Easter is one of the most widely celebrated holidays in the world. Since the early second century, members of the Christian church and beyond have celebrated Easter. Christians celebrate Easter as the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Many other people celebrate Easter for the upcoming Spring season and the fertility of the land. Regardless of the original reason for celebrating, many Easter traditions that take place all over the world are quite odd.
One very popular activity during Easter is holding an Easter egg hunt. Kids of all ages grab their bags and buckets and scurry about a field or any area where colorful plastic eggs full of candy are hidden. Sounds like great fun, unless the kids are not very good at finding the eggs. In this case, everyone ends up with molding musketeers and rouge Reese Cups in their houses and yards. What all that has to do with Jesus is beyond me, but maybe there is a glimpse of relation to the whole celebrating harvest thing. However, ask any farmer and I am sure they are not going to tell you that they harvest a majority of their crops from underneath the sofa or inside a lampshade.
On the same topic of eggs, another popular tradition is dyeing them. Nothing says Easter like dropping some chicken babies in a vat of vinegar and food coloring. Again, zero correlation to the resurrection or harvest, unless harvesting chickens counts. A number of organizations such as people.com also say that you shouldn’t eat the dyed eggs. This means that they must be used as decorations of some sort. What a way to celebrate, set a bunch of rotting, colored eggs around your house.
One final odd way to celebrate Easter is by meeting the illusive Easter bunny. Who saw nothing wrong with making kids sit on the lap of a six-foot-tall rabbit? Kids are traumatized by the Easter bunny every year. They are forced to smile and take a picture while the larger-than-life rabbit breathes down their necks. Not to spoil any childhoods, but there is actually a person inside of the bunny. Who is going to blame the poor soul inside for breathing so hard? They are inside a thick, fur suit where the only airflow coming in is from the mouth-shaped hole of a rabbit. Additionally, bunnies don’t lay eggs. The correlation between a massive bunny and searching for eggs has a few holes, to say the least. A large chicken makes slightly more sense, does it not? Easter has been around since the second century, so it is not like Sesame Street had already laid claim to a big bird.
Whether you celebrate Easter because of the resurrection, for the upcoming spring or just as an excuse to eat candy, we can all agree that there is a reason to celebrate. Maybe just keep the strange egg decorations to a minimum, and try to be more understanding when your younger sibling still finds the to gigantic bunny terrifying.