Easter 2024: Here’s why Mumbaikars continue to take the deep-rooted Easter egg tradition seriously

Growing up in Chembur, Lourdes Kanthirao remembers how she used to get the opportunity to gorge on Easter eggs every Easter Sunday when her aunty used to make them and get it for her family. She shares, "My grandmother used to make hand-breads and sweets. So, her children learned from her. My mother used to make the savoury dishes, but my aunty, who used to live in the vicinity, used to make the sweets for Christmas and Easter, and making Easter eggs was one of them." As Kanthirao got older, she and her cousins would sit around the table and join her aunty to make Easter eggs for the day. "We used to start working on them by Maundy Thursday and they would be ready by Sunday. If we had to start any earlier, they would be all over by the time it was Easter," she laughs.

Since the 62-year-old's brother is their aunty's godchild, he got special treatment, as is tradition, in most families, and with that, even she got the spoils as she would also get the Easter treats. "I still have a vivid memory of receiving these cane baskets with a handle on them with these fawn-coloured Easter eggs; I don't think you get the baskets anymore. I used to always wonder, ‘He is the godchild, how come I get the eggs too?' So that memory has stayed with me. More than anything, I cherished the basket, which was in my showcase for a long time." This very anecdote has also been passed down to her daughter, Rhea, when she first discovered the baskets.

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Carrying forward tradition
Every year, members of the Catholic community celebrate Easter Sunday, which marks the resurrection of Jesus Christ, after they observe Maundy Thursday and Good Friday leading up to the day. It comes after they observe Lent, which is a period of fasting, for 40 days. This year, Easter will be celebrated on March 31. The feast includes a variety of traditional sweet and savoury dishes made by the Goan, Mangalorean, East Indian and even Koli communities in the city. While Kanthirao's mother is from the East Indian community, her father was Goan, and that meant she got the best of both worlds, when it came to food. It even extended to the tradition of making Easter Eggs, which is nothing but an art, that she has managed to carry forward even after her marriage.

"The essence of the Easter egg is in making it with marzipan with cashew, then stirring, adding the colour and piping it," adds the Mumbaikar. Such is her love for Easter Eggs that she even made them when she went to New Zealand to visit her cousin, as they couldn't get it anywhere around them, along with fugiyas for the feast, as is the East Indian tradition.

Carrying on the tradition, the Vasaikar has made Easter eggs every year for her children, who have enjoyed it without a doubt. Now, her daughter, who is also a home chef, carries it forward, through Butterstick Patisserie, which she started over five years ago. "While she makes the Easter eggs, I help her with the packing and shaping of the egg," adds Kanthirao. Today, she has also observed how the Easter egg has become a favourite beyond the community to anybody who likes to eat a sweet treat. "Beyond the Catholic community, even non-Catholics enjoy it. When I used to take it to the office, they used to want to eat it too," she adds. Now, her daughter has taken the liberty to not only make the Marzipan Easter Eggs but also ones filled with chocolate in them, Chocolate Eggs filled with homemade Nutella, Coconut Chocolate Eggs and Chocolate Bunny too, apart from a tiramisu that has seen a lot of demand among people over the years.

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Beauty is in the design
Elsewhere in Orlem in Malad, Tamara Dlima is also busy making Easter eggs, which have been a part of her family's annual tradition for many decades. For her, the joy and excitement around Easter truly comes alive with the tradition of crafting the eggs like her mother did. Interestingly, her family used to also conduct egg hunts that ended with warm and festive family gatherings. She shares, "The distinctive almondy aroma that filled the air as my mom diligently stirred the marzipan to achieve a perfect, smooth texture is what initially captivated me. As I grew older, so did my involvement in the process -- starting with merely adding a splash of colour, I gradually progressed to more intricate tasks."

It didn't take long for the 46-year-old to get adept at making the Easter eggs. It wasn't limited to just creating them out of marzipan but also taking it a step further to make beautiful intricate designs on them. While she started out by helping with a dozen eggs, today, she not only makes for her family but also for her close friends every year without fail, adding her own personal touch to them. The Mumbaikar explains, "I embellish each egg with sugar pearls, sprinkles, and even butterflies, which is my favourite form of decoration. In a world of traditional Easter symbols like bunnies and rabbits, I believe adding a touch of butterflies brings a refreshing twist, echoing the vibrant diversity of spring gardens."

Making them in different shades of pink, blue, yellow and orange, Dlima starts days in advance only so that she can spend enough time on creating the designs that she pipes onto the palm-sized eggs that emphasise on their artistic nature that would lead you to admire them for a long time before you consume them.

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Blooming with heirloom recipes
It is no different for Alefiya Jane, who grew up painting not only marzipan Easter eggs but also real eggs, which was a task given to them by her mother, who was a city-based teacher. "All our recipes are heirloom recipes that were passed down by my earlier generations to me. I still have a diary, where I still write all my recipes down. The best thing about Easter was making the Easter eggs because then you could also eat the marzipan," she shares.

While painting the Easter eggs was a favourite activity, Jane's was a single mother, who used to have an egg hunt at home to make the festival fun for the children, including the kids who she used to give tuitions to, apart from teaching in school. "We would literally all get together on a Sunday with no books, but kids in well-dressed clothes and having an Easter party at home," she reminisces, adding, "Whoever used to paint the best egg, would get to eat it too."

With such a heavy influence of food and tradition, Dahisar-based Jane, who is an advertising professional and compere, also runs The Bottle Masala, one of her three-home chef initiatives, through which she brings all these heirloom recipes to life in sweet and savoury delights. "My mother used to also make a pastry in the form of an egg, which was an old-school method. While today you have people who make chocolate eggs, which you crack open and have a bunch of treasures, these were not chocolate but pastries that used to have tiny butter biscuits, bunny-shaped cookies, and almond rocks that used to be there in them. It was something my dad used to get us, and my mother used to make them too."

Catering to a larger audience that also includes vegetarians, Jane, who is a member of the East Indian community, says the making of the egg has undergone a change through the years as she has had to make eggless Easter eggs, as a lot of people also consume them because of allergies. While those are changes that she has made for the people, it is always with eggs at home, as that has been her family's tradition, to enjoy the festival to the fullest. Ask her what is going to be on the menu for Easter and she concludes, "It will be low-key at home with a good spread that consists of some pork vindaloo and chicken roast, if possible, because of my busy schedule as a baker."