Then & Now: Easter through the years

If weather predictions hold true, gusty winds will knock Easter bonnets askew this Sunday, and parkas will predominate at Saturday egg hunts.

But unseasonably cold weather won’t stop Easter traditions from taking place, everything from sweet-scented white lilies to hand-dyed eggs to families gathering for holiday meals.

Children will continue to pose for pictures in their Easter finery. Here are four sisters standing in front of their house in the late 1950s.

This photo was taken in 1961.

Here’s a little more laid-back Easter attire from 1972 in the Whittier neighborhood. If the photo subject’s memory is accurate, the shoes were a “blue light special” find at Kmart.

This little girl is proud of her Easter attire.

That image and subsequent items come from the Siouxland Heritage Museums archives.

Before plastic eggs, ovoid containers that could be filled with sweet treats were made of cardboard or papier-mache.

Mrs. Jens Berg wrote “Easter greetings” on this postcard to Mrs. John Halvorson of Dell Rapids. It is postmarked Garretson.

Rabbits and chicks make return appearances on this old stereograph views. The scene with rabbits is title “The Dawn of Easter.”

Austie Wagner Phillips sits next to a potted Easter lily and potted fern. On the back is written in pencil “J’s Easter greeting to mother.”