NON-RELIGOUS CELEBRATIONS OF EASTER SHOULD BE DONE AWAY WITH
Have you ever sat back and thought about the different traditions that we celebrate in America as well as all around the world? Some of these traditions may include holidays, sporting events, and weddings. We celebrate certain traditions for religious reasons, for memorial reasons, and just for the fact that what we are celebrating is a tradition, and we wish to keep it that way. But some of the traditions that date back thousands of years have been altered from their original meaning. Easter is a perfect example of one of the traditions that has been altered to better suit our modern times. Originally, Easter was the celebration of the ascension of Jesus’ soul from the cross, on which he died, into Heaven. Today we have celebrations during Easter that include such things as a life-sized bunny, hard-boiled eggs that are dyed various pastel colors, and baskets, all of which have no religious significance. I think that the non-religious celebrations of Easter should be done away with.
To begin with, the non-religious celebrations of Easter should be done away with because they serve no relevance toward the original purpose of the tradition. Dyed eggs, bunnies, baskets, and so on do not provide us with any reason to have a celebration. Today we celebrate Easter by saying that there is an Easter bunny that will bring boys and girls candy and gifts as long a...
...Christ making it the most honored and important holiday in the Christian religion. But it does have its traditions that are a far cry from the original intent. It should come as no surprise to find that the Easter Bunny was not present and distributing multi-colored hard-boiled eggs to the twelve apostles two-thousand years ago.
Alain de Botton, in his TED talk “Atheism 2.0”, identified various attributes from religions that he thinks atheism, the non-religious community, would do well to emulate. Of these attributes, one that stood out was how all religions, almost as a universal rule, each have a calendar by which believers adhere to. These calendars typically mark days, or even weeks, that carry some importance and meaning to followers of a given religion, and serves as a reminder for the values of which these religions stand for. For instance, the Christian calendar has a season of Lent, whereby Christians all over the world choose to give up worldly comforts and fast for a period a little longer than a month, as a time for self-reflection and penance to prepare for Easter. Members of these religions all across the world would be able to stay synchronized regardless of any geographical limitations using a unified calendar. According to Botton, having a calendar that is observed by all followers of the religion enables the religion to be “multinational, branded, and possessing an identity so they don't get lost” (de Botton). Therefore, it is unsurprising how the secular world have adapted various religious holidays and integrated it into their own culture.
Why do people celebrate death? Many people including myself have wondered this, and when I first heard of the mexican holiday Dia De Los Muertos. Translated in english, day of the dead is a holiday where instead of mourning lost ones they remember their lost ones by making alters, decorating their graves with things they used to like or their favourite food and celebrate their life. This mexican tradition is now celebrated throughout the united states aswell and this year we decided to dedicate alters to people we lost in the battle against police brutality. We have lost so many souls in the past decade that a black lives matter movement was created. Its sad that it even had to get to this point but all we can do now is fight for change and
...ithdraw from the tradition because they do not know any other way. Can you imagine what life would be if there were no Christmas or Thanksgiving? For many cultures, tradition is the basis for their history. One example to this being the Hawaiian culture whose history was destroyed when they were forced to stop their ancient dances which told stories of their past. Adversely, tradition has played negative roles in society as well with the battle between the Muslims and Christians in many middle-eastern countries. Tradition plays many roles in today's society. Our goal should be to grasp the idea of what they really mean. We must not isolate ourselves to what we think we know, but instead allow ourselves to comprehend.
America is built on materialism and it created the idea that happiness is formed from consumption. Advertisements have successfully turned every major holiday into an opportunity for people to empty their pockets. For example,
There is an obvious difference of opinion between two members of the Saint Elizabeth Catholic Church as it relates to whether as Christian we should celebrate Halloween. Couple A argues that is not up to Christianity to dictate what they should and should not celebrate, and uses Romans 14:5 to support their argument. Romans 14:5 reads, “In the same way, some think one day it is more holy than another day, while others think every day is alike. Each person should have a personal conviction about this matter” (Romans 14:5, New International Version). It is, therefore, their belief that they are within their rights to celebrate Halloween, as long as a family they are not dishonoring God. According to Couple A, they are free in Christ “to enjoy liberty without being judged by others” (Colorado Christian University, Case Discussion Lecture) and as such should not be condemned for celebrating a particular holiday as long at their heart remains faithful to God. They find biblical support for their argument in Colossians 2:16 which reads, “So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths” (Colossians 2:16,New International Version).
After Calle Ocho and Lent comes Easter Sunday, where the celebration of Easter honors Christ’s resurrection. Since eggs are symbols of renewal and are perfect for spring, they are used for decorations and egg hunting activities. Mexican Americans put a different spin on the event, draining and cleaning eggshells a month before Easter to create cascarones. Cascarón or cascarones means eggshell. Cascarones are filled with confetti and closed with colored tissue paper to make hats that can be cracked over someone’s head.
