This is a repost…from years past and dusted off, ahem, so to speak, for the coming season.
Why should we engage in Easter Cleaning? Here are a couple reasons that appeal to me:
Deep cleaning is cathartic…penitential, even. And nothing says “welcome and rest” like a well-ordered, tidy space, when chaos and disorder have crept into the nooks and crannies after weeks of woeful, worrisome winter.
And if this isn’t the best reason to start spring cleaning a bit early, then I don’t know what is…
From the Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs by Francis X. Weiser, S.J. (1958)
EASTER CLEANING — According to an ancient tradition, the three days after Palm Sunday are devoted in many countries to a thorough cleaning of the house, the most vigorous of the whole year. Carpets, couches, armchairs, and mattresses are carried into the open and every speck of dust beaten out of them. Women scrub and wax floors and furniture, change curtains, wash windows; the home is buzzing with activity. No time is wasted on the usual kitchen work; the meals are very casual and light. On Wednesday night everything has to be back in place, glossy and shining, ready for the great feast. In Poland and other Slavic countries people also decorate their homes with green plants and artificial flowers made of colored paper carrying out ancient designs.
This traditional spring cleaning is, of course, to make the home as neat as possible for the greatest holidays of the year, a custom taken over from the ancient Jewish practice of a ritual cleansing and sweeping of the whole house as prescribed in preparation for the Feast of Passover.
Moms, dads, kids…grab the mops and brooms! Time to ready our households for a Very Important Guest…
Need some help getting started? Try this for inspiration…and this for information! And there’s always the 10 minute tidy…it really helps in a pinch!
I am a traditional Catholic homeschooling mother of 9 children, married for 30 years to the most patient and sainted man. As converts to Catholicism in 1991, our family has only recently discovered the beauty and full expression of our beliefs in the timeless liturgy of antiquity, the Extraordinary Form also commonly referred to as the Traditional Latin Mass. An avid knitter, I also enjoy gardening, reading and immersing myself in the everyday graces of my vocation.
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