At one time Bermuda had become so closely identified with this season of rebirth and renewal it was routinely referred to as “The Easter Isle” in the North American press.

By the end of the 19th century, Bermuda dominated fully 90 per cent of the Easter lily market in the United States, with much of the Island’s 4,000 acres of arable land turned over to that crop.

The graceful flower, which seems to be trumpeting a welcome return to the sun after its long winter absence, has been a longstanding symbol of resurrection, purity and innocence in the Christian tradition.

“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 was 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.

Today the Island grows only a relatively small number of 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 at 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, multicoloured and multisided kites and the distinctive singing of hummers, you witness not just an aerial spectacle but a particularly vibrant affirmation of the Bermudian spirit.

Codfish cakes, hot cross buns, beachfront sunrise services, the re-enactment of the Stations of the Cross along the alleys and lanes of St George all add to the ambience and atmosphere of a Bermuda Easter.

And even though the old 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 is 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.