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Market Gypsy: A symbolic feast to connect with our ancestors

You may want to keep or ditch the maraschino cherry, pineapple, clove scored Ham for Easter celebrations but either way, it is a symbolic feast to connect with our ancestors. Have you ever wondered why the symbolic larder offering was the go-to choice for the season? Whether you are celebrating Spring Equinox or Christian Easter traditions, a traditional Ham sets the tone.
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You may want to keep or ditch the maraschino cherry, pineapple, clove scored Ham for Easter celebrations but either way, it is a symbolic feast to connect with our ancestors. Have you ever wondered why the symbolic larder offering was the go-to choice for the season? Whether you are celebrating Spring Equinox or Christian Easter traditions, a traditional Ham sets the tone.

In our Foodie culture, farm-to-table hashtag, ‘locavore’ era we may have forgot how necessary it was to make a decent ham. Now we call in and book our artisan locally raised smoked Ham or find the cheaper one on sale and fix it up with all the sweetness we can to add. It wasn’t too long ago that Europeans collected ice in the winter, salted it, wrapped it in flannel, and stored it underground where it kept for months: thus, early refrigeration.

In northern Europe and with early Canadian settlers, ham was prepared by salting and smoking it during Harvest and because of the lengthy curing process, it took until spring that the ham would be ready for meals making it a natural choice for an Easter celebration. With traditional spring celebrations ham was part of sharing rationed root vegetables and cured pork with loved ones and the renewed energy of light and warmth that the sun brought. Here in Canada 2018, we continue to enjoy comfort foods to keep us warm in the often snow filled spring days. However, we now are able to purchase our traditional ham and preserve it effortlessly. As many good stories go, the history of the refrigerator can be traced back to 19th century breweries. Of course it made sense that the meatpacking industry followed with refrigeration in early 1900 in Chicago, according to History magazine. By the 1920s refrigerators were considered essential in homes and we made ham a tradition with the delicate smoked flavors or even the bland flavors of an over cooked ham slathered in a sticky cola glaze. While giggling children hunt for what Peter Cottontail hid for them, we seem to also keep tradition with remembering things from the past as a connection to nostalgia of our grandparents by recreating the dinner table foods.

In my traditional Ukrainian culture, a basket of food was brought to the Easter morning church service. Often the basket included boiled eggs, smoked sausages, a type of potato salad with steamed carrots, a sweet braided bread or even some sauerkraut and a bottle of a favorite beverage. The basket of delicious food was blessed during the service. This feast of sorts was then enjoyed whole heartedly after lent or as a simple reminder of our ancestors and all that they did to sustain us and the precious land.

So if you are invited to be a guest at someone’s Easter celebration, be sure to bring flowers, a great bottle of wine for the household, and regardless of how the traditional ham or meal is prepared, embrace the symbolic offering of the shared feast. It is a time to celebrate making it through an unforgiving harsh winter, to bask in the warm spring sun, laugh at the kids with their chocolate rush, and enjoy the sharing of all things that nourish us in all kinds of ways. Savor the feast, even if you ditch the maraschino cherry filled pineapple rings, and enjoy the time with loved ones. It has been a long Alberta winter.

Sharlyn Carter lives in Red Deer preparing a feast or loving the outdoors. You can find her on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter as Market Gypsy.