When there used to be an M&S in Madrid, you could buy hot cross buns at Christmas – I think they labelled them bollos de Pascuas – but I’ve always thought of them as an Easter speciality. On the other hand, I’d associate crackers with Christmas or birthdays, but it seems there are places in the UK where you can now buy crackers for Easter.
Christmas and birthdays are times for gifts, and the knick-knacks, fripperies and party favours seem totally appropriate.
Easter, though, has always struck me as more focused on the religious side of things. Which meant my first idea was that there should be no paper hats and plastic toys, but that an Easter cracker should burst open with a loud Hosanna and a dazzling manifestation of the Risen Christ.
Further thought made me decide that this was unrealistic and that a little more symbolism would probably be appropriate.
So I’ve reached the conclusion that you must pull the crackers on Easter Sunday, only to discover that, just like the tomb, they are empty!
(Thanks to MG for the photo.)

Very funny.
I agree with you that crackers at Easter seems pretty inappropriate. But the idea of a cracker that you open and discover to be empty brings on all kinds of spoof-ideas. How about “don´t touch my wound” cookies with a blood colored jelly filling?
Years ago, after meditating on some of the Christian jargon, I made stuffed “crossies” that I was tempted to market in one of the born-again publications (“introduce your child to the living cross…”). I still have one or two around, in case you´re interested.
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Heh. “The living cross” has great potential for terror. I’m sure you can already buy sacred heart plushies. (Language tangent – “plushie”~peluche; I never noticed that before!)
Maybe the crackers could contain crowns of thorns rather than paper hats?
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You´ve changed your look! Very nice!
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You might want to check out bilingualreaders.com if you don´t already know about it. Some interesting things about language and bilingual families.
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They have some interesting stuff in resources, but I don’t think I entirely agree with their agenda about bilingual books. The phrase “the exact same text in each language” scares me, though I may be misinterpreting what they mean.
We certainly say different things in different languages… (I should be writing a blog post about this, not replying to you in a comment!!
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Presumably crackers, like fireworks, have something to do with frightening away evil spirits, though I’d have thought that Jesus, even as a baby, would have been able to do that for himself.
But look! You can also buy Christmas Eggs!
http://www.google.com/search?q=“christmas+eggs”
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You know, “Christmas eggs” doesn’t reassure me at all.
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