I cannot sing, nor do I want to
To that Jesus on the cross
But rather to the One that
walked on water.

For Christians all over the world, today  — Good Friday — is one of the saddest days of the year.   So the sentiment expressed above by Spanish poet Antonio Machado is one, particularly, that many children might feel on this day. And yet, one cannot enter into the religious celebration of Easter without first experiencing the death of its central figure, Jesus Christ.

Good Friday is observed all over the world in various ways.  There are masses, worship services, processions and rituals carried out.  Writing or reading poetry is also a way to observe the day.  You might take out some good books about Easter from the library or check out the plethora of websites out there on poetry and Easter.  I took out an oldie found for me by my librarian friend from our local library titled Easter Poems by well known children’s poetry anthologist  Myra Cohn Livingston, illustrated by John Wallner (Holiday House, 1985) and found many good poems that reflect both the “joy and solemnity of the holiday” as the jacket flap blurb indicates.   Today is about the solemnity, of course, but soon joy will come.  Here’s an excerpt from one poem “These Three” by X.J. Kennedy that begins with the solemn lines:

These three on Friday
Lay cloudy, dark and still:
Shadows
Of three crosses
On cold Golgotha Hill

Of course, the poem ends with a trio of  images of the joy yet to come.

What books do you read to your children on this day?  Give us your recommendations, poetic or otherwise. Today’s Poetry Friday host is Kate at Book Aunt.

This year, unusually, feast days from many of the world’s religions have fallen around these last few days – so, as Time put it:

unlike some holy days — say, Christmas, which some non-Christians in the U.S. observe informally by going to a movie and ordering Chinese food — on this particular Friday, March 21, it seems almost no believer of any sort will be left without his or her own holiday…

Today I focus on two books, which each in their own way explore the celebration of one of these religious festivals against a different cultural background.

Mina’s Spring of Colors is a very special story about a young Indian girl who, although she now lives in Canada, is determined to throw a Holi party for her school-friends and neighbors: they won’t just watch the celebrations but participate in them. The book is aimed at 8-11 year olds, though younger children could enjoy having it read to them. It will certainly fill their heads with ideas about how to throw their own Holi party. The author Rachna Gilmore said in an interview with PaperTigers:

I have wonderful memories of Holi – memories of the physical excitement and dread and anticipation of getting others with coloured powders and water and also trying to dodge them in return, the shrieking, hysterical laughter and the wild delight. I don’t know of any readers who have put on a Holi party for themselves, but oh, I do hope some have. Kids love the idea and I know it would be an absolute blast. In one of the libraries I have visited to do a reading, the librarian was very keen on the idea, but of course, we couldn’t use coloured water and powder, so instead, we sprinkled each other with sparklies and squirted those cans that spurt multicoloured streamers. It was great fun.

There are some great pictures from this year’s celebrations in India here (and I can’t resist these from a couple of years ago too!); and you can find out more about Holi here.

Charlotte chose Amelia Lau Carling’s gorgeous, autobiographical picture-book Sawdust Carpets/Alfombras de aserrín as the subject of her first post for the PaperTigers blog, back in May last year; and it’s well worth pointing it out now as a special book for Easter. It exemplifies a harmony of both diversity and fusion of cultures, as we learn about the celebration of Holy Week in Guatemala through the eyes of a young Amelia. Her parents had fled China during the Second World War and had made their new home in Guatemala, as described in Carling’s first book, Mama and Papa Have a Store. As well as insight into her family’s participation in the festivities, we learn about the incredible carpets made of dyed sawdust and millions of flower petals, which everyone joins in making to celebrate Easter:

They are offered up as a sacrifice in anticipation of the procession that will destroy them by marching through the painstaking and fantastic creations.

So whatever you may have been celebrating these last few days, we send you best wishes – do tell us about any special traditions you have, from whatever part of the world you come from; and if you have any favorite books to recommend…