When I was a kid it was a big deal to dress up for Easter. At least a month before Easter I would chose a pattern for my Easter dress and pick out the material. Mom would sew not only my dress but outfits for herself and my two sisters and two brothers.
Besides the dress I would have a hat, since in the 60’s and 70’s girls didn’t go to church with their hair uncovered. Some women would wear a little piece of lace on their head called a mantilla or veil. Most women though wore hats. Women had to cover their hair during church as a sign of female submissiveness, which I didn’t know as a kid, I just thought it was pretty. Men wore hats, but they took theirs off inside as a sign of respect. Check out the hats on my Great Aunt Marge and Great Grandma Begus.
I also had gloves. By the end of the 70’s women weren’t really wearing gloves anymore, but in my childhood a girl wasn’t dressed up without them. I had a white cloth pair with little buttons and a lace pair. Mary Begus and Margaret Koetting obviously were dressed up for church with their gloves on.
We didn’t have the money to buy the whole outfit at once, so it was a treat to get each piece. I can afford to buy the outfit now, but I miss the anticipation of each piece being added to the ensemble.
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