How has Easter changed so much?

[PistachioTiramisu]

When I was a child (60s/70s) Good Friday was a day when you went early to buy Hot Cross Buns and this was the ONLY day you ate them. Otherwise, all the shops were closed, there were religious programmes on TV and a lot of people ate the traditional fish for dinner. Easter Saturday was a 'fun' day, buying nice food for Sunday. On Easter Sunday you probably were given a chocolate egg or two and had roast lamb for dinner. Again, there were religious programmes on TV. Easter Monday was a day for picnics, etc., but all the shops were still closed.

It seems a shame that the true meaning of Easter has more or less disappeared, having been overtaken by a mountain of chocolate in various shapes and forms, some people having Easter trees with decorations and other themed items. I saw one comment this morning (not on here) stating that 'Easter is for kids', echoing the nonsense that 'Christmas is for kids'. It is not - it's for everyone who wants to mark the event.

Child of the sixties here. On Good Friday we would fast and eat no meat and as Catholics we would go to stations of the cross in the afternoon. Back home for tinned salmon and salad.
On Easter Sunday after mass, there would be chocolate eggs and a big roast dinner. I have to say the array of Easter eggs available was far superior to the ones you get today.
I think like Christmas it is over commercialised but you can choose the way in which you celebrate.

So don’t engage.

Everything is commercialised, has been this way for a looong time. I agree Easter is another of those things which is an opportunity to sell us a lot of things and we are in a country now that isn't that religious so the 'true meaning' of it will wane further.

I disagree with decorations though, child in the 70's here and schools would get us kids to make decorations to hang up as well as make an Easter bonnet and paint hard boiled eggs. For as long as I remember there has been some decorations around, as well as Easter themed things in shops, little bunnies and chicks to buy, plastic, fluffy, both types.

There are plenty of opportunities to uphold Easter traditions at a church near you @PistachioTiramisu. I've done two choir practices this week, service tonight, service tomorrow, decorating the church with home grown flowers this morning and thus is less than I used to do when I wasn't working full time (running children's Easter egg hunt, building the Easter garden)

My children (and I) get mounds of chocolate and I have been very pleased in recent years to appropriate the lovely German tradition of Easter trees.

It's always been traditional to buy new clothes for Easter, and if you read old, pre-war school stories, it clearly wasn't unheard of for posh children to lavish Easter presents.

I think Easter is what you make of it. Yesterday our church and toddler group joined forces and created an Easter egg hunt combined with actors acting out the Easter story which was lovely and admirable considering the weather! Last night we had friends round for some food and drinks who stayed over, and we've done a good walk this morning. Not sure what we have planned for tommorow, maybe church if there's a children's service and a family walk and a roast dinner. Maybe a children's farm day out on Monday.

Back when I was very young we didn't do anything religious particularly. Mum would buy Hot Cross buns and we would have those on Good Friday, we would also have fish and chips (home made) for tea. She would boil us eggs for our breakfast on Easter Sunday and add food colouring to them, usually Cochineal to make them pink or red. We always had a Sunday roast so that would be normal for Easter Sunday.

We had Easter eggs and they were much better quality that most of what you get today, I think with family contributions, we had about four or five eggs each. Dad always bought mum a big box of Black Magic or Terrys All Gold chocolates instead of an egg.

I was a 70s child from a non-religious family. We enjoyed the egg decorating and getting a chocolate egg, making hot cross buns was fun too. All the religious side of it was something we got at school. I still know all the words to There Is A Green Hill. We'd usually watch Ben Hur or The Ten Commandments at my granny's house if it was on. Big roast dinner for Sunday, usually lamb. 😋

Now I'm in Germany and love the Easter decorations, especially the Easter Trees. But we're not Christian so the religious side isn't a thing for us. Everything is closed here on Good Friday and Easter Monday, and additionally in our state Friday is a quiet holiday so no discos are open, no loud music in pubs etc. Bit crap if your birthday falls around Easter (like mine).

Your childhood Easter would be awful for me. I hate hot cross buns, don't like lamb and would never sit and watch religious programming. I'm an 80s child and apart from more choice in hot cross buns and Easter eggs, I don't think there's a massive difference these days. More plastic tat I guess.

