In spite of pandemic, Manitobans find ways to celebrate meaning of Easter at a distance

Without fail, BettyReimerhas been servingpeppernutbuns every Easter weekend noteven the COVID-19 pandemic can stop her.

But this year,Reimerwill serve the treata mix between hotcross buns andpaskatoppedwith sprinklesto her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildrenby doorstep instead of the tabletop of herSteinbach, Man., home.

"I will be baking thempeppernutbuns as usual and delivering them to the families, just setting them on their doorstep and leaving keeping that distance," saidReimer,one of the authorsofMennonite Girls Can Cook.

The Reimers are heeding the message from public health officials to stay home and forgo big get-togethers to help disrupt the spread of the contagious coronavirus.

Reimer and her husband John will stay inside. On Sunday morning, they'll watch their church's live-streamed Easter service from the comfort of their living room, andtake part in communion eating a small piece of bread and drinking a sip of juice.

Message still resonates

This Easter will be abnormal, but the meaning of the holiday willstill resonate, Reimer said.

"It's very important, because we're celebrating Jesus, that hecame to this world, that he died and he rose again," he said. "That's the mostimportant thing."

Pastor Gavin Hall already knows he'll miss hearing his congregation on Sunday.

Like a chorus, they would have proclaimed as one, "He has risen, indeed,"to celebrate theresurrection of Jesus Christ.

"It's one of those great, great moments it's the high point of the Christian calendar," said Hall,lead pastor at Charleswood Community Church in Winnipeg, of commemorating Easter.

"To have it taken away in terms of thecommunal gathering, you feel a little cheated or just a little anticlimactic and so we're trying to figure out ways around that."

Hall will still preach on Sunday morning. His service will be available online.

Instead of their usualpotluck breakfaston Good Friday, he'll share a video devotional from his home, while his wife, Becky, the worship director at the church, provides the music.

While his church community is scattered from the pews, Hall said the message of the gospel is maybe hitting closer to home.

Everyone faces a trying time during this pandemic, but the church has known challenges before, from famines to wars andresettlements, Hall said.

Church has 'been here before'

"We readourselves a little bit more into the story and think, 'OK, we, the church we've been here before, we've been in times of distress and confusion," Hall said.

The taste of chocolate, however, will bring some normalcy tofamilies celebrating Easter.

"I think people want Easter chocolate because it's what's familiar this weekend, and I do think that chocolate is comfort food," saidConstanceMenzies, owner of Chocolatier ConstancePopp in Winnipeg.

Sales, she said, will probably behalf of her total lastEaster, even as the amount of phone orders soars.

"We only have one [phone] line and boy, we've been finding this is a problem," said Menzies, who has dedicated one employee to handling the phone and her friends to helpwith deliveries.

And she hasn't forgottenabout the Easter Bunny.

Every year, Menziessurprises three customers with a chocolate bunny delivered to their front door. This year, she's taking suggestions for who's deserving on her Instagram page.

People have been nominating health-care workers on the front lines of COVID-19, people sufferinghealth issues and children worried the Easter Bunny cannot visitbecause of physical distancing orders.

"We're getting some really heartbreaking stories of why people deserve this."

Sariviea Ellsworthwanted to give the kids of Thompson, Man., something to celebrate.

"The kids are obviously upset. They're not getting their regular Easter. They're not at school doing all the fun activities," she said.

She created a photo scavenger hunt to encourage families to drive around the city after the the annual Thompson Easter Egg hunt was sidelined.

One stop will be the driveway of Ellsworth's home, where each child can pick up a small plastic egg with Easter treats thoroughly cleaned, of course.

"It's just a way to get people off their sofaand out, going around town," she said.