Kind of surprises me.
Anyway, I was thinking about this today because my dad and I had our own Easter dinner today, no feasting with the cousins as for various reasons it wasn't convenient today. We had ham, which my dad cleverly put in his slow-cooker before we left for early church, so by noon it was ready to eat. We had baked potatoes and mixed vegetables and bread-and-butter, and two desserts, strawberries in milk, and cookies.
Ham is the traditional Easter dinner where I come from. It's not just my family; it seems to be a common Pennsylvania German tradition. Today I got to wondering whether the ancestors developed that tradition in the New World or brought it with them from the Fatherland. And why ham? I'm aware that some people have lamb, and in its own way, lamb makes more sense to me than ham. If there is a practical reason for ham, rather than lamb, it's escaping me now.
I'm wondering, too, if there isn't possibly a darker reason for ham. Easter frequently occurs about the same time as Passover, and eating pig meat in Passover season would certainly separate one from the Jews.
