Who Is Starting to Get Ready for the Upcoming 2025 Mets Season? – Written by Fatima, GiGi’s NYC Participant

Happy Spring Gigi’s Playhouse NYC!

There are so many beautiful spring holidays to celebrate in April 2025 such as April Fools’ Day, National Siblings Day, Passover, Palm Sunday, National Tax Day, Good Friday, Catholic Easter, Greek Orthodox Easter, and National Pretzel Day. It is also Peter Colombos’s 24th birthday in April.

April Fools’ Day is celebrated on Tuesday, April 1st this year, and a lot of people celebrate the holiday in a lot of different ways such as playing jokes on others, telling jokes, and making people laugh. On this day I am planning on getting ready for Easter Sunday by creating candy bags for everyone from Molloy University in Rockville Centre.

National Siblings Day is celebrated on Thursday, April 10th this year, and a lot of people celebrate the occasion in a lot of ways. Some of these ways include catching up with your siblings, sharing photos and memories, and expressing appreciation. Consider starting or upholding traditions that make the day special. Schedule time to talk, play games, or do activities together, such as creating a photo album or scrapbook of sibling memories or watching old videos together. Reach out to siblings you haven’t seen in a while. Share a meal or enjoy a shared hobby. Share a sibling moment you’re proud of with a non-sibling friend. On this day I am planning on going out with my brother for dinner in the evening after college.

Passover is celebrated on Saturday, April 12th to Sunday, April 20th this year, and a lot of people celebrate the occasion in different ways. The main way to celebrate this holiday is with a Seder which is a special meal on the first two nights of Passover where the story of the Exodus is retold through food, prayers, and songs and using the Haggadah as a guide. During Passover, observant Jews abstain from eating or possessing “chametz,” which is anything containing grain that has risen, including bread, cakes, crackers, pasta, and certain alcoholic beverages. Matzah, a type of unleavened bread, is a staple of Passover, symbolizing the Israelites’ hasty departure from Egypt. At this time of year, homes are thoroughly cleaned to remove any traces of chametz, and any remaining chametz is either sold or burned. Yom Tov which is the first, second, seventh, and eighth days of Passover (first and seventh in Israel) are considered days of restricted work and festive meals. Passover cuisine features a variety of foods, including matzah, gefilte fish, and other traditional dishes, all prepared to be kosher for Passover. Many Jewish communities and organizations offer Passover programs, which are often held in hotels or resorts and provide a convenient and inclusive way to celebrate the holiday. If you are attending a Seder, be prepared to participate in the rituals and ask questions. I have in the past gone to a Sedar hosted by my mom’s friend, Nancy. I enjoyed it, especially the food and storytelling. My favorite dish was the matzah ball soup.

Palm Sunday is celebrated on Sunday, April 13th this year, and a lot of people celebrate the occasion in a lot of different ways. Many Christians attend church services to commemorate this day, which marks the beginning of Holy Week. At a Palm Sunday Mass, palm branches are blessed and distributed, and there is a procession to commemorate Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem. Mass on Palm Sunday often includes readings from the Bible about Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem, hymns, and sermons. Some churches hold reenactments of Jesus’s arrival into Jerusalem, with a member of the congregation riding a donkey and others waving palm branches. On this day I am planning on attending church and then visiting loved ones at Saint Michael’s Cemetery and putting palms on their grave stones where they are buried. My grandmother and Peter Colombos’s brother Yiaonni and his grandmother Eleftheria Tzvias are all buried there.

National Tax Day is celebrated (just kidding 😜) on Tuesday, April 15th. Tax Day is the day on which individual income tax returns are due to be submitted to the federal government. Since 1955, Tax Day has typically fallen on or just after April 15th. Tax Day was first introduced in 1913, when the Sixteenth Amendment was ratified. Just a reminder about late taxes. If you don’t pay what you owe by April 15th, the IRS will begin charging interest — even if you filed for an extension. But those penalties can get much worse if you don’t file at all. Filing your return, even without full payment, is a critical first step.

Good Friday is celebrated on Friday, April 18th this year, and a lot of people celebrate the occasion in a lot of ways such as attend special church services or prayer vigils. Good Friday is a day of mourning and quiet prayer for many Christians. The candles are often extinguished and statues, paintings, and crosses may be draped in black, purple or gray cloth. Christians observe solemn reflection, prayer, and fasting, often attending special church services that focus on Jesus’s suffering and crucifixion. I am planning on going to church that day before going to work at Citi Field. I won’t eat meat that day.