Different cultures have different holiday traditions. At this time of year different cultures are preparing to celebrate Halloween or the Día de los Muertos.These two holidays occur around the same time of year. October 31st is Halloween and the Day of the Dead begins on November 1st and ends on November 2nd. Halloween is an American tradition and the Day of the Dead is celebrated in Mexico, and other Latin American countries. Both holidays share some similarities but also have some differences.Some common themes between the two holidays are food and religion. For example, Pumpkin is associated with both holidays. And Christianity is the religion associated with both holidays. The symbols for these holidays share some similarities , for example skulls. While Halloween also is associated with ghosts and witches. A big
Henderson, Helene, and Sue Ellen Thompson. Holiday Symbols and Customs: A Guide to the Legend and Lore behind the Traditions, Rituals, Foods, Games, Animals, and Other Symbols and Activities Associated with Holidays and Holy Days, Feasts and Fasts, and Other Celebrations, Covering Ancient, Calendar, Religious, Historic, Folkloric, National, Promotional, and Sporting Events, as Observed in the United States and around the World. Detroit MI: Omnigraphics, 2009. Print.
Australian’s choose not to recognise the religious meaning behind some of the most significant Christian holidays; Christmas and Easter, which when put simply celebrates the birth and resurrection of Christ. While people may s...
Death is a recalcitrant fact of human life and like any significant crisis in human existence implies “a strong emotional upheaval, mental conflict and possible disintegration” (Malinowski 70). Funerary practices such as the merry wake and ritual lament survived in Ireland until the early years of the twentieth century. This essay will analyse the significance of these traditions and attempt to account for their resilience. Lauri Honko (1979) suggested a model for the classification of rituals which distinguishes between three categories: 1) Rites of Passage 2) Calendrical rites, and 3) Crisis rites. Death rituals such as the wake fall within the category of rituals termed rites of passage.
While students are attending public schools they should be aware of their religion options. The student should have the right to practice their religion as they please, just on the own time. Yes, religion plays a huge part in molding a person but, should be practiced when the time is available, not in a classroom setting. The government should have the ability to control the protection of the students that just want to learn. The capability to regulate the religious practices while attending public educational institutions should be left to the government. Faith, religion and belief, usually are three words that are used to describe one situation, although these words have three different meanings. To have faith in something or someone you must first believe in it and also accept it as well, but have a belief without evidence. Religion is a belief in a heavenly superhuman power or principle, such as the almighty or creator to all things. Everyone has faith and belief, but not all believers believe in the almighty. Allowing religion into public schools while everyone attending not having the same belief is unfair, unconstitutional and is complicated to teach to a verity of students.
Holidays are a celebration and an enjoyment of festivities. Although they are a commonality across the world, holidays differ between countries and cultures. But, what many do not realize is that holidays are ultimately ideology driven, that is that the group that celebrates these holidays follows a certain set of ideas and beliefs. Whether the ideology is religion based, or politically based, all holidays are centered around ideologies.
But the Passover can fall on any day of the week, and Christians of the Western church prefer to celebrate Easter on Sunday, the day of the resurrection. The Easter Bunny is a popular image of the holiday. According to legend, the bunny was originally a large, handsome bird belonging to Eostre, the Goddess of Spring. Eostre is also known as Ostara, a Goddess of fertility who is celebrated at the time of the Spring equinox. She changed the bird into a rabbit, which explains why the Easter bunny builds a nest and fills it with colored eggs.
Each of these has tremendous significance, however Wright brings out the truth that Easter has lost much of its importance. Easter is a wonderful holiday in which many families come together and celebrate. Candy, easter eggs, rabbits, gifts, are all a part of common Easter celebrations. This is certainly not a bad thing whatsoever. However, what is really celebrated during this holiday? I believe many people know the basic story of the resurrection of Jesus, and know that is why Easter exists, yet it has lost its significance due to the over publicity and retailer corruption. By this I mean that the news has spread the celebration of Easter to all people, non-Christians and Christians. This would not be bad, however, by doing so non-believers are not aware of the importance and significance of Easter. The sole purpose for the news spreading this holiday is for pure commercialism, to provide retailers with more ways to gain profit. This is very corrupt. With all this happening the direct effect is loss of Easter’s meaning. In Wright’s book he brings this truth out. He explains how we need to be “Easter people”. To me this means that we need to give back the meaning of Easter. Easter is the story of the resurrection of Christ. If this did not happen, Christianity would not exist. The resurrection is important for several reasons. It shows the magnificent power of God, it foreshadows the resurrection of human beings, and shows us that God has defeated Satan. Just briefly we can see how important it is. We must live as Easter people and celebrate it in a deeper and more significant manner. By doing so we strengthen our own faith and we also are a testimony to others. Talking about resurrection can be a very uplifting topic, conversely death is not usually thought about in that same