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Philosophy/religion

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Original poster

Is your Easter a Jesus Free zone?

104 replies

antumbra · 29/03/2015 08:29

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

OP posts:
niminypiminy · 30/03/2015 14:07

Interesting article. Don't agree with it, but it's a view, and she's entitled to her opinion.

Original poster
antumbra · 30/03/2015 14:08

It's not a christian festival for me though- neither is christmas. I celebrate both however.

OP posts:
niminypiminy · 30/03/2015 14:10

Ok, have it your own way. It's not (unlike Easter) a matter of life an death.

Original poster
antumbra · 30/03/2015 14:13

Thankfully though my Easter has nothing to do with death ( unlike yours).

OP posts:
niminypiminy · 30/03/2015 14:17

... so it has nothing to do with the pagan traditions described in the article you linked to either? The great natural cycle of death and rebirth is at the heart, as I understand it, of modern pagan celebrations.

If you don't have any of that, all you've got is a long weekend and some chocolate. Which is nice, as far as it goes. But that is not very far.

Original poster
antumbra · 30/03/2015 14:19

You know nothing of my easter- don't be presumptious.

OP posts:
IvanOsokin · 30/03/2015 14:20

No religion at all, here - for us it's a start-of-spring/new life/chocolate celebration.

I was brought up as a Catholic with the whole Christian death and resurrection thing and rejected it wholeheartedly at an early age.

Easter (or 'eater' as my young children used to call it) is a time of celebration that predates Christianity by a long way.

Original poster
antumbra · 30/03/2015 14:22

I love Easter. We celebrate all weekend and have lots of fun.

OP posts:
ASorcererIsAWizardSquared · 30/03/2015 14:25

we dont celebrate Easter at all. I'm Pagan, its Ostara in this house, but we did that over the Vernal Equinox.

TheJiminyConjecture · 30/03/2015 14:30

Egg hunts and spring celebration here. Looking forward to spending the bank holiday as a family.

LineRunner · 30/03/2015 14:30

I've never understood how Easter Sunday is the third day.

thegreenheartofmanyroundabouts · 30/03/2015 15:37

Jesus dies on the Friday at around 3pm and is buried immediately as the Sabbath is about to start. The resurrection is believed to happen on Sunday. So three days but less that 36 hours.

LineRunner · 30/03/2015 16:02

Exactly. It's not three days.

LineRunner · 30/03/2015 16:03

Not that it matters. It just worried me as a kid that I was eating my egg too early.

Original poster
antumbra · 30/03/2015 16:07

Not sure what the egg has to do with jesus though.

OP posts:
LineRunner · 30/03/2015 16:10

Well, precisely.

LineRunner · 30/03/2015 16:11

Although my dad did say the egg symbolised the rolling away of the stone from the tomb. (We did painted hard boiled egg rolling.)

LineRunner · 30/03/2015 16:13

Tbh Easter always confused the hell out of me, what with the sin stuff. The first Sunday after the full moon after the vernal equinox has a lot to answer for.

ASorcererIsAWizardSquared · 30/03/2015 16:22

well of course sunday is the third day. it doesn't say he was dead for three days, but that he rose on the third day.

Good Friday
Sabbath
Easter Sunday.

LineRunner · 30/03/2015 16:23

The first day after he died is Saturday.

ASorcererIsAWizardSquared · 30/03/2015 16:23

the egg thing was hijacked, but christians like to say the egg represents new life/rebirth.. IE, jesus rose again.

ASorcererIsAWizardSquared · 30/03/2015 16:26

he died on friday.

he was dead on part of friday, all of saturday and part of sunday. the scripture states he rose on the third day, not that he was dead for 3 days, there's a difference.

JugglingFromHereToThere · 30/03/2015 16:31

I enjoy the spring with it's beautiful blossom and flowers and gradually warming days towards summer most.

But story is important to me too so just like at Christmas I try to find whatever meaning I can within Easter festivities - but this is becomingly increasingly pagan for me, and at Christmas as much about turning into a new year after mid-winter, and around Easter about the wonder and glory of spring-time.

Easter was always going to be more problematic quite frankly wasn't it? I too have felt very uncomfortable accompanying school children for a talk about Easter which involved a large wooden cross, a hammer and nails and the sounds of hammering. I think all adults involved should have questioned more whether this was really appropriate for children as young as 4, some visiting a church for the first time, and many from different faith traditions.

I think a traditional Easter garden with stone rolled away would have been more suitable if they wanted to tell aspects of the Easter story. I have fond memories of these from my own childhood - looking at them with my DGrandpa when I went to his church

Flugdrachen · 30/03/2015 16:35

"all you've got is a long weekend and some chocolate."

that works for me Grin

HoobleDooble · 30/03/2015 16:35

Nope, not a trace of Jesus here, it's all about the chocolate and those little fluffy yellow chicks from the card shop. My birthday also falls on Easter Sunday this year, so hopefully it will be about bacon sandwiches in bed, and far too much wine too!

My DM keeps trying to shoehorn Christianity into my home through the medium of little books for DS. We had the nativity one last December, and was presented with the Easter one last week. They've been put on the bookshelf until DS decides whether he wants to read them. He's heavily into Plants vs Zombies at the moment and Ive deliberately not explained what the zombies are (he just sees them as funny cartoon men who fall to bits) as he's quite easily spooked, so won't be telling him about a man being brutally killed then coming back to life just yet.