Catholic Easter is celebrated on Sunday, April 20th this year and many Catholic families celebrate the holiday in different ways including attending mass on Easter Sunday or the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday. The Easter Vigil is a beautiful and emotional celebration of the resurrection of Christ. Other ways to celebrate Easter include spending time in prayer and reflecting on the meaning of Easter, attending a family gatherings for a big Easter feast and participating in an Easter egg hunt with colored eggs symbolizing new life and the empty tomb. Many Catholics also participate in the Divine Mercy devotion, which is a powerful way to focus on the Lord’s infinite mercy. 2025 is a year of Jubilee, a time of hope for a world suffering the impacts of war. On this day, I am planning on calling out of work at Citi Field and be with my family at my Aunt Katherine’s house and sleeping late on that day since I’ll be on spring break from school for a week. Also, I am thinking about getting Easter gifts for my family and giving them out when we are all together on Easter Sunday.

Greek Orthodox Easter is also celebrated on Sunday, April 20th this year, and a lot of people celebrate the occasion in a lot of different ways. Easter is a time of intense religious observance, with church services, processions, and ceremonies. Before their Easter celebration, Greek Orthodox Christians observe a period of fasting during Lent, abstaining from certain foods, including meat and dairy, to prepare spiritually for Easter. Lazarus Saturday, which is observed the day before Palm Sunday, marks the end of Lent. Good Friday is a solemn day of mourning and remembrance of Christ’s crucifixion, with a procession carrying the Epitaphios (flower-bedecked Sepulcher).
Holy Saturday preparations begin for the festive Easter dinner with traditional dishes like magiritsa (a soup made with lamb offal and herbs). The most anticipated moment of the Greek Easter celebration includes the Midnight Resurrection Service (Anastasi) where the proclamation of Christ’s resurrection takes place. At this service, the priest lights a candle from the eternal flame of the Holy Fire, which is then used to light candles for the congregation. Church bells ring and fireworks light the sky at midnight as the hymn “Christos Anesti” (Christ is Risen) is chanted. Another tradition includes cracking red-dyed hard-boiled eggs, symbolic of the blood of Christ, against each other, with the winner being the one whose egg remains intact. Families often gather after the Resurrection service for a large meal featuring roasted lamb, tsoureki (sweet Easter bread), and other traditional dishes. Other traditions include candlelit processions where people gather in church holding white candles, which they light with the “Holy Light” offered by the priest and exchanging a “kiss of peace” at the end of the Easter service (Paschal Matins), a custom based on biblical scriptures. In Greece, depending on the region you are in, lantern processions take place where children carry lanterns during Easter celebrations.
In other areas of Greece, a scarecrow of Judas might be set on fire, symbolizing catharsis.

National Pretzel Day is celebrated on Saturday, April 26th, and a lot of people celebrate the occasion in a lot of different ways including making chocolate covered pretzels, enjoying pretzels whether they’re homemade or store-bought, and often by participating in pretzel-themed events or social media posts. The most common way to celebrate is to simply enjoy pretzels, whether they’re soft, hard, or flavored. Some people throw pretzel-themed parties, featuring a variety of pretzel flavors, dips, and toppings. Others pack a picnic basket with pretzels and other snacks and head to a park. Some people take the opportunity to bake their own pretzels, experimenting with different recipes and flavors. Many pretzel businesses, like Auntie Anne’s, Philly Pretzel Factory, and Wetzel’s Pretzels, offer deals or free pretzels to celebrate National Pretzel Day. Some people choose to give or receive pretzel gifts, such as gourmet pretzel samplers or specialty pretzel flavors. On this day I am planning on making pretzels covered in melted chocolate as a special treat for spring break from Molloy University.

Before I start working on the May 2025 blog post I want to recommend a college in Rockville Centre for more adults with disabilities. This college is Molloy University. It’s a great place to learn new things for life after graduating from college, and everyone there is very nice. It’s called The M.O.S.T. Program at Molloy University. I am about to finish my first year there. It’s a three year program. I recommend participants go to Molloy University in Rockville Centre for their college education.

Wishing you all a wonderful spring break.

With love and happiness,
Fatima