It isn’t going to be a very nice Easter for most people around the world, that’s for sure, with this Coronavirus epidemic in full force and spoiling everything. Happiness is a state of mind. Webster defines it as ‘a state of well-being and contentment’. I am currently well and I am in a state of contentment because I have not yet suffered as a result of the virus. I have had to change my lifestyle for a few weeks but compared to people who have caught the disease, people who are working very hard to help sufferers of the disease or those who have died from it, I think I am very lucky and so I am very happy about that.
Therefore, I do think I can genuinely wish everyone a Happy Easter and hope you enjoy a relaxing time if you are not a key worker. If your services are required on the front line, I hope you will get a break at some point to relax for a short while and reflect on what Easter is all about, if that is what you would normally do at this time of year under less stressful circumstances.
I’ve done some Internet research (I’d be lost for words most of the time if I didn’t have the Internet to turn to just about every time I write (copy) a blog for the website). Here are a few things I found out about this coming Easter, from Good Friday 10th to Easter Monday 13th April 2020.
Last Sunday Pope Francis opened Holy Week with a livestream Mass, marking a surreal Palm Sunday in an empty St Peter’s Basilica, urging people living through the COVID-19 pandemic not to be so concerned with what they lack, but how they can ease the suffering of others. The service, starting Holy Week events leading to Easter, usually attracts tens of thousands of people to a St Peter’s Square bedecked with olive and palm trees and the Mass normally includes a long procession of cardinals, priests and faithful carrying palm fronds. This time, it was held from a secondary altar behind the main one Francis normally uses and attended by only about two dozen people, including a few aides, nuns and a scaled-down choir, all practicing social distancing. The symbolic procession was only several meters long and a few potted olive trees were brought in. The Mass was broadcast on television and over the Internet to many millions of people.
Kidsguide.co.uk says, ‘Your family Easter plans may have changed but the Easter Bunny is going to make sure you can still have lots of fun with your children this Easter, with two organised Easter egg hunts you can do at home! The Easter Bunny Challenge LIVE online and the Easter Bunny Egg Hunt at Home.
Buckingham Palace released details on how they’re keeping the Queen safe amid the Covid-19 pandemic. She has moved from Buckingham Palace to Windsor Castle for the Easter period one week earlier than planned as a “sensible precaution”. While engagements such as her scheduled trip to Camden and Cheshire have been postponed, the 93-year-old monarch will continue her scheduled audiences this week with any future audiences reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
Prince William and Kate Middleton, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, usually join the Queen in Windsor for Easter, but the coronavirus pandemic means they will celebrate separately this year. They are believed to be staying at their country home, Anmer Hall, in Norfolk, and it’s likely that they will have lots of activities planned for their young family. It is expected they will make sure this year’s Easter celebrations are still fun for Prince George, six, Princess Charlotte, four, and one-year-old Prince Louis.
It is certainly going to be different this Easter with lots of initiative, determination and a million or more eggcups full of creativity to ensure Easter won’t be forgotten and will be Happy for most of the global population who celebrate it.
HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE.
JHL MBE SSL Co. Chairman
