Easter Greeting
Happy Easter! The postcard shared this week has a reproduced vintage illustration with a little poem. The card was purchased from Laughing Elephant.com the small local print shop that specializes in reproducing vintage cards, books, and posters. The illustrator is not identified, nor is an approximate date provided. The original probably dates from the early 1900s.
Notice the pussy-willows at the right side of the card. I wondered if there was a legend or story associated with them and Easter
In Poland there is a tradition of using pussy-willow branches with palm branches on Palm Sunday. A Polish legend has Jesus visiting a forest in late winter, just before spring. He commands his angels to gather pussy-willows with soft cotton buds as the first sign of spring.
On Easter they are a symbol of the resurrection, as these fluffy white buds sprout from a dry twig, like the flower of life.
The day after Easter is known as Dyngus Day. It is an historically Polish-American celebration of the end of 40 days of Lenten sacrifice. There are games, music, and food. Water and pussy-willows are used in a game of playful taps. Pouring water was an ancient spring rite of cleansing and purification as is the complimentary practice of switching with pussy-willow branches that date back to pre-Christian times in Slavic countries.
There is also a little story about kittens who fell into a raging river while chasing butterflies. The mother cat sits on the bank pleading for help for her drowning kittens. The willows hear her mournful cries and let down their branches for the kittens to cling to the branches and are safely brought back to shore. Every spring, from that day on, the willows put forth fur-like buds where the tiny kittens once clung.
For additional information, see:
https://www.wbfo.org/arts-culture/2013-03-22/polish-legend-of-the-pussy-willow-palm-sunday
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