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AIBU?

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Original poster

AIBU to think that Easter is very English?

201 replies

SodaStreamy · 29/03/2013 11:15

It is though isn't it?

England shuts down for 4 days .....Scotland doesn't

Why change the tv schedule .....I wanted to watch this monring but it's off 'for Easter'

I went to England 8 year ago on Easter Sunday and it was shut! England was shut not a single shop open

OP posts:
aurynne · 30/03/2013 06:48

AngryBeaver, where in New Zealand are you? I live in Christchurch and Tuesday is not, nor it has ever been, a public holiday Confused

aurynne · 30/03/2013 06:50

By the way, in Spain they actually celebrate Good Thursday and Friday (Jueves y Viernes Santo). Monday is a day of no special significance.

OP, why do you open a thread to compare your country's observation of a particular religious holiday when you obviously have no idea about the traditions in any country except yours? I have to say you show mind-numbingly ignorance which only gets worse with subsequent posts of yours...

JumpChoccy · 30/03/2013 08:44

We were in Spain a few years ago in HolyWeek, and the Spanish really go to town on Good Friday - processions carrying atatues, all the fraternities dressed up. Then on Easter Day we were in Gibraltar (it was a choir tour) singing in the Anglican cathedral, and it was about as un-impassioned as you can imagine, followed by very dull lunch in a yacht club [buhmm] The English community hardly noticed Easter was happening in comparison to the Spanish.

sarahtigh · 30/03/2013 08:48

nohaudinmawheest I also know about disruption and though not in free church have had a lot of contact with it

crucifixion of jesus is mentioned by Josephus the jewish historian written within 40 years of his death

pumpkinsweetie · 30/03/2013 08:55

I quite like Easter and i find it rather lovely that i am allowed to be English for a weekend. After all isn't one allowed enjoy being patriotic?
Every country has their celebrations, and everyone is entitled to celebrate what they believe in and if that makes them very English, then so what...
Happy Easter to all [busmile]

Mrsdoyle1 · 30/03/2013 11:26

Lessthanaballpark

^ Science didn't teach us the earth was flat. The generally held belief of a geocentric universe (including it being flat) was pulled apart in various stages by the natural philosophers of Greece and later by scientists like Copernicus and Galileo.

Yes, each scientific wave made mistakes but they based their investigations on evidence they gathered (empiricism) and didn't usually claim to know everything in the same way as religions have done.

The Catholic Church has tried to suppress or appropriate scientific discoveries especially those that challenged the idea of Earth at the centre. Or God as creator. Evolution isn't a theory. It's an observable fact. ^

Well said, Lessthanballpark. The arrogance and willful ignorance towards science displayed by some religious believers - eg the Creationists - is deeply worrying, especially when we are all expected to tolerate their superstition without comment. People are free to follow their chosen religion but to deny the evidence that science puts before us is sheer stupidity. There is a difference between evidence and belief but it seems that some fail to see that. Science can back up its claims with evidence, unlike religion.

DizzyHoneyBee · 30/03/2013 11:31

AIBU to think it's pointless to see all these people fussing over finding easter eggs and chocolate for their children when they are most likely atheists anyway?!

Mrsdoyle1 · 30/03/2013 11:39

^DizzyHoneyBee

AIBU to think it's pointless to see all these people fussing over finding easter eggs and chocolate for their children when they are most likely atheists anyway?!^

Absolutely right - it is totally pointless, but it's also great fun. If we have to put up with all these religious festivals, we atheists may as well get what enjoyment we can from them.

CarpeVinum · 30/03/2013 11:40

AIBU to think it's pointless to see all these people fussing over finding easter eggs and chocolate for their children when they are most likely atheists anyway?!

Chocolate is never pointless.

NEVER!

I'm quite shocked that you would indicate otherwise.

DizzyHoneyBee · 30/03/2013 11:41

[bugrin]

Talkinpeace · 30/03/2013 14:54

My kids insist on easter egg hunts - and they are teenagers!!!

the easter bunny
Is linked to the eff stuff and the old fertility festivals.
Pre industrial farming, chickens pretty much stopped laying in the winter. Spring was when they started again (ducks are still seasonal) and rabbits start "increasing their population" in the spring - so its all to do with the turning of the seasons.

