Opinion : Has Easter lost its meaning?

Once again Easter is here. How time flies indeed it only seems yesterday it was Christmas.

Despite Easter being the second most important event in the Christian calendar and afforded two Bank Holidays I fear that many do not give the festival the recognition that it deserves and that Easter has lost its meaning.

I wonder how many people will be tucking into Easter eggs, gorging on large meals, shopping and generally lazing around this Easter? Probably an awful lot of people.

But in contrast how many people will be contemplating the Easter message and thinking of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead? Probably very few.

Just like Christmas the festival of Easter has been commercialised. Shops try to make profit by selling Easter eggs and other trinkets. Instead of contemplating the Easter message too many people are out and about enjoying the holiday rather than understanding the real reason why they have been afforded a holiday at this time of year.

The other day my good self was sitting on a bench in the grounds of the parish church enjoying my lunch with a friend when the topic of Easter came up in the conversation.

I said to my friend that too many people no longer care about Easter, but my friend disagreed. To prove his point my friend said that he would approach the next person who came along and ask them if they observed Easter.

A few moment later, when the next person walked by, my friend go up and said to the passer by ‘Do you recognise Easter?‘. In reply all the stranger said was ‘Can you spare some change guv’nor?‘.

While Christmas and Easter are both important festivals in the Christian calendar there is a subtle difference between the two, this being that at Easter time the weather is usually better and the daylight hours are longer. Sadly this means that people just go about their daily business which is a shame.

At Easter time people will still be lighting bonfires to spoil the fine afternoon for many, cars will be racing around the residential roads of the town and the usual protagonists will be causing trouble in the town centre.

While people have fond memories of a ‘traditional Christmas’ they don’t seem to have any ideas as to what constitutes a ‘traditional Easter’. This is a real shame.

Personally I think it would be far better if the Easter public holiday was longer, say from Good Friday to the end of the following week. That way perhaps the longer holiday would make people think that Easter time must be more important.

As for yours truly, well this Easter I have invited a couple of friends to my ancestral home where we will observe Easter as it should be. After all Easter is a time to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus and that certainly deserves all the recognition that it can get.

What do you think?

*My blogs are published every Tuesday and Friday evening around 8.00pm here on the WycombeToday.com website.

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