An atheist celebrates Easter

[trotsky]

What I like about this holiday is that unlike Christmas, it still has its original Pagan name. I love that the symbols of its Pagan roots (bunnies, eggs, flowers, springtime) are celebrated even more than the Xian themes. Now that I don't have to get up at the buttcrack of dawn to go to church on Easter Sunday, I've found that I kind of like the holiday. We put together Easter baskets for the kids and hide them around the house. I view Easter much like Xmas, in that it's a holiday that specifically acknowledges human intelligence and reason. Easter in that we were able to observe the point at which the days started being longer than the nights again, and Xmas of course when the days stopped getting shorter. Celebrating these holidays makes me feel like we are keeping in touch with our past in a very humanistic way.

Any other freethinkers celebrate Easter?

P.S. I also love Cadbury Creme Eggs.

[Longhorn]

1. We used to when the kids were still home.

Hiding baskets, a big dinner, etc. But now it's just another day for us.

I like your non-religious take on the holiday! And I,too, like Cadbury Creme Eggs!

[Beetwasher]

3. Fuckin' A! Cadbury Cream Eggs!!!

They have caramel one's too! Damn, gotta get me some of those!

[trotsky]

6. And Chocolate Creme ones.

But the original is still the best. I just love that they went to the trouble of putting a "yolk" in there.

[gollygee]

2. I'm going to hide some little eggs filled with treats

and let my daughter find them :) I'll get a chocolate bunny too.

I like easter too, like you said because if you don't go to church it is basically a pure pagan holiday. I love when ancient pre-christian traditions are still followed like that.

[YankeyMCC]

4. We use it as an excuse

To host a family feast at our home.

We live about an hour away from most of our family (both mine and my wifes) and most of the other "holidays" are taken up. So we took easter.

We don't go to church and there's no grace before the meal. We hide eggs for the kids, give some baskets. Not a religious symbol in the house.

And our supposedly "catholic" families don't seem to bat an eye at the lack of religious overtones. Most don't realize I'm atheist. Not that I hide it just that god and religion aren't discussed much. Which is one contributing factor to my atheism I think, god and religion were never discussed so to me that means it was unimportant, so I never had a strong attachment that I had to get over.

I was actually thinking of how to make the day more blatently a "spring feast" sort of theme. But I had no clear ideas and as you point out the "traditional" symbols are already pretty much non-xian.

I'm open to suggestions though if anyone has them. Decorations, games, stories for kids, whatever...

[trotsky]

5. Here's a great game for the believers.

From http://atheism.about.com/library/FAQs/christian/blxtn_easter.htm:

Dan Barker, a former preacher and currently head of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, has a standing challenge to believers and pastors: using only the information contained in those sources, adding nothing and removing nothing, give a coherent account of what happened on that first Easter. So far, no one has succeeded. All attempts require either making up new "facts," or ignoring certain inconvenient data.

:evilgrin:

[YankeyMCC]

8. Troublemaker

Of course if I make everyone leave early that leaves more gilled lamb for me. :)

[Longhorn]

7. Here are a few sites online that might contain ideas for you.

http://www.create.org/elchai/herbcer3.htm
http://www.theallineed.com/holiday/peeps_season_again_easter.htm
http://childparenting.about.com/cs/spring/a/springlearning.htm

Have fun! And Happy Vernal Equinox! :D

[Az]

9. We make it our own holiday

We like bunnies so its a natural fit for us. No need to worry about dead guys returning from the dead. We have eggs to hide and little gifts to buy for each other.

[Phentex]

10. We have dinner with family and we celebrate spring...

eggs, baskets, all the goodies. :)

But we don't dress up or go to church.

[Book Lover]

11. Not as such

I volunteer with rabbit rescue; this and the next month or so are unfortunately busy for us, although that was been thankfully dropping the past few years.

[gizmonic]

12. Rabbit Rescue -- a great cause!

Are you a member of the House Rabbit Society?

My little guy, Jasper, was an HRS bun. His companion, Ms. Prince, was adopted about a year later from my late father-in-law.

Both my little guys are gone now -- we had them for about 7 years -- and they were the greatest! Litter-box trained (mostly), they had their own bedroom, a cozy bundominium, all the hay and cardboard boxes their little hearts desired!

Breaks my heart that people think critters like bunnies are "disposable." :cry:

We don't have any more bunz; my poor husband suffers from allergies (not actual bunny, but hay, etc.)

[Book Lover]

13. I sure am!

Posted the rabbit page in the Lounge this morning, as a matter of fact :-) I love the HRS - they really have had a positive impact here in the Bay Area on our shelter system. Many, many rabbits are fostered long-term by HRS members that would otherwise be euthanized; and the shelters are less burdened.

[Modem Butterfly]

14. We don't celebrate religious holidays in our house

No Easter candy, no dyed eggs, nothing. I have no interest in religious traditions, even pagan ones (though I share your amusement with the pagan roots of Easter). Of course, we have no kids, and I'm sure that would make it much more difficult. My folks are atheists (well, my dad is, my mom is sort of an atheist/new ager) and when we were kids, we got Easter baskets and Xmas presents, but we were never lied to about Santa or the Easter bunny (or Jesus for that matter). We stopped the Easter baskets and Xmas trees about the time I hit ten or so, we largely stopped Xmas presents about the time I was in high school. Instead, we would have a big party for New Years and exchange a present or two then (plus my birthday is in January, so score!).

Will and I usually mark spring by having a cookout- we live in the South, so cook-out weather starts in February or so. ENVY ME! :P

[trotsky]

15. Scrooge!

Although yeah, I'd trade our Easter traditions for the ability to cook-out in Feb. Oh we had a freak 50 degree day in Feb here in MN this year, and YES, I grilled! But otherwise that poor thing is cold from Nov-Mar.

[Book Lover]

17. Yes, with a kid

the expectations are that you'll just celebrate *some* part of the holiday. At work yesterday, at least a dozen people asked me if we were going to do an egg hunt with the little one; though where I work is very liberal and so my atheism is pretty well-known, that part of the holiday is just assumed.

[Longhorn]

18. I think an egg hunt on Easter is like fireworks on the 4th of July.,

It's just part of the tradition of the holiday and has nothing to do with religion, though Christians have tried their best to project religious meaning onto the activities, just as they try with the Christmas tree and stockings. :shrug:

[JNelson6563]

16. We do same

We enjoy the fun stuff. I mean, who doesn't like candy? We sit around, eat yummy stuff and read the Sunday paper. Maybe even take a nap or something.

What's not to like?

Julie