Any non-christians "do" Easter here?

[hollytheteacher]

As a kid I always felt weird about the holiday Easter. I was raised Methodist, but now feel pretty agnostic and go to the UU church in my town which i REALLY enjoy.

One of the best things (i think) about the UU is the religious education program for kids. My ds is only 18 months so he just goes to the nursery for now, but when he gets older he'll get to take part and what i LOVE about it is that the kids are taught a little bit about ALL DIFFERENT types of religious beliefs and are very strongly encouraged to come to their own conclusions on their spiritual path (no right or wrong answer, just different ideas).

So anyway, what I feel would be fun is to focus more on the coming of spring and maybe do DS's basket up with garden tools, seeds, etc. but i was wondering if anyone else does anything like this I just don't want to force "jesus" on my son the way I sort of felt it was on me.

[Adele_Mommy]

I am agnostic and was raised atheist and we have always "done" Easter. We dye easter eggs and put them in baskets. On Easter sunday "The Easter Bunny" brings treats (we do candy, but it could easily be done without), and also hides all the dyed eggs and/or plastic eggs (better now that we have a dog) so dd can do an egg hunt as soon as she gets up. We also usually go to the community egg hunt, which is more of a candy rush/grab and we sometimes attend a hunt at the local library.

I am also UU (as I'm sure you know ) so we attend church on Sunday. My minister has given some really great Easter sermons and my dd has RE. The Christian Easter is mentioned in a very secondary fashion to my daughter as a story the same way we tell the nativity story around Christmas just as a story.

[ChampagneBlossom]

We have two spring celebrations. On the Spring Equinox we do Ostara/Awakening with the traditional bunnies/eggs/chicks symbolism to celebrate the return of life to nature. We also celebrate Easter as a day to honor Jesus, even though we're not Christian. (We don't believe he is/was God, but we do view him as a holy teacher and a good man and role model.)

[LaLaLaLa]

Yep, we do Easter with a focus on the bunny, and Christmas with a focus on Santa. Holidays are fun, and we like to celebrate those that have become sufficiently commercialized. We celebrate Easter as a way to usher in the springtime, and give containers (last year sand buckets, this year probably watering cans) filled with springtimey things--bubbles, jump ropes, chalk, sunglasses. We dye eggs and this year the kids are probably old enough to do an egg hunt in our house. Did you know they make teeny-tiny Cadbury eggs? With the cream in the middle and everything? Score!

I just joined a UU church last year around this time, so I caught last year's Eastery sermon, which was nice. I'll look forward to going to church again this year.

[alegna]

Absolutely. Like most "christian" celebrations, Easter has a lot of pagan roots.

We don't do organized religion, but we do holidays

To me, easter is spring, fresh start, eggs, bunnies and chocolate

-Angela

[Callimom]

We celebrate Easter as a cultural tradition by gathering with family and participating in the non-religious aspects of the celebration (egg hunts and Easter baskets etc).

We also try to observe the Spring Equinox in a more intentional and spiritual way - talking about new beginnings and changes and by doing more earth honouring activities.

We're UU too.

Karen

[Millie Ivy]

Hee, hee. I read the title as "christians" instead of "non christians" and was really confused by the answers. lol

Easter is pretty much about spring and rebirth around here, we do celebrate, we like to have lots of celebrations round these parts. ;-)
We occasionally will talk about Jesus as well, as an explanation of beliefs. I lean more towards paganism with an eclectic christian/universalist flavor, and dh isn't particularly religious- if that helps.

[GardenStream]

I was in middle school before I figured out that Easter was supposed to be a religious thing. I just thought we looked for eggs, got a small gift, and then went to Grandma's for ham.

We're UU too and fall into the athiest/agnosity category, so easter is all about the coming of spring here. That deserves a celebration IMO!

[beansmama]

Well, this is my first non-christian easter...but i do plan on celebrating it!

As a kid i never cared about the Jesus story...i think we all know kids just want the easter basket goodies and to participate in the fun egg hunts

So this year i'm planning on doing the same thing i did the previous years, minus the cross story. Who doesn't love a good chocolate bunny?

[eclipse]

We do easter, but without Jesus - bunnies, eggs, microwaving PEEPS - all the fun without the cruxifiction/resurrection.

[Adele_Mommy]

Originally Posted by eclipse

We do easter, but without Jesus - bunnies, eggs, microwaving PEEPS - all the fun without the cruxifiction/resurrection.

I gotta ask - what happens to a PEEP when you microwave it?

[eclipse]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...FIrE5xfk&gl=US

[Adele_Mommy]

Originally Posted by eclipse

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...FIrE5xfk&gl=US

:

Thanks!

[eclipse]

I've always hated PEEPS, but my mom always put them in my basket anyway. Soooo. . .my big brother taught me to microwave them. We don't eat them. Ever.

[Contrariety]

DH and I were both raised religiously and even though we are atheist, still enjoy the holidays. Last year, we just made it a spring celebration, probably will this year, too.

[GoldBerry]

Originally Posted by hollytheteacher

So anyway, what I feel would be fun is to focus more on the coming of spring and maybe do DS's basket up with garden tools, seeds, etc. but i was wondering if anyone else does anything like this I just don't want to force "jesus" on my son the way I sort of felt it was on me.

Totally. We celebrate the Spring (but not just on Easter Sunday, I guess). Every year friends have a big party on Easter Sunday- it is totally non-religious and it's a great big get together. While the grown ups are getting the egg/candy hunt ready, the kids go on a walk around the farm and a grown up tells them a story about the plants and animals waking up. The weather can be sunny or cold/rainy- but the party goes on as that is part of Spring.

We make cascarones for the party- it's wicked fun to smash them on people's head.

Originally Posted by eclipse

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...FIrE5xfk&gl=US

This is too fun! We're going to do this! However, I do eat Peeps.

[Theoretica]

We do Easter on the vernal equinox, as nature intended

The symbolism of easter (new life etc) is so cool, we absolutely love it!

Now...stories of graphic torture and eventual homicide...that we can do without

[LavenderMae]

Yes, we do celebrate easter/spring and we are non-religious. Like christmas easter is about celebrating (tradition) and not religious at all to us. Mmmmmm chocolate! :

[Kim Allen]

im confused? Are you saying you are non christians but you perticipate in the "easter bunny, egg hunt" Part of the religion? If so that has nothing to do with the actual holiday of easter. Easter sunday is about the resurection of christ himself. The Egg hunt is just been adapted to it for the "spring" part of it. Thats how i was always taught. Just my 2 cents.

[eclipse]

Originally Posted by Kim Allen

im confused? Are you saying you are non christians but you perticipate in the "easter bunny, egg hunt" Part of the religion? If so that has nothing to do with the actual holiday of easter. Easter sunday is about the resurection of christ himself. The Egg hunt is just been adapted to it for the "spring" part of it. Thats how i was always taught. Just my 2 cents.

It's sorta the other way around actually. There have been spring celebrations for thousands of years in pretty much every culture. When Christians started celebrating the resurrection, it was at the same time of year, and many of the older traditions were folded into the new holiday (either intentionally as a way to get people to accept Christianity or unintentionally as new Christians just continued to celebrate their older traditions.) Even the word Easter has roots in older traditions. Makes me comfortable enough to say I celbrate Easter, even without all the Jesus stuff.