Wednesday, March 21, 2012

The (former) Atheist Easter

Growing up, I have vague memories of maybe once or twice getting an Easter basket- my apologies to my mum if it was far more frequent than that! But Easter was never a focus for us, we who didn't believe in God. Unlike Christmas, there hasn't been any grand secularization of Easter, so what was there for us to do? Easter was a blip for us, a non-holiday, something my Christian friends did. I associated it with tacky fake grass, tons of chocolate, and getting dressed up. Why the heck did they call it a religious holiday, anyway??


It was probably even more confusing because most of my friends were Protestants, so it's not like they had been denying themselves candy all Lent! 

Easters even after being Catholic have been fairly anti-climactic! My favorite ones are when my mom or dad came into the Church, and then it was  BLAST! But it still bears little resemblance to what my friends talk about: big dinner with the whole family after everyone goes to Mass together. This year, my parents are coming to our house for Easter and I am beyond excited. I want to start our own family traditions and celebrate it up big style! But I don't know what a traditional Easter meal looks like, I don't know how to dye Easter eggs (or when to do that...), I don't know if there are any movies associated with this holiday...

So tell me, if you would, dear readers: what are your Easter traditions? Help me figure out how to celebrate this holiday with all the splendor it deserves!! 
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4 comments:

  1. StacyMarch 21, 2012 at 6:03 PM

    I love, love, love Easter. We boil dye eggs the day before (to try to keep Eastery things as far away from Lent and the Triduum as possible). We just buy the kits at the dollar tree. I don't know if you read catholicicing.com, which is for people with small children, but we started a new tradition of making Resurrection Rolls that we saw on there (they are delicious and have awesome symbolism). We do exchange baskets, but I'm trying to have religious elements in there so it isn't just secular. We always have ham as our meat, and then do a couple different vegetables, some rolls, and cupcakes generally for dessert.

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  2. StacyMarch 21, 2012 at 6:04 PM

    That would be boil AND dye.

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  3. LiannaMarch 21, 2012 at 9:58 PM

    I LOVE going to the Easter Vigil Mass. It is so awesome to see new people joining the Church, and to know that all over the world people are joining!

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  4. UnknownMarch 22, 2012 at 1:05 AM

    We like to make cascarones, but I'm not sure I will be able to make them this year with our big move. I second the Easter Vigil mass (enjoy it before children come along and you need as much sleep as you can get!). You could always dye eggs or bake something traditional. I love to make hot cross buns.

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