If there’s one thing I hate more than commercialism it’s religion. Would happily have neither though.

This. You can still do exactly the Easter you grew up having if you wish.

As a child raised a Catholic, I can well remember the abject gloom of Good Friday and having to go to ‘the passion’ at church and really hating it. And then we’d be back again 2 days later.

It’s much more fun nowadays.

Yep early 70's child and we always had fish on Good Friday, roast lamb on Sunday after church. Shops shut on the bank holidays I think. We're in the north east now and it seems to be a big thing to get chippy fish n chips on good Friday. Queues are huge.

Surely it's up to you what you do? Wet went to church yesterday and DH and ds had hot cross buns (I don't like them). Today we've been to a family cycling thing, currently reading for a bit after lunch then DS has an appointment I have to take him to.
Tomorrow he will have a small Easter egg Hunt in the garden with the cat, I think it's the cat's favourite day of the year, no mountain of eggs, one small, egg one small bunny for ds and some mini eggs etc that will go in a bowl to share. Then my parents are coming for lunch, roast lamb and we'll go for a walk on the beach. DS is actually reading the Usborne children's bible right now. He's a much better Christian than I am. Monday at have nothing planned at present maybe some gardening.
Is that ok with you OP?

I wish shops closed properly on holidays. One thing I remember about Easter was that it was family time and also very peaceful. I would love shop staff to be able to spend a couple days with their families too, instead of working for multi-million pound companies.

I’d rather that than the horrible religious aspect

I agree that Easter and Christmas are not just for kids. The world doesn't revolve around children.

However, I will buy hot cross buns as soon as they become available, and I do the same at Christmas. I will start buying fruit cakes when they start coming out in September, and not to save for Christmas, either. As a pp said, it's entirely your choice, but I do agree that it's unfair and annoying for people to scoff at adults celebrating these occasions.

I need to learn my lesson and stop opening these threads. I find it so irritating that we have people monitoring every single event these days. You have the Christmas police checking we're not putting our trees up too early or taking them down too early or buying too many presents for our kids or neglecting them by not buying enough. A few months reprieve and then it's onto how you're not doing Easter right.
Why on earth do people care? If you liked how it used to be, crack on and mark the occasion that way. You won't see anyone indulging in the commercial nonsense because, no doubt, you'll be at church or picnicking in the middle of a field somewhere. Happy days, right?
Christ. Literally.

Duplicate post.

Agree - I was in M&S this morning and chatting to the lady on the till, she told me that it was really her weekend off but she had been 'persuaded' to work today and have Monday off instead! I did feel a bit sorry for her, but perhaps the weather will be better on Monday.

The athmosphere is very different.
Interesting you cant understand it.

Things like this change because people change them.
If everyone still wanted to do it that way then thats how they'd do it.

I realise im being captain obvious here but it really is that simple. People celebrate the way they enjoy.

Also this country is more pagan than christian.
A pagan cake with christian dusting.

Our Easter isn't that different from my 80s/90s childhood one. We do Easter crafts and have family time (activities dependent on the weather). The dc will get some chocolate eggs on Sunday. It's all fairly relaxed and low-key. My German friend used to do an Easter tree, which I liked. I don't put up any decorations aside from the dc's paintings. Dh had a very religious upbringing so his was different.

Your Easter sounds similar to mine as a child. I do remember getting lots of eggs though, remember the year I had 12. Ben-Hur, Tale of 2 cities and James Bond. Easter Monday we decorated boiled eggs, went on a picnic, rolled our eggs and then ate them on a walk. It’s much more commercialised because businesses can sell more stuff. I try not to get drawn into it.

Reform are now being heavily influenced by American evangelicals - whilst some of this "how we used to be a Christian country" stuff might be genuine a lot of it isn't.

There was a complaint about chocolate eggs not being labelled "Easter eggs" and someone produced a whole thread of photos of eggs from the 60s and 70s showing that they weren't usually described as such either.

It's the whole "let's try and make people angry about something" shtick that infests social media.

I'm in my late 40s and some of the eggs hanging on my Easter Tree also used to hang on my grandmother's when I was a little girl.

We give something up for Lent and usually go to Church on Easter Sunday although we are away this year so it's a mix for us.