Buon Pasqua (Happy Easter) beware lots of photos & Italian traditions

(close up so you can see how I added color, highlights and Painted a few areas of my VINTAGE IMAGE to add depth and dimension. I also added yellow flower soft to the center of two flowers. Another ribbon that I created using an old pillow case. This one was dyed using coffee. In the center, I stacked two buttons)

Easter is such a wonderful holiday here in Sicily. In fact, Easter in Italian is “Pasqua,” and it’s a time of religious parades and celebrations. These processions often have as their focus statues of Jesus or the Virgin Mary which are carried through the city streets by participants. One of the largest and most famous processions is in the city of Enna (right here in Sicily) on Good Friday, where more than 2,000 friars parade through the city.
Traditional Easter foods include eggs, artichockes, roasted lamb, a special sweet bread called “Colomba” (made in the shape of a dove) and CHOCOLATE EGGS, which almost always are hollow and have a special prize inside. The Chocolate eggs vary in price based on the SIZE & SUPRISE that hides in the center.

ALL of the eggs are Fantastically wrapped and some are quite elaborately decorated.

Another tradition is the LAMB CAKE!
Serving your creation: Everyone starts from the rear and slices toward the head unless someone (I'm not saying who) snaps off the ear or even worse cuts from the head! Bless me father for I have sinned, I ate the lamb cake head!

Now Easter in Italy is traditionally a holiday spent with family, BUT the Monday after Easter is another story - it’s still a nationwide holiday, and this one is all about hanging out with friends, often gathering for picnics. Easter Monday is called “La Pasquetta,” or “Little Easter,” in Italian. Many cities will hold outdoor events on Pasquetta, including concerts and games. The games often involve eggs, like the famous egg races of Tredozio. One one unusual Pasquetta game takes place in the town of Panicale in Umbria, where the goal is to roll giant wheels of cheese around the city walls in the quickest time and using the least strokes.
I don't think that I had any interactions with my Sicilian friends yesterday that did not wish me "BUON PASQUA"....

Either way, Sicilian or American, I love Easter!!!

CHALLENGES I USED for My CARD:
VERVE: Fun with Flowers (I think I had FUN recreating my flowers)
Cute Card Thursday: Egg-citing (create a card with an egg on it or in an oval shape)
Simon Says Stamp: It's so Distressing (I inked the edges using Tim Holtz Vintage photo ink, also distressed around my egg with the ink & my fingernail)
Little Red Wagon: Rollin' Into Spring (Nothing says Spring Like Easter & Flowers)
Cupcake Craft Challenge: Easter/Spring & Lots of Chocolate (I've got Easter covered and my entire blog entry is dedicated to Easter AND CHOCOLATE, maybe they will let me enter?)
Creative Card Crew: Vintage or Aged (I got Both covered)
Our Creative Corner: Buttons (I stacked two in the center of my bow)
Crafty Creations: Anything Goes
.........Supplies I used.........
Image: Vintage Image Crafts
Paper: Paper Trey Ink (lemon tart), Stampin Up (whisper white)
Patterned Paper: Scribble Scrabble (Hollie's collection), Bo Bunny (Nutmeg collection)
Tools: Martha Stewart (doily lace edge punch)
Ink: Stampin Up (close to cocoa)
Misc: Flower Soft, buttons from old clothes, ribbon hand made