A century ago Bermuda had become so closely identified with this season of reawakening and rebirth it was routinely referred to as “The Easter Isle” in the North American press.

At the time the Island dominated fully 90 percent of the Easter Lily market in the United States, with much of its 4,000 acres of arable land turned over to that crop.

The graceful flower, which seems to be trumpeting a welcome to the returning sun after its long winter absence, has been a long-standing symbol of resurrection, purity and innocence in the Christian tradition. Introduced to Bermuda from Japan in the 1850s, the lily thrived here and the Island was soon able to capitalise on the growing vogue for the flower as an Easter time adornment in the United States. “How many lilies are grown in the Bermudas is a difficult question to answer,” reported a Baltimore newspaper in 1896. “The figures run way into the tens of millions. They grow like weeds.”

By the 1890s lily cultivation had become one of the Island’s primary industries — Bermuda was called the “Easter Isle”, it was said, for a million good reasons: it’s estimated that’s how many cut flowers and bulbs were packed and shipped to the US every year.

Bermuda’s shift of economic emphasis from agriculture to tourism after World War One combined with increasing competition from the Pacific Northwest, where commercial lily cultivation began in earnest in the 1920s, marked the beginning of the end of the local industry (although the flower is still known as the Bermuda Lily in many parts of the US, so completely was it once associated with the Island).

Today the Island only grows lilies for the local market — with the exception of the traditional bunches which are shipped to Windsor Castle annually for the Royal Family’s Easter celebrations.

But in a broader sense, Bermuda very much remains the Easter Isle.

The Easter season is associated with more Bermuda customs and folkways than any other time of the year. Most famously, perhaps, there is the construction and flying of kites on Good Friday.

The tradition is believed to have stemmed from an inspired exercise in creative teaching on the part of a frustrated churchman.

When he was unable to interest a Sunday school class in the story of the crucifixion and resurrection, he encouraged his young charges to fly kites one Good Friday — saying the cross-sticks were symbolic of Christ’s ascension into heaven (while the story may well be apocryphal, it deserves to be true). The activity has been established here for more than a century and the annual kite flying festival at Horseshoe Bay is now one of the most popular community events on the Bermuda calendar, drawing thousands of participants and spectators.

When the South Shore skies are filled with dancing, multi-coloured and multi-sided kites and the distinctive singing of hummers, as was the case yesterday, you witness not just an aerial spectacle but a particularly vibrant affirmation of the Bermudian spirit.

Codfish cakes, hot-crossed buns, beachfront sunrise services, the re-enactment of the Stations of the Cross along the fairytale alleys and lanes of St. George all add to the ambience and atmosphere of a Bermuda Easter. And even though the Easter (or Floral) Parade, which thrived from the 1920s to the 1960s, is only a fond memory to a dwindling number of older Bermudians, it has left an imperishable worldwide legacy. This annual springtime procession of flower bedecked floats, bands and equestrians was originally conceived as an elaborate and festive showcase for the Island’s lily crop. In 1933 legendary American composer Irving Berlin accompanied by playwright collaborator Moss Hart visited Bermuda during the Easter season to work on the songs and book of an upcoming Broadway revue eventually titled As Thousands Cheer. Among the local influences the partners absorbed and incorporated into their work during the Bermuda sojourn was the idea for a sketch to be staged around a newly-written Berlin number. Both the skit and the song were called Easter Parade. This enduring show tune has long-since entered the Great American Songbook, spring’s counterpart to Berlin’s festive season classic White Christmas.

Of course, there’s more to a Bermuda Easter than just its customs and cultural practices: it’s a celebration of new life, second chances and fresh beginnings, a holiday that appeals to the religious and the secular alike. The overriding message of Easter, is hope — a renewal of confidence when things have otherwise appeared to be hopeless.

Happy Easter. Bermuda.