MrsDoyle
I regard all religious fundamentalists with mild pity so long as they do not get in my way and do not reject science. Once they do that, I wish them ill.

AmIthatWintry · 30/03/2013 15:32

aurynne I think you are being a wee bit generous to the OP.

She is as ignorant of her own country's observations as she is of everywhere else's Grin

lovetomoan · 30/03/2013 16:12

Easter is Christian, not an exclusive English thing. The chocolate eggs on the other hand, should be found everywhere in the world, I think [busmile]

WallyBantersJunkBox · 30/03/2013 21:56

Easter, like most things is a culmination of centuries of celebrations from different beliefs.

The Hare or Rabbit symbolism is connected both as a symbol of the Virgin Mary, and also as the March equinox and season brings us into a fertile state (eggs hatch, lambs born, things start to grow) after the hard season of Winter.

I believe the egg symbolism is linked to the Catholic belief that eggs could not be eaten during Lent? Therefore there were a lot of eggs to eat following this period. I thinki've read that colouring them was to attract children to eat them?

It's a time also connected to the Passover.

So you have Pagan, Roman, Jewish, Catholic and Christian beliefs aligned around the same period.

anothershittynickname · 30/03/2013 23:22

I am gobsmacked at some of the blatant ignorance on this thread, two of my personal favourites being:

"Is Easter Catholic?" and "Was Jesus English?"

LittleBairn · 30/03/2013 23:27

Strange where I am in Scotland it's always been a big deal but my family are Catholics (im not but im a practicing Christian) and live in a very catholic area. I've also lived in England before and never really noticed the difference.

LadyApricot · 31/03/2013 09:31

You should see Italy at easter. We went on our honeymoon over easter and made the mistake of self catering.
NO shops or restaurants open at all.. We ended up playing solitaire for days whilst starving until things slowly opened back up throughout the following week!
On a plus side for us, our dd was conceived at this time!
Haha!

itsjustthebeginning · 31/03/2013 09:53

Another, I too am amazed at some of the posts here, especially from Christians. Celebrations as we know them today, for example Easter and Christmas, grew from pagan roots - see here:

www.nvcc.edu/home/lshulman/rel232/resource/RileyPaper.htm

Now, I'm off to finish off my choccie egg Smile

LittleBairn · 31/03/2013 12:13

its ah the old pagan argument totally ignoring that Easter grew out of Passover and is timed around it.

WallyBantersJunkBox · 31/03/2013 13:14

information on the Goddess Eostre on whom the Anglo Saxon word Easter is derived

A lot of the Jewish religion is based on Babylonian religion and calendar, and also on Ancient Egyptian culture. The pagan act of worshipping trees for example?

poocatcherchampion · 02/04/2013 21:25

Apologies - a bit slow to come back to the thread to explain, but others have!we remember Christ dying and being risen every week through the breaking of bread - there is nothing in the bible telling us to acknowledge this annually at a certain time - so we don't. I didn't say we don't remember His sacrifice! We also have the same approach to Christmas.

We are christadelphians btw.

annoyednow · 03/04/2013 00:42

It's interesting how despite it's recent presbyterian culture, egg rolling is enjoyed over easter in Scotland. Maybe this practice is a remainder of it's previous nigh on 1,000 years of being Catholic.

sarahtigh · 03/04/2013 08:24

i live in scotland and never heard of egg rolling anywhere, easter egg hunts at national trust properties and various other places yes; but egg rolling no not in past 19 years have i heard of even 1 anywhere in scotland

JollyPurpleGiant · 03/04/2013 08:35

Really, Sarah? We used to roll eggs every Easter. And, depending on where we went, there would be other people there rolling eggs too :)

sarahtigh · 03/04/2013 21:30

well not heard of it in Glasgow or at least parts I'm familiar with nor in Edinburgh or in argyll where we live now or inverness, black isle or western isles

I have no idea about the borders aberdeen dundee angus or fife though