Is Easter a nothing celebration? Light hearted.

Callistemon21

Not yet - Sunday for eggs

Of course it is ? See that's what happens when you don't get any ?

DH was a chorister as a boy so we have had lots of Easter music playing today. He still sings in cathedrals when invited.
For me I replicated my childhood today by baking little chocolate Easter cakes.
Tastes, smells and sounds evoking the past.

We will be having a child free Easter this year ?
Three of our grandchildren are in New Zealand and the other one in Devon visiting the other grandparents.
I remember all the special Easters with egg hunts in the garden and Easter activities in the nearby country park with all four of our grandchildren.
Easter is about the risen Christ, our example for living. It is also about new life and Spring.
This year will be a visit to mum in her care home and then roast lamb lunch. One of our sons and his wife will be with us. I’ve made my simnal cake which we’ll have for pudding along with fresh berries. I daren’t put the top layer of marzipan and the apostles on till tomorrow otherwise my husband will start eating it. And I want it to look nice for the table on Sunday.

Apparently the Venerable Bede said that the word comes from Eostre, or Eostrae, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of Spring and fertility.

Hence the eggs, and why many non-religious people like to make a bit of a thing of it. Who doesn’t welcome spring after a Northern European winter?
Another pagan festival that was taken over and adapted by Christians.,

Not yet - Sunday for eggs

Happy Easter everyone. I hope those who wanted them got their eggs.

I don't care - the more people who go and sit on the motorways and in airports the quieter it gets in our town centre and other places we like to go so life is more relaxing at home.

Birds singing and twittering, sun shining, two children behind us howling briefly but then soothed, it's lovely and peaceful.

Happy Easter everyone

I was fortunate that my parents (particularly my Dad) totally supported my involvement in politics and CND. He would always accompany me and carry my bag and sleeping bag down to our local meeting point (a couple of miles from where I lived). My Mum did approve, but was always terrified of me getting arrested or worse. When I arrived home late on Easter Monday, each year, he always made sure that the immersion heater was on, so that I could have a long, hot bath.

When I ran a children's gym club(many years later ), I would open it on Good Friday for parent and toddler session, and it was always attended (to maximum capacity) but many Dad's taking the opportunity of being with their little children. Loved it.

I suspect most working people are delighted to have four days off together in the spring, whether they are Christian or not, and whether they follow any Easter traditions or not. Just having time to relax after the long haul of the winter months is celebration enough for many, who won’t have had any time off sine the beginning of January.

nanna8

It represents the day my Lord died to save me from my sins and I always feel a bit of a mix of happiness and sadness. Sunday is happier.

Yes, us too. I’m not sure how we’d feel if we weren’t Christians. There would be no point to it.

There never seemed the frantic rush to get away at Easter as there is now although people did travel to see relatives.

Some of our neighbours were quite frantic last week because they hadn't got anywhere to go yet this weekend. They obviously sorted it because they're away now. They think we're weird because we never go away on bank holidays ?

I don't care - the more people who go and sit on the motorways and in airports the quieter it gets in our town centre and other places we like to go so life is more relaxing at home.

Same to you Cherrytree and all my friends on GN ?

Easter is very important to me and my family.
It is a joyous time.
We are blessed.
swap Easter for Christmas any day

Easter is important to the Christian faith but it also is time for all faiths or no faith to come together to celebrate family time or just to take time out to enjoy some peace.

Wishing a Happy Easter to all my Grandsnet friends ???

We're not doing an Easter egg hunt because the dog is coming - he'd sniff them out before anyone.

nadatetube your mum sounds like mine. ?

There never seemed the frantic rush to get away at Easter as there is now although people did travel to see relatives.
It seemed to be more of a family time than trying to go off to the sun years ago. And a gardening weekend.

Now Easter for many is queues at the airports, jams on the motorways.

We haven't done chocolate at Easter since the children were very small. The GC do get some, but only from family friends and it gets spread out over weeks. We enjoy our Hot Cross buns over the Easter weekend ??. We have family Easter egg hunts and games for 'prizes' (that don't involve chocolate), outside if the weather is good.

We're not a religious family and regard Easter simply as a nice family time, even more so than Christmas. We do respect that others feel differently though, just as we respect the non Christian festivals like Diwali, Eid and Hanukkah celebrated by our friends.

For me it's a day to remember that Christ died for our sins, and that he loves us.
I send my young grandsons money to buy eggs. I think they have an Easter egg hunt in the garden on Easter Sunday although my daughter isn't a believer.
When we were children my mum didn't smile on Good Friday. If the weather was stormy she would say God was angry.

Luckygirl3

*My best Easter memories are back in the early 1960's when I spent the four days on the Aldermaston, anti-nuclear bomb CND marches.* Me too - only a bit later. I remember spending the night on someone's lino kitchen floor right by the cooker.

My Dad was horrified and kept lecturing me about it being political and full of lefties - if I had not been intending to go anyway, his disapproval sealed the deal!

That seems like a Christian thing to have done, Luckygirl

Bruce Kent was a very active member of CND
Rowan Williams attended CND rallies (he was arrested)

They are important dates Franbern
Not 'important' as if querying whether or not they are.

I'm not a devout Christian before you ask.
It's a matter of semantics.

My best Easter memories are back in the early 1960's when I spent the four days on the Aldermaston, anti-nuclear bomb CND marches. Me too - only a bit later. I remember spending the night on someone's lino kitchen floor right by the cooker.

My Dad was horrified and kept lecturing me about it being political and full of lefties - if I had not been intending to go anyway, his disapproval sealed the deal!

I love Easter - to me it signifies new life and hope. I love the flowers, the birds and insects and the longer days. Throw in a chocolate egg and a hot cross bun and what's not to like?

Of course like so many other 'important' dates in the christian calendar, it is based almost entirely on much earlier, pagan festivities.

The celebration of the new life of Spring goes back much, much longer than two thousand years, and often involved the death of the old 'king' and then his re-birth usually in the shape of a new younger version. At one time, the old king would actually be killed having had a wonderful year of having everything the society could give him. New one selected and it started all over again. As time went on, the old kings; decided they would like to live through this period, so their 'deaths' became just pretend.

Early christianity were very good at adapting older religious believes and practices, and thereby not upsetting local populations too much.

Easter eggs, are very much added to part of this, although it is easy to say they represent something. Can do that about anything when required.

My best easter memories are back inthe early 1960's when I was spent the four days on the Aldermaston, anti-nuclear bomb CND marches.

Our local Youth CND would meet up early that morning, dressed appropriately, and with some changes of cloths in bag and our sleeping bags. Get a coach down to the arranged start point.

Thousands upon thousands of us, all ages, from all over the country. The organisation was incredible (I can appreciate it more now than I did then, when I just accepted it). Each group was given a colour tag (for your area) and a number. Cannot remember our number but we were Magenta!!!

Bags, and sleeping bags all loaded on lorries, these took them to where we would be staying overnight - in churches, schools, sports centres, village halls, etc. One year, when Reading town council prevented us using any of their facilities, in hug marquees, and many of us put up by local people in their homes.

One year, in an attempt to keep a control on numbers, all groups coming from the east of the England, started off in Finchingfield in Essex, and going through Essex and East London on those first three days.

Easter Monday was the day we came through London for a final meeting in Trafalgar Square - although, often we would not all fit in there. Even all these years later, I can remember the kindness we were often met with, with people handing us fruits and other foods, two children standing with their parents carrying posters with their names on and saying 'Thank You Marchers'.

So much hope we had then, and genuinely believed that if we managed to avoid nuclear holocaust, then life would get better and better. So glad I had no gift of foresight, to see what a horrible place this world has become.

Easter has been celebrated as a time of new life and renewal since pagan times. The egg is symbol of new life, not of a tomb stone. I can see why the Christian religion chose to change it into one of their festivals, particularly to celebrate their belief about resurrection.

Same with Christmas - it was originally a midwinter festival but I can see why Christians wanted it for their own.

Celebrate Easter either as a new life or as a Christian date - but let's not pretend that the day is just a Christian festival.

"In AD 595, Pope Gregory sent a mission of 40 monks led by a Benedictine called Augustine, prior of St Andrew’s monastery in Rome (and later the first Archbishop of Canterbury), to England with instructions to convert the pagan inhabitants to Christianity. Augustine was advised to allow the outward forms of the old, heathen festivals and beliefs to remain intact, but wherever possible to superimpose Christian ceremonies and philosophy on them."

Totally agree marydoll. Thank you