2020: An Easter like never before
Easter 2020 was unlike any other Easter I had experienced before. It all began during Lent: At the beginning of March, a practice path began in my congregation at the time, where we got together once a week, ate together and talked about questions of faith.
The first two meetings still took place, but the third was cancelled. Shortly thereafter, toilet paper and pasta were suddenly sold out everywhere, and a sign hung at Kaufland: “Even if you have heard rumors to the contrary: We are not closing!”
On Easter Sunday, a few weeks after Corona, my wife and I went for a walk at the Kalksee in the Berlin area. Anyone who wanted to sit on a park bench was politely but firmly asked by the Brandenburg regulatory office to continue walking: the ban on staying applied.
After all: I hadn’t noticed the blossoming nature so intensely for a long time – there was simply no competition for attention …
(Oliver Marquart)
Easter 2020: Amazingly beautiful festival
When I think of Easter 2020, what comes to mind is an open laptop with different faces in small zoom tiles. The corona virus had only reached Germany a few weeks ago, the threat could hardly be assessed, and the fear of infecting oneself or others was very great.
The strange awareness of witnessing the event of a century hung over it all and I remember feeling both grave concern and excited tension. What else would happen, how long would the pandemic last if we were really threatened?
In the midst of all these uncertainties, the Easter celebrations went surprisingly well. I remember my husband and I painting hard-boiled eggs on the dining table “together” with the family, who were present via the aforementioned laptop and doing the same at their home. I still remember that early on Easter morning we followed an Easter service on our laptop while still lying in bed and that I was incredibly grateful for our garden, which, thanks to all the blossoms and fresh green leaves, did not show that this spring 2020 was anything different than otherwise.
(Larissa Launhardt)
sad easter
When the pandemic started, I was just two months pregnant. The great uncertainty about the effects an infection could have on my unborn child accompanied me from then until the birth. With this great responsibility in my stomach, I was just grateful for every measure that was taken against the spread of the virus.
I remember spring as beautiful – at least everyday life in my little world. The work in the home office suited me well, the sun was shining and I walked more in the adjacent forest than ever before. Those were the good, the regenerating moments that alternated with worries and dismay, with bewilderment and fears about the future.
Easter was very sad. Two close relatives had died. Not because of Corona, but Corona and the lockdown had made it impossible to say goodbye. No last hug, no holding hands. No consolation among those left behind. Video calls that were supposed to suggest closeness and where nobody knew anything to say. Because in such situations only real closeness can speak.
In 2023 our worries, our dismay, bewilderment and fears for the future are different than in 2020, but they are still there. That’s why I’m happy about small moments of lightness like looking for Easter nests in the garden with all the neighborhood children. Because what they are really good at is living in the here and now.
(Christina Argilli)
Easter: Anything but usual
I was in tenth grade when the pandemic began and had the pleasure of communicating with teachers only through chat windows and cameras for the next several months. Accordingly, at Easter I had to involuntarily spend more time on the computer than usual. And there was enough time. More than enough. That’s why they were spent in the family on long walks and in constant fear of meeting too many other people.
We were always careful to keep the necessary distance of two meters (but four was best, you had to be on the safe side). Despite the best weather conditions, surprisingly few people were out and about. And even if someone crossed your path, you passed each other at a sufficient distance without saying a word.
The obligatory “Happy Easter” on the holidays was now rather inappropriate due to aerosol transmission. At the time, nobody knew exactly that this fleeting exchange could hardly lead to an infection, and they didn’t want to put it to the test.
The Easter festival itself should also be anything but usual. Instead of motley chocolate eggs, people longed for masks with Easter motifs or disinfectants. Looking back, I am infinitely happy that Easter will be celebrated together again this year and in the tried and tested tradition.
(Florian Hechler)
