Many times in my life, I have heard the question, “So why do you celebrate Easter, anyway, if you don’t believe in Jesus?” Well, first, let me get the assumptive part of that question out of the way: It’s not that we don’t “believe in” Jesus. We believe he existed, and it appears he led an exemplary life that we should study, admire, and take as an example. We also happen to believe he was a mortal man.
As for Easter, well, that requires a little more explanation when I’m speaking with someone who connects it wholly with the resurrection. Although Unitarian Universalism is not a Christian denomination, UU’s are very cognizant of the fact that we are descended from Christianity and, thus, from Judaism. We, on the whole, therefore choose to honor that heritage by celebrating, or at least acknowledging, the celebrations dear to those religions. (And dozens other religions from around the world, all of whose teachings we believe to be relevant and important.) Since most UU’s come from a Christian family background, it’s common for them to have a stronger association with Christian holidays. This is why you see more of us hunting for Easter eggs than hosting or attending Passover Seders. We don’t think one is more important than the other, it’s simply what we’re used to. (However, you’ll probably find that most UU congregations do host Passover Seders these days, as well.)
This is the case in our household. I was raised UU, but my parents are from a Christian heritage, so we always identified with and celebrated Christmas and Easter as a social, family holiday. Jason was raised a Catholic, so he obviously has similar (albeit more religiously-inclined) holiday memories from his childhood. We love these holiday times and remember well the joy they brought us as children, so we enjoy sharing the same with our kids.
So, what are we ‘celebrating’ on Easter morