The other thread got me thinking. If you take the religious aspect out of Easter, what are you celebrating?
To me Easter is church. The family get together, egg hunt, and candy are just a bonus.
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It is just another day for us and we aren't celebrating anything. I enjoyed coloring eggs when I was younger and I still like doing it with my LOs.
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I'm Jewish, so Easter = Sunday to me...
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Bunny themed family BBQ and get together
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We may go to an Easter egg hunt in the neighborhood but that's the extent of our celebration. My mom bought LO an Easter basket last year, we weren't planning on it and we won't buy her one this year.
For me, Easter, like a bunch of other Christian holidays, hasn't been about anything religious for a long time but is an opportunity to get together with family and eat good food.
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CHOCOLATE WONDERLAND WEEK
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We may or may not do an egg hunt, but overall it's a chance to spend time with family and have a great meal. My BsIL and their families come down to my ILs, and we all genuinely have fun together (especially this year, since my bday is the Friday before). I'm excited because E's favorite cousin lives in Boston, so we don't see him often...he's nuts about E, too!
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@CupQuakeWalk: LOL!
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@blackbird: LOL, yes.
Just the Easter bunny coming, doing stuff as a family. When she's older we'll do an egg hunt and dye eggs.
ETA: Also, an excuse to eat Reese's in a different shape.
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For us, it's a day to spend with family and eat yummy food! Now that we will be having kids, we may do more Eastery things in the future, but more "yay spring!" Than "yay Jesus" if that makes sense? (Although it's been known to snow on Easter here, so yay spring may not work out that well...)
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@blackbird: @CupQuakeWalk: Yes!
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A celebration of spring, brunch, and pastels!
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I have a question - were most of you raised (even loosely) Christian, or is it just that the majority of our society is culturally Christian? I ask because it makes sense to me to want to celebrate something that feels like it's part of your identity/routine, but I can't imagine just starting to celebrate a holiday from another religion out of nowhere. Like I like latkes as much as anyone, but I don't make them to "celebrate" Hannukah. I hope that's not threadjacking, just curious
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Egg hunts, chocolate and a basket of small goodies.
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@rattles: good question!
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A huge meal with family. Chocolate. And now with kids, hiding toys and candies!
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@rattles: My mom is catholic and we went to church sporadically as children and celebrated all the holidays. I haven't agreed with the christian view since I could critically think for myself (8-9), so I have never associated holidays exclusively with religion.
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@rattles: I was raised loosely Catholic.. baptized & made my first communion but was pulled out of ccd after that
it means - lunch at my grandparents' house, egg hunt, candy.
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@Radish: exactly your post for me too! my mom calls herself a recovering Catholic lol. she went to Catholic school, all that jazz, but pulled me out of ccd after my first communion.
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@rattles: I was raised Catholic , although my parents were pretty relaxed about it. My husband was raised Methodist and his parents are still strict church-goers. So, many of our family traditions are rooted in Christianity although DH and I are both atheists now. We don't plan on starting new traditions that are faith-based, but I want our LOs to experience Christmas Eve church with their grandparents if that's important to my in-laws. Does that sort of answer your question?
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@rattles: My husband and I were both raised Catholic, so we continue to honor the holidays we grew up celebrating. We tend to emphasize the more secular elements of these holidays, as we're currently non-practicing. Christian holidays are typically the most commercialized and watered down, so those without a religious affiliation are probably more likely to incorporate their traditions.
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I just wanted to specify because the title isn't clear on what I think the op is truly asking:
I AM religious; I am just not CHRISTIAN
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It's just like Christmas to me: a holiday which everyone around me in society celebrated growing up, which you end up experiencing in a mostly secular way as kid. So in short, for me it's big creepy bunnies, painting eggs and going on easter egg hunts!
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@rattles: I was raised Catholic and my DH was raised Jewish. We both celebrate a secular Easter. I get what you're saying, but using your example, the celebration of Christmas is way more prevalent in the US than Hannukah. So to me it makes sense that more people would celebrate Christmas.
The Easter traditions that we celebrate (bunny, egg hunt, etc) have nothing to do with the religious holiday. So it doesn't seem so random to me.
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I grew up Christian and have really found memories of Easter as a child! Once I have my LO it will mostly be about family, spring, baskets, egg hunts, etc. like @mrsjazz: said, it will be more about family and eating good food, then it will be about religion.
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I was raised Christian and still consider myself religious but I don't go to church and I don't celebrate Easter in any sort of religious fashion-- it is just a day to get together with family for me. The reason I'm not big on Easter as a religious holiday (or Christmas for that matter) is that I don't personally believe that the dates of these holidays hold any meaning. I'm aware of how the religion came to look as it currently does, through the nicene conference and incorporation into the Roman empire and then throughout the centuries-- and it all just seems political to me. Sort of the same reason I don't celebrate Valentines Day. I love my husband every day and hallmark isn't going to tell me I should love him more on Feb 14. I thank God every day and have a relationship with him every day and I don't believe in the constructs of the church as it currently exists.
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We probably wouldn't do anything if we lived far away from family, but since DH's family is VERY Catholic, we usually join them in a family lunch or dinner.
I think once we have kids we will embrace the more secular "Yay Spring" sentiment as other posted has said.
ETA: The concept of Easter is one of the first things that made me doubt Christianity as a child so I always feel retrospective around this time.
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It's just another day. It means dressing DD is something cute and when she gets older we'll do eggs and bunnies.
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Just another day to me but might do easter egg hunt if lo wants to when she's older.
But if you are Christian what is with the easter bunny?
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@Greentea: LOL, exactly. We're not celebrating a Christian holiday, we're celebrating a Hallmark holiday!
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@Greentea: EB = Springtime Santa!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Bunny
ETA: not Christian, just thought I would share!
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A day with family, small gifts and treats.
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White shoes!!!
But really, it used to be about church to me but not anymore. Now it is about being with family and having a time to dress up, have a nice meal, and try to enjoy each other's company without fighting and all being on good behavior.
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I was raised by lapsed Catholic parents and we attended church on Easter and Christmas when I was young. We lived next door to the non-denominational bible church we attended and my brother eventually started attending youth group and became very involved, I also attended when I was older but was always questioning. We're both now very secular people who do not attend religious services of any kind and I identify as an atheist (not sure where my brother is on the spectrum now). DH was raised Episcopalian through his childhood and his mom and most of her side of the family are very faithful.
We celebrate Easter to welcome the coming of Spring and the renewal of life through nature rather than Jesus (flowers and new leaves, baby animals, etc.). If the dates lined up better each year I would love to just celebrate the equinox, but they rarely do. -
I actually AM religious (Christian), but we never celebrated Easter (or Christmas) as a religious holiday.
So, Easter to me = Easter basket, poofy dresses, egg hunt + family meal
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@Radish: @sorrycharlie: @twodoghouse: Thanks, guys! I just wondered, but since I made my own religious views clear, I didn't want anyone to take it as a loaded question. I appreciate the response! @deerylou: @lawbee11: Totally agreed about Christian holidays being the social/cultural norm - that's why I asked. I wondered if that was enough to make people otherwise unrelated celebrate it too.
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@Smurfette: spring!
My parents, and my husband and I are all having frequent conversations about how to celebrate At Christmas time and Easter time in a secular way. The answer for us is by celebrating nature and the seasons- many of the traditions associated with these holidays lend themselves to nature celebrations, anyway.
I've been enjoying thinking of new and old traditions for my family. -
@bpcmarj: haha! I thought that was Memorial Day?
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@rattles: Both DH and I were raised in Christian households, his family is Pentecostal and mine is Baptist (though we were originally JW's who didn't celebrate any of that stuff). The switching of religions/denominations is what soured me to religion but I had to do the whole Palm Sunday and Easter thing as a child.
I just want to eat the ears off of chocolate bunnies and call it a day.
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@MsLipGloss: I dislike how it is about "judging children's behavior." That just doesn't seem very Christian to me. Like Santa too! Poor kids.
The Easter bunny always scared me as a kid!
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