EASTER AT THE "OLE PLACE" written by Marla Celona Golemon Chatanier 1986

The "Ole Place" was originally my great-grandparents' house. The house is located between Pitkin, Louisiana and Elizabeth, Louisiana. It started off as a one-room house in 1897. Through the years, as the family grew, the house grew. Now the house has four bedrooms, with at least two beds in each, one bathroom, a livingroom, a dining room, a kitchen, a pantry, and three porches, two of which are screened in. My great-grandparents reared nine children, six girls and three boys, in the house. This old house holds many wonderful memories. These memories seem to come alive at the annual Easter reunion, which takes place at the "Ole Place."

Each year as Easter comes around, all of my relatives start getting excited. Some of us cannot wait until Saturday; so we arrive a few days ahead of the crowd. Almost as soon as the sun rises Saturday morning until it sets that night, there is a steady flow of people arriving at the "Ole Place." The attendance comes to over one hundred people, and it grows each year.

Most of my relatives arrive before noon, and around this time, everyone starts setting up for dinner. They set up long tables in the yard piled with many different dishes, each prepared by an individual family. A big crock containing punch is served with the meal. The punch, ladled with an aluminum dipper, consists of grape juice, mayhaw juice, blackberry juice, plum juice, and many other natural juices. With our plates piled high, we begin to search for a place to sit. The front porch is a favorite for the younger generation, while the older people sit on benches or at tables set up near the food tables. If the day is really nice, a few people even picnic on the ground.

After dinner, many events take place. There are two big pastures located both in front of the "Ole Place" and on the side. In one pasture, there might be people shooting skeet; while in the other one, there might be a softball game going on. If someone does not want to participate in these things, he could play frisbee, ride a four wheeler, walk in the woods, or dye Easter eggs. There are so many different things to do that everyone is able to enjoy himself.

As darkness begins to fall, my grandmother and some of her sisters try to figure out where everyone is going to sleep. No matter how many people show up, we always manage to find room for them. Many of my cousins have started bringing tents, which they set up in the pasture. This helps, because it leaves more room in the house for everyone else.

Once we know where we are sleeping, we are free to roam around. If the weather is cool, a group of us teenagers build a bonfire in the pasture. This gives us the perfect opportunity to catch up on what is happening in our lives. We sit, laugh, and talk until late. After the fire dies, we sneak back into the house, because everyone else is already asleep. Since we have to go to church the next morning, each of us has to take a bath to get rid of the smoky scent. Stifling giggles and trying to be quiet, we crawl into bed.

For us, the night is cut short, because people start banging on the doors and waking everyone up at four o'clock in the morning for Sunrise Service. The problems begin to arise at this time. Since there is only one bathroom, the line is long and remains long until time to leave. Not only is the bathroom hard to get into, but the bedrooms are also. Some of the rooms have ladies dressing in them, while others have men. Before entering a room, one must knock and state whether he is male or female. Once dressed,stand in the hall and wait to leave. This is not exactly the safest place to be, because the hall remains crowded until everyone leaves for church.

It is still dark when we finally leave for church, which is located just up the road. My Uncle Bud leads the sermon, and my Uncle Delbert leads the choir. We sing some of my favorite hymns from the old Cokesbury Hymnals throughout the service. It gives me a wonderful feeling to look around at the congregation and to know that almost all of them are my relatives. At the end of the service, the sun's rays begin penetrating through the stained glass windows.

In a long caravan, everyone heads back to the "Ole Place" for breakfast. While we were at church, my mom and dad and a few others had prepared enough biscuits, sausage, fried pork, and scrambled eggs to feed an army. As we arrive at the "Ole Place," my aunts get their cameras out to take pictures of the different families in their Easter clothes. A few of us, like me, make a beeline for the bedroom to change clothes before anyone notices that we are not cooperating. After everyone changes, a breakfast line starts forming. When breakfast is over, everyone relaxes.

At about ten o'clock, a group of men starts heading for the pasture with arm loads of full egg cartons. At this time, all of the kids are chased around to the back of the house to play, so none of them will be able to see where the eggs are hidden. This traditional egg hunt is for everyone; there is no age limit. There is a small section roped off for the children under six; as for the rest of the pasture, it is "finders keepers." Once the eggs are hidden, everyone is called to the opening of the pasture. Here they are given the area in which the eggs are hidden and told to go and find them. A long time ago, when I was younger, we used to count the eggs and keep hunting until we found them all. Now that our family has grown so much and the number of hidden eggs has increased, the counting of the eggs has become a joke. My dad is nominated as the official egg counter most of the time. Each time someone asks him how many eggs are left, he calls out some number off the top of his head. It is a ridiculous number every time.

When everyone stops finding eggs, the egg hunt is declared over and the egg cracking contest begins. One person holds an egg with the top, the pointed end, showing; while the other person, holding an egg with the top showing, taps the first person's egg trying to break it. The egg that cracks goes to the person who's egg did not crack. If neither egg cracks, the process is repeated using the bottoms of the eggs and then the sides, until one of the eggs cracks. The object is to win the most eggs.

After this ritual tires, everyone goes and eats leftovers from lunch Saturday. It is not long after lunch that people slowly start heading back to their own homes. The parting is sometimes sad, because I will have to wait another year before I see most of these people again. However, I am able to look forward to the oncoming year with anticipation, because I know that it will be as good as this year or maybe even better.

As each Easter comes and goes, new memories are stored, along with the old ones, in the walls of the "Ole Place." Just being at the "Ole Place" gives me a warm feeling inside. It is fun to sit in the kitchen and listen to the older people talk about the "good ole days," because it helps me to understand how lucky I am to have such a special family.