Easter My Way: Beer, Bonnets, NYC Bhangra

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Just in time for Easter, spring flowers pop up in planters on NYC streets!

Happy Easter weekend! Are you celebrating?

As a 20-something, agnostic who was raised Episcopalian, I never quite know what to do on Easter Sunday. Were I not 3,000 miles away from my parents, the answer would be simple: church followed by a traditional Easter dinner of roast beef and potatoes. My father made this abundantly clear in the Easter card he sent which arrived yesterday. Some of my friends get candy baskets sent to them, or perhaps a twenty to be spent on Easter brunch. Not me. I get a Hallmark card inscribed by my father, “The joy of this day is in the risen Lord“. That is a direct quote, dear readers.

Perhaps the joy of your Easter is in the risen Lord, I have no problem with that. Mine however, is not, and my father knows this. It was a strange message to receive.
What do you want, Dad? Are you trying to make me feel guilty for my acute lack of spirituality? Make me consider the cardinal sins of my NYC life? Are you trying to passive-aggressively push me into a church this Sunday?
Or, are you trying to tap into the cliché teenage rebel whose remnants still reside somewhere inside me? So that I may proclaim, “Whatever , Dad! Don’t tell me what to do! You don’t know me! I’ll do what I want!” and spend Easter Sunday doing what ever I Damn. Well. Please.

If the latter is the case, you, Daddy dearest, are a genius.

The joy in my Easter weekend is in beer, ridiculous hats, and Hindi celebrations of spring. If my father reads my blog this, no doubt, brings him fear for the eternal damnation of my soul. Sorry, Pop.

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Saturday I work for one of the sponsors of NYC Craft Beer Festival. It will be a glorious day of staying just on the right side of tipsy. Remaining flirty, social, and talkative and never crossing the line into drunk. This will be the hardest part of my 11 hour work day. My boss encourages social drinking on the job. Ostensibly, I will be paid to drink beer. Yes, some of my day jobs are pretty awesome. There are still tickets available for the 2nd session! Find out more by clicking the above photo.

Easter Sunday I plan to wake up early. Not for church, not for brunch, but for the incredible spectacle of the NYC Easter Bonnet Parade. Participants go all out, I expect to see some truly incredible things fashioned on people’s heads. Stay tuned for the blog all about it! For now, view this youtube video of last year’s festivities. If you want to check it out, apparently the best place for viewing is around St. Patrick’s cathedral on 5th Avenue and 50th Street.

Then Sunday March 31st from 12-6pm is NYC Bhangra’s Holi Hai. A Hindi celebration of spring, I went last year and it was So. Much. Fun. Check out the blog I wrote all about it: The Sky is Gray So color My Face! Holi Hai!  NYC Bhangra has the most amazing staff an members- everyone who runs this event is amazingly friendly. Check out their website and Facebook page. It affects the whole event and makes it that much more enjoyable! The music is great, the food is authentic, and the atmosphere is unique and really special. Don’t forget colors! They’ll be everywhere and you will leave smiling and looking like spring. I guarantee it.

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Have a fantastic weekend, every one! I hope I don’t come off as down on Easter. I love bunnies and flowers!

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Last week, I walked past Columbus Circle and saw a huge crowd of bunnies. My first instinct was: PETA protest. But it turned out to be a promotion for UNREAL Candy. It’s the most effective promotion I’ve seen in a long time, and oh boy I’ve seen a lot! Being an actor, of course I knew several of the bunnies! They couldn’t speak, but had name tags and were all adept at miming. It was unreal!

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Happy Easter, Happy Passover, Happy Holi! Happy Weekend, Happy Spring!

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About New York Cliche

NYC lifestyle blog by Mary Lane. Events, adventures, epic mistakes, dating, life, humor. A 30-something trying to make it (and make out) in the city of dreams.

3 thoughts on “Easter My Way: Beer, Bonnets, NYC Bhangra

  1. I’m with you on not knowing exactly what to do with Easter these days. My family wasn’t church-going as a kid, but my mom always did it up on Easter with the decorations and the Easter eggs and the big meal. I went through a church going phase in my late teens/early 20s, and after that ended quite badly I lost interest in celebrating Easter entirely…. Nowadays, I find myself want to do something special, but I’m never entirely sure what.

  2. Hi, I usually don’t comment on blogs (In fact this is the first time ever for me.), but I ended up at your blog somehow, so I give it a try. Specifically what inspired me to write you was the first part of your post. It touched me! I feel sorry for you not having an ideal father-child relationship right now. It could really suck! I had some 15 years of such experience myself. Nevertheless, I would encourage you not to give up on wanting and hoping for a better relationship with him first deep inside.

    No one is able to force another person to truly accept or believe he/she has never met deep inside in his/her own heart. We need to find our own recognitions about faith and values, however you need to develop a thirst for wanting it first of all!

    Whether you feel you are agnostic or anti-religion – one thing you cannot deny! We all are (beside being a cognitive and emotional people) spiritual beings as well. There are certain facts in life we must come to terms with – change is one of them. You may think differently about life when you hit 30-40-50 and so on. So seek the truth – don’t settle for anything less – it may begin by defining relations to things/ideas/people – for some it begins by defining “what I am not” rather than “This is so me”….etc.

    Christians believe Jesus suffered for all; he died for all, and risen for all. He died not for the true ones (some selected really good people) but for sinners. In order to understand it you need to let it in and contemplate on it. It is sure more difficult then watching a parade or have “a good time” with friends – but such contemplations about how you relate to faith tend to have their rewards – you may run into discovering your real originality (your uniqueness) and other goodies, find meaning and purpose. I wish you all that to happen with you!

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