Easter

Egg-hunt eggs, baskets and the Easter bunny suit:

do most of the work on Easter morning. Fillable plastic eggs come as two loose halves or hinged in one piece, and the hinged ones survive more hunts because the halves never get separated in the grass. The full mascot suit, a one-size plush body with a foam head, mostly belongs to party and event businesses that hire it out for school, church and gated-community egg hunts, and it shares a cupboard with the rest of the year’s costumes in Halloween.

Crucifixes, images and the Holy Week home altar:

are the devotional side of Easter here. Crucifixes, rosaries and images of Jesús Nazareno or Our Lady of Sorrows, the two figures that lead Panama’s Holy Week processions, change hands in resin, plaster or, on older pieces, carved wood. Palm Sunday palms are the exception: blessed at the church door and woven fresh, nobody keeps them to sell. Nativity scene figures for December are in Christmas. In Panama’s Afro-Antillean congregations Easter morning is also a hat-and-suit occasion, and a good Sunday hat is worn for years.

A bunny head you can see out of, and eggs that stay shut:

the head decides whether a mascot suit is any use: look for a foam head with a wide mesh panel to see through, because whoever wears it spends the morning with children hanging off the paws. One-size suits fit a narrow band of heights, so the person who will wear it should try it on. With eggs, size matters more than colour: big ones hold a small toy, and toddlers find big, bright ones in the grass. A preschooler can carry a rigid-handled basket alone; a floppy wicker one ends up in an adult’s arms.

A mascot bunny suit against a bag of plastic eggs:

a full Easter bunny suit with its foam head costs close to $200 new in Panama, the one big-ticket item of the whole morning. Used and in good order it should fetch $80 to $120. It falls that far because the head is the part that wears out, and nobody can see the inside of it, or smell it, from a photo. Baskets work the other way round: a decorated one can pass $30 new, and a sturdy used one with fresh paper grass does exactly the same job. Plastic eggs cost so little new that second-hand they move in big lots, not a handful at a time.

Checking a used bunny head, a carved wooden saint and an egg hinge:

ask the seller for a photo of the inside of the mascot head. Crumbling foam, a torn mesh eye panel or a split chin strap are the faults that retire a suit, and matted or bald plush on the paws shows how many hunts it has done. On a carved wooden image, look for pinholes and fine dust along the base, the sign of termites or woodworm, and make sure the loose pieces, such as the crown, the halo or the cross, come with it. Open a few plastic eggs: snapped hinges and halves that no longer meet are common after a season in a box. Chocolate only sealed, with the date in view.

Listing Easter things between Ash Wednesday and Holy Thursday:

Easter moves every year, from late March to late April, and people shop from the end of Carnival until Holy Thursday, when Panama starts closing for Good Friday, so list the week Carnival ends. Photograph a bunny suit worn with the head on, then the inside of the head, and say how tall the last wearer was and whether it has been washed. For an image, give the height, the material and any repainting, and photograph the back. Families baking bon in Colón do best opening orders early in Holy Week with a pick-up day before Friday. Plastic eggs go fastest as one counted lot with the basket, because whoever plans the hunt round a gated-community pool needs that number before deciding how many children to invite.