Why isn’t Easter like Christmas?

Let’s get something straight right from the start of the this blog post. I’m not a religious person and anything that I talk about today is not referring to the religious aspects of the holiday celebrations. Now that that is established (always seems strange when you actually use the same word twice next to each other) I wanted to talk about Easter. Currently we are enjoying the four day break which is the Easter weekend. Today, although it is Saturday, many of us have been confused into thinking that it is already Sunday due to having Friday off work. However, when you look and compare the Easter holidays and the Christmas holidays they have many things in common and yet, they are completely different. Is Easter slowly disappearing as a holiday celebration? Well that is what this waffle is about…

I blogged awhile ago about how much I hate this time of the year and how, for me, it goes down hill from now on. Although it is the Easter weekend and most of the workforce gets two extra days off work, the clocks go forward tonight, so we lose an hour’s sleep and to almost add insult to injury, because of it is Easter Sunday, Starbucks will be shut tomorrow so I won’t have anywhere to sit and write my blog. The only other time that the store is closed is, of course, Christmas Day and, although I do not begrudge them having two days off at all, I do wonder why Easter is not as big of a holiday as Christmas is since it has so many things in common. Surely it has the potential and could be something much bigger.

Decorations and Traditions – Both of the holidays are based around a Christian festival, Christmas being the birth of Jesus and Easter being the death and subsequent resurrection and both have a range of songs/carols associated with the celebration. Often, when I go round to my mum’s house during the Easter period, she actually has a decoration up. It would appear to be a piece of dead twig/tree, which is firmly planted in a pot. Although it pales into insignificance compared to the the Christmas tree, the twig is decorated with little, colourful eggs, hanging from thread. The shops also appear to decorate their stores during Easter as well, with chicks and fluffy rabbits appearing in windows and on shelves, accompanied with a multitude of eggs. Just like Christmas, Easter also has a wealth of ‘traditions’. Children paint their eggs and enter them into competitions. Hard boiled eggs are rolled down hills and chocolate eggs are hidden around the garden for the Easter Hunt to begin! Just like Santa, the Easter Bunny comes into our homes and leaves the eggs ready for the children who have been good. However, Easter fails to achieve either the commercial hype or the engagement which Christmas does – maybe it is the time of the year?

Gifts and Food – I have just come back from the weekly shopping trip and I must say that half my trolley was actually full of Easter eggs. On the shelves there were other gifts that you could buy including giant fluffy bunnies, Easter Bonnets and even chicks engaged in various activities. I also noticed that just like turkeys at Christmas, many of the people were sorting through the meat section to get the best lamb deal. It would appear that just like turkeys might dislike Christmas, Easter is a time when lambs should go off and hide at the back of the pen! Although the gifts would appear to be quite limited, Easter does share the idea of giving gifts, just like Christmas and I am sure, with some clever marketing, the gift ideas could be extended to including a larger range…maybe even focusing on a new life and things for engaging with a new life? I guess gym membership would do a roaring trade!

Family and Friends – Christmas is a time for family, getting together to eat and enjoy the season’s celebration. When I was growing up, I remember that Easter Sunday did share this sense of family, with everyone getting together to enjoy the Easter meal of lamb etc. As time has progressed, this has sadly lapsed and now it appears to pass uneventfully. At work, we go out for Christmas work meals and many people celebrate Christmas over and over again, although, Easter just doesn’t appear to have this impact. Indeed, it would appear that it is slowly regressing into something which has little or no celebratory value. As a family we no longer ‘get together’ on Easter Sunday – how many more families have decided to ‘forego’ this tradition I wonder?

For me, Easter has the potential to be another huge celebration, starting a new period in people’s lives, almost like new year’s resolutions all over again. While Easter appears to be diminishing, other celebrations seem to be gathering momentum. Halloween is definitely gaining in popularity fueled by the American version of the holiday and even bonfire night seems to be more of a getting together holiday than Easter. Maybe the popularity of a holiday rests with the children. By engaging and involving the children more with the Easter celebrations would it be possible to increase its ‘size’ and impact. Many might say that they don’t want another commercially hyped holiday, others might think that a weekend just relaxing is perfect for this time of the year. I like Christmas, I like the lead up to it, I like the hype and the shopping and the carols and, if it was possible to have this twice a year, then I would definitely be willing to give it ago. Of course, I might just be saying this because I want more presents…

So what are your views about Easter? Do you celebrate it with your family? Do you buy everyone Easter eggs or is it just a long weekend to look forward to? As always, if you have any comments then it would be great to hear from you, so please add them in the comments below or send them to me on any of my social media sites.

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