A month has already passed since Easter Sunday, and you probably do not have many figolli left. Even so, you still have time to indulge, because Easter is not a day but fifty! Figolli are traditional Easter pastries, featuring a shortcrust pastry filled with a thick, sweet layer of almond paste. Sometimes they are covered in icing or chocolate, according to taste, and come in different sizes and shapes, though the traditional one is the lamb, reminding us of Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
And it is one thing to buy them ready-made, and quite another to have them prepared and baked at home—especially those filled not with ordinary mixtures but with pure almond paste. Even the almond itself carries a divine symbolism. In Greek icons of the Resurrection, the blue radiance around Christ is almond-shaped, rounded below and tapering upwards toward heaven. When God calls the prophet Jeremiah and appoints him over nations and kingdoms, he shows him a branch of almond (Hebrew שָׁקֵ֖ד, šāqēḏ), because just as it is the first to blossom near the beginning of spring (near Easter), so too God “watches” (שֹׁקֵ֥ד, šōqēḏ) over his word to perform it (see Jer 1:11–12).
And then, there is always a valid excuse that through the figolli during Easter time we can really “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8), even if afterwards you end up at the dentist!