Easter Bonnets and Easter Eggs

The Culbertson Searchlight reported on March 25, 1910, that Easter customs have a long and colorful history. The idea that folks should wear something new is tied to the coming of spring and renewal of the fields. The custom of wearing something new evolved into the superstition that wearing a new item on Easter would insure good fortune in love affairs. Christian women often focused on hats as the new item. In times past, the Easter hat was the outward material expression of the joyous resurrection. “Of course,” said the Searchlight, “the connection between inner joyousness and the monstrosity that looks like an old wooden chopping bowl sprouting forth a truck garden may not be apparent to all.”  The great danger is that spring rains are notorious at this time of year. Many a woman has wept when the heavens poured forth on Easter morning and ruined the feathers and ribbons of the carefully chosen Easter bonnet.

This ad from the March 25, 1910, Daily Missoulian shows the styles of the time. Via Chronicling America.

After the Easter bonnet, colored eggs are the most familiar token of Easter. The custom of coloring eggs is much older than Christianity, and all ancient people including Romans, Egyptians, Jews, and Greeks used the egg as a symbol of universal life and renewal. Early Christians adopted it because the egg is the perfect symbol of resurrection. At first, eggs were only colored red to signify the blood of redemption. The Daily Missoulian on March 25, 1910, summed up the “modern” connection between Easter bonnets and eggs noting that the hen whose product is gaily colored contributes to the joy of Easter morning. She has not laid her egg in vain even if she has no chick to show for her trouble. However, some of the Easter hat decorations look as if they might have been hatched from Easter eggs.

P.S. Remember these delightful hats?

Ming Opera House/Consistory Shrine

In celebration of Easter...

Masons have been a dynamic force in Montana since early territorial days, playing key roles in events that shaped the state’s history. Helena Masons first came together in 1865 for the funeral of Dr. L. Rodney Pococke, for whom Rodney Street was named. The fraternal organization has since been closely intertwined with the Helena community. The Masons acquired the former Ming Opera House in 1912. Built by John Ming in 1880 and renowned throughout the Pacific Northwest, the theater followed a circular plan model after fashionable European opera houses. It featured thirty-two sets of elaborate scenery, seating for 900, gas lighting in the house, and state-of-the-art stage lighting which included twenty-six movable border lights. Rubber tubing delivered gas to the house and stage lights from a plant in the stone cellar. The Ming hosted such famous performers as Otis Skinner, Eddie Foy, Marie Dressler, and Katie Putnam. Patrons’ safety was not a consideration until 1887. John Ming renovated the opera house after 100 people literally roasted alive in an opera house fire in Exeter, England. Ming added ample exits and updated the gas lighting system.



Ming Opera House, left, 1898. Montana Historical Society Photograph Archives, 953-833

In the early 1900s, the Ming hosted the first silent movies. In 1915, noted Helena architects George Carsley and C. S. Haire redesigned the building, transforming the theater into a more functional, modern auditorium. Under the Masons’ care, the original hand painted 1880s scenery remains in occasional use. For the past sixty-three years, the Scottish Rite of the Freemasons have performed an Easter Tableaux, reenacting scenes from the Last Supper to the Ascension. The free performance utilizes the historic 1880s scenery and is the only time the public can view these exquisite remnants of 1880s Helena. The landmark building at 15 North Jackson in Helena survives thanks to the Masons’ stewardship and continues to serve as a meeting place for members of all the Masonic orders.