By Sandra Kirby, Class of 2018
Alleluia! He is risen!
Though the students of Thomas More College of Liberal Arts have returned to the classroom, their Easter festivities are not yet over. To celebrate the octave, they gather together to enjoy their traditional Easter banquet!
This is no ordinary banquet. It was begun by the Class of 2018 during their semester in Rome and the tradition is now carried on by both the Rome and the Merrimack campuses. The students begin preparations in the early morning, setting up fires and spits in the parking lot. Two lambs and a pig are prepared in the kitchen, carried out, and hung over the fires; there they roast all day, the students taking turns rotating the spits and dressing them in herbs. The enticing smells whet everyone’s appetites for the feast.
Inside, the cafeteria is abuzz with chatter and excitement. More students are busily at work preparing vegetables and delicious side-dishes to accompany the meats. Tables are set, and flowers and lights are strung about to create a warm and festive atmosphere. The ladies make flower crowns and laurel wreaths for themselves and their friends, adding an element of spring to the scene.
The faculty and their families arrive in the afternoon to share in the festivities. Students and professors join in casual conversation as the children run about examining the preparations. A guitar and a fiddle appear and soon a whole group has gathered to sing around the fires. All talk of papers and penances are set aside; it is a day of fellowship and rejoicing.
At last the time arrives: the meat is ready and stomachs are rumbling. The spits are removed from the fire and carried down in procession to waiting tables in the piazza. Mouths water as the meat is carved and all anxiously await the blessing. After a prayer everyone joins in singing “Jesus Christ is Risen Today” and they are ready to proceed inside!
The crowd pushes toward the door and everyone finds seats as the food is laid out in the buffet line, children rush to the front, eager to fill their plates. Soon all the tables are full of people digging into plates piled high with food. The chatter dulls as everyone digs in—it tastes all the better for waiting—then picks up again in a gentle wave and eventually rises up to a joyous clamor.
Once the plates are empty the tables are cleared and moved away to make room for dancing! Swing, waltz, and even a reel are the order of the evening. Dessert is served as the couples dance up and down the room and all are content.
The sun sets slowly, signaling that the day is at an end, but the death of the day has lost its sting. The feast is one of a newfound hope, as St. Paul said, “just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4). It is the celebration of this redemption which brings us together, and this salvation which fuels our joy. So the festivities continue, a testament to a joy that will never be extinguished, even by the nature of time.
TMC would like to extend a special thanks to the Soutsos family for donating one of the lambs from their own Notting Hill Farm.
