With Easter now come and gone and the regular work week continuing it leaves many to wonder what the meaning of our holidays have become.
Are they just that now, days off?
The society we live in has turned every event, holiday and outing into something that can be bought, gift wrapped and given away as a token of our appreciation and generosity.
Many children today seem to have no idea what Easter truly represents. When asked, most will say it’s no school and free candy. While these are things children would value over Easter’s true meaning in most cases, it’s important that some semblance of the holiday’s original spirit be kept in tact.
As it stands now, it’s more a celebration of consumerism and chocolate bunnies.
The original story of Easter is to do with Christ’s death on the cross and subsequent resurrection several days later. It is a story about hope and perseverance through hardship.
Surely even those of no faith can see value in a tale such as this and it can be much more beneficial to youth, rather than a handful of sweets.
Where did the Easter bunny even come from, and why does everyone celebrate this historically religious holiday, no matter their beliefs?
According to several sources, the Easter bunny first arrived in America in the 1700s with German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania and transported their tradition of an egg-laying hare called “Osterhase” or “Oschter Haws.” Their children made nests in which this creature could lay its coloured eggs.
Other origin stories state the Easter Hare originally played the role of a judge, evaluating whether children were good or disobedient in behaviour at the start of the season of Eastertide.
No matter which story, they all differ greatly from today’s meaningless giving of chocolates.
This is the fate of all holidays — Christmas, Easter, Halloween, etc. have all lost meaning and have been boiled down to material goods and excess foods.