Is anybody else skipping easter this year?

[Rhett&SarahsMom]

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No hate here, but ust wondering; Did you think it might offend some here who feel that Easter is the most sacred of Holydays?

Why would anyone be offended by a child's interpretation of Easter?

My dh and I are both Christians, but we don't generally celebrate holidays in the "traditional" sense. We don't buy gifts for everyone and their uncle on Christmas, we don't spend tons of money on candy and decorations for Easter, etc.

Everything is so commercialized, I refuse to buy into it. Do we buy gifts for people ever? Sure we do, but we don't limit our view to major holidays or birthdays only.

Thanksgiving was my favorite holiday growing up, b/c there are no gifts, no decorations to put up and take down, it was just a nice meal with our whole family there. That's the best.

You dont put up Thanksgiving decorations?!

 

[ksacres]

Rhett&SarahsMom :

You dont put up Thanksgiving decorations?!

Shocking, I know!

 

[HarlansHollowFarms]

I celebrated the changing of the season already.......

Easter is just another Sunday to me, like Christmas and other christian/commercial holidays, they are just days.
I am pagan, so is my family, so there has never been a reason to buy into all the hoopla.
But, for all you that celebrate...have fun!

 

[fowltemptress]

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Well . . . first off, X was a commonly used symbol for Christ back in the day, which is why you'll see it in a bunch of holy paintings in churches and old texts, and "Christians" used to commonly be spelled "Xians", so I'm not clear on why there's even controversy over that. And also . . . because I believe in having in spending special time with my family and friends, and it's fun to research the history of the holidays (particularly the pagan aspect in this case, especially since that's what brought us the cool colored eggs

), and try to bring some of that history to life. Religion does not, and should not, hold a monopoly on holidays where the important thing is being surrounded by loved ones, having a good time, and in my case learning about history and different cultures. I get a lot out of celebrating holidays, and I've never needed religion for that.

Oh, and regardless of your faith, or lack thereof, I would definitely recommend to everyone to make a new tradition on studying up on the history of different holidays. Not only is history just the most fascinating thing in the world, but you can dig up some awesome old ways to celebrate that don't buy in to the whole commercialization deal.

 

[AngieChick]

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Thank you.

I do have in laws that don't believe in God. Why, oh why, would someone go out and spend money and celebrate Christmas, not X-mas, CHRISTmas, if they did not believe in God. Is it a feel good holiday for them or what? Easter and Christmas are the most important holidays of all. Without the meaning of either one, we would be nothing........................................

To answer the question - Easter for us is just fun, and as a parent I recognize the importance for us to break up the year and establish traditions. We also celebrate Christmas. For us, it's a day to have family get together from far away and to recognize each other (plus eat too many cookies course). We usually do homemade gifts for all except the kids. As for the kids, it's fun to spoil them here and there. Also, the holiday means a lot to my parents, and as we are a very close family we wouldn't dream of not getting together at that time.

I respect the religious meaning to others', and though our reasons are different they deserve the same respect. I take no offense whatsoever, but I think it's important to recognize that BYC is full of a diverse group of people with diverse views on religion. While a healthy discussion is great, it's also important to give all the same level of respect to all by not insisting that ones' reason to celebrate is the only valid reason.

 

[Marion]

It's all about love! Having a date on the calendar isn't necessary to be able to do that... but perhaps a reminder of what it is all about is why we DO have special dates like Easter... just a thought!

 

[HarlansHollowFarms]

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Well . . . first off, X was a commonly used symbol for Christ back in the day, which is why you'll see it in a bunch of holy paintings in churches and old texts, and "Christians" used to commonly be spelled "Xians", so I'm not clear on why there's even controversy over that. And also . . . because I believe in having in spending special time with my family and friends, and it's fun to research the history of the holidays (particularly the pagan aspect in this case, especially since that's what brought us the cool colored eggs

), and try to bring some of that history to life. Religion does not, and should not, hold a monopoly on holidays where the important thing is being surrounded by loved ones, having a good time, and in my case learning about history and different cultures. I get a lot out of celebrating holidays, and I've never needed religion for that.

Oh, and regardless of your faith, or lack thereof, I would definitely recommend to everyone to make a new tradition on studying up on the history of different holidays. Not only is history just the most fascinating thing in the world, but you can dig up some awesome old ways to celebrate that don't buy in to the whole commercialization deal.

What a great idea......
Even though I am pagan, I have read the christian book, the muslim book and the buddist book so I know a great deal about their faith as does my daughter am her children, history of religion is a very interesting subject, it nice to understand other views as this is a very diverse world we live in.
The Xian thing is a good question for the knowledgable christian, I too have seen this reference in old text and in many old cathedrales overseas. Any one have an answer as why so many take offense to Xmas? As x was commonly used to mean christ.

 

[beak]

In my family we always went to midnight mass on X-mas and of course the 3 holy days leading up to Easter and Easter. Of course we had the family dinners on those days.

Now that I have my own family, we celebrate X-mas and blow a lot of money. We have 8 kids, 6 that live with us and 1 that comes to our house on X-mas. They start at 6 and go through 33 but 5 are below 12. It's hard to get off cheap. We put up a tree in the long ago pagan tradition and my DW puts up other items to celebrate the Yule season. We do open gifts on the traditional date for X-mas because that's when Santa delivers the presents.

On Easter we make a basket with some colored eggs and a small gift or each child. We then fill about 100 of those plastic eggs with candy 2 or 3 small pcs each and hide all over the general living area. Kitchen drawers, fridge, cabinets, under cushions, everywhere. The little kids get a head start then the older kids get to search. They have a blast. They then open all their eggs and poor them into a big bowl which we regulate over the next week. Of course the 17 year old probably eats about 50% of it.

I could do without the holidays. They just mean a lot of money spent. DW and I quite often just exchange kisses as we don't really want to spend the money. Kids are a different thing though. They live for the holidays. Of course it is annoying when you finally get all the trash picked up on X-mas to have one come up and say "I'm bored".

 

[luvmychicknkids]

Wow.....we are atheists and we celebrate the Winter Holidays....sometimes we call it Solstice, sometimes Christmas (heck, my name is Christy I would be silly to get too offended), sometimes just the Holidays. The day we do it varies so much with a military hubby anyway. It was mid January this year.

We celebrate Easter because it is a great excuse to use eggs and eat chocolate!!! I would never come on here and insult someone for celebrating because they believe and do think it is pretty offensive to insult someone who doesn't believe. I won't be wearing an uncomfortable dress and heels and spending time in church but I WILL take my kids to my mother's house when she returns from her service.

 

[gritsar]

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