Although it has many names, it comes to the same thing: a portable garden that contains and empty tomb and speaks of spring and new life that you make yourself (with or without help). So why an Easter Garden (my preferred name because it's the clearest and easiest to say)? Well...
Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”
Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in. Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed— for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. Then they went home.
Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her.
“Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”
She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize him. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?”
She thought he was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”
“Mary!” Jesus said. She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for Teacher).“Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them his message.
Gardens. Quite significant in the Bible: it all starts in a garden, and the new creation inaugurated by the resurrection of Jesus likewise starts in a garden (though it all ends in a city - go figure). Jesus being mistaken for a gardener is, I think, one of the many examples of humour in the Bible (a book we tend to take too earnestly and yet not seriously). Making an Easter Garden is a way remembering the story of Easter, of reminding ourselves to seek life - something that can be found in even the most neglected gardens. There are always green shoots for those with eyes to see, and Jesus the not-gardener is ready to help with the pruning of the dead wood of our lives. An Easter Garden placed centrally in the home can be a visual stimulus to reflection on all this and more. As we make the garden, and re-tell the story of Easter, and reflect on that story as we admire our handiwork, we can ask the Holy Spirit to use it to teach us the next thing. I wonder what we will learn this Easter?
Rather than posting a tutorial here I'll link to two I found that I think are particularly helpful i.e. do-able. There are no real rules about this. Especially now with shops closed use what you have (in the recycling pile if necessary - an empty yogurt pot makes an excellent cave!). If you don't have access to a garden or can't steal moss from a local tree draw things, use old wrapping paper, put green water colour paint on toilet paper. It's all good. Do what you can: it will be enough.
One nice idea is to make the garden early in the week and keep it fairly plain. Then during the night on Easter Saturday some flowers could be added, wooden, Lego or Playmobil animals, and perhaps some chocolate eggs!
The classic version: https://thefrugalhomemaker.com/2012/04/06/friday-fun-frugal-finds-an-easter-garden-tutorial/
An individual version: https://www.proverbialhomemaker.com/mini-easter-resurrection-garden.html
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