Is your Easter a Jesus Free zone?

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Does religion play any part in your easter- or like me are you happy to have a cracking secular/pagan celebration?

Religion plays no part at all in my Easter. Other Yan the kids have an Easter egg (actually this year they have a chocolate bunny) and a lovely bank holiday

no religion here... kids have chocolate

My ds has a Darth Vader easter egg - or to give it its technical name 'hollow chocolate shape' (thanks M&S!)

I give thanks for the arrival of spring and hunt for tiny Easter eggs in the garden with my toddler. But no, I don't make him contemplate a murdered corpse on a cross and try to perform the intellectual sleight of hand that involves explaining why this 'sacrifice' is supposed to 'redeem' us and make us grateful to God.

No just chocolate.

I joined Brownies when I was 8 (long time ago), it was coming up to Easter and they made us colour in pictures of people being crucified. I was seriously disturbed & thought them very very weird. That was my first & last religious Easter.

Just chocolate. DM sends us a card but we won't put it up - for atheist and 'other' reasons.

I attended an Easter assembly at our primary school. The local minister ( scotland ) was wheeled in for one of his performances. THis is a non- faith state school btw.

He described the crucifixion in horriffic detail - a pncture wound so deep the you could see the liver, thorns so sharp that the blood flowed into jesus's eyes, nails puncturing tendons and skin, bones visible.

Some of the children were as young as four, clutching the pretty little easter baskets they had made with their teacher that morning.

A few of the children were in tears and had to be removed from the hall.

Some of the parents complained to the headteacher afterwards about the assembly being too graphic and innapropriate- but he (a rabid christian himself) thought that the children needed to know what was done for them be.cause of their sins.

Bringing all this torture and zombie suff has no place at easter- Halloween perhaps for older kids, but I prefer the chocolate and bunnies

As a Christian minister my Easter will be full of services. We had a full church for Palm Sunday today and there will be services every day this week. I think there are 11 in total between now and the end of Easter Day.

On Easter Sunday itself there will be lots of chocolate after the main service but I'll have to hang back on the bubbly till after the afternoon family services then it will be a glass of something bubbly and a bit of a lie down.

Mine's quite a Christian-focused one too - I was heavily involved in organising the Palm Sunday service today (which was really well attended - lots of people there who don't necessarily usually attend church. We had lots of tea, cake, craft and chatting afterwards, too - had a brilliant time).
Am away with dh and dd over Easter itself, and while I'm sure we will go to the local church on Easter Day, it will be nice to take a back seat and enjoy the service, rather than be organising stuff, worrying about refreshments afterwards, etc.
Will also do an egg hunt for dd around the holiday cottage. Dd's godparents are coming up later in the week, so it will be lovely to celebrate together too.

None whatsoever. For us it's all about the new life and growth that's all around us so we get out into nature. Also chocolate is ver important.

My kids have had two Easter eggs already because they were given them and I don't actually know when easter is so I just let them eat them. We don't really do Easter. Or Jesus.

Easter egg hunts are such fun.

I used to organise a couple every year for my kids, neighbours and family. Sometimes We would do little clues, and have pretty baskets to collect the eggs in. Aldi do great little foil wrapped chocolate novelties, chicks, bunnies, eggs, baby lambs.

Always an Easter tree too. My German friend put me on to this one- it's a big thing in Germany. I bring indoors some big branches in bud and decorate with little bows, eggs, and Easter themed decorations. Poundland have some really good little things- including Easter egg lights.
We bake and decorate cakes, and usually have family over for Easter lunch with roast lamb.
I love all these seasonal festivities.

Love Easter Egg hunts too. We've got one planned after our Easter celebration service, where the children also will make little Easter baskets - they'll then go and find lots of little eggs to fill them with.

It's a Jesus and chocolate thing for us, is Easter. :)

Of course it is, can hardly invite him to pop over for a roast, he's dead.

Very much a Jesus Filled Zone for me. I always feel completely uplifted and rejuvenated at the Easter Service before diving headfirst into the chocolate eggs.

No I never even thought about Easter before kids. I don't even buy a chocolate egg for them now. I let other people give them eggs if they want. Otherwise I don't do anything for Easter at all.

Absolutely full of Jesus. Easter always brings home the incredible power of Jesus' Passion and Resurrection story for me.

We are not religious but our Easter isn't "Jesus free" either.

For me, Easter time and Easter eggs are for celebrating spring and new life. But DS' state primary school do attend the local church for an Easter service where the minister and some of the older pupils tell the Easter story from the Bible. It's a child friendly version, not at all "preachy" and last year involved the Minister throwing out chocolate biscuits to the children as he made the name of the biscuit fit into the story .

I'm not religious, but am happy for DS to learn why/how other people celebrate, and our minister is good at teaching and telling the stories in a way that isn't forcing the belief on anyone. He is brilliant.

Of course, the children are mainly anticipating the chocolate, but we are a Christian family and so Easter is an important time for us. DS is at a faith school and they have been great about getting the children to reflect on how they can serve others during Lent etc. The symbolism in the various church services helps the children understand the solemnity and sadness of Good Friday as well as the joy of Easter Sunday. A great depiction of the life of Christ/ Easter story is the animated film, The Miracle Maker. Not scary for little ones, but very moving and tells the story in a way they will remember. Ralph Fiennes, Richard E Grant etc provide voices. We thought it was very good.

We also love the outdoors and signs of Spring, and will be enjoying this too!

Horribly morbid to introduce torture and murder into a beautiful spring celebration of life.

Easter, like Christmas, is a religious-free zone. It is a time for family to come together for the work-free weekend. We will have our traditional egg hunt and gorge on chocolate.

Totally Jesus free here, like every other part of our lives.

We're big into Easter here, but then we're catholic. DC go to catholic schools so they do a lot about lent/Easter....DD is currently making an Easter garden for her holiday homework.

I was genuinely shocked when a colleague told me she didn't give her DC Easter eggs. I knew she's atheist, but she loves chocolate.

I am not sure that Easter is a particularly christian festival. I know it is for some, but it's more of a secular/pagan celebration.