annual average increase was 590 eggs.

In 2012 there were over 10,000 eggs on the Easter egg tree, and Kraft said that he would not try to hang more.

In 1995, a training centre was built near Kraft’s garden and the extra visitors coming to the Easter tree, brought it national fame. By 2003 newspapers in countries as far a field as the Netherlands and Kuwait, Austria and Australia, Spain

and Thailand, and South Africa and the US, carried stories about the Kraft Easter egg tree.

This encouraged a continuous stream of thousands of visitors.

Entrance was free, but just out of interest, a headcount, in 2011 revealed a total of about 8,000.

Depending on the weather and the date Easter fell each year, the family would begin hanging eggs on the tree about four weeks before Easter, between late February and late March. It took about nine days to completely decorate the tree and all the family joined in, especially Volker Kraft, his wife Christa and their daughter Gabriela Rumrich. They needed ladders to reach the top branches of the tree, and would

hang the eggs from near the trunk working towards the outer tree branches, starting at the top. To prevent damage to the tree, the eggs were removed just before the leaves started to grow.

The eggs appeared in a huge variety of designs. New themes appeared every year. After the early plastic samples the eggs were mouth-blown. Some are sprayed with one colour or a patterned mix of several colours. There were eggs are painted with images reflecting the city, such as the city gates or its museum. World-famous buildings were used in the designs.. Many eggs are covered in crochet and protected against further

weathering. Some eggs for were perforated to give an original effect, and clay was used on others to create the shapes from frogs, to turtles and hedgehogs to hot air balloons.

Occasionally, visitors brought their own eggs which they donated to the tree. And many eggs from foreign countries were also hung. Eggs that were precious were displayed in a protective case.

Sadly, in April 2015, the Saalfelder Ostereierbaum garden closed. The following year most of the eggs were given away to a local organisation which planned to decorate different trees in the surrounding area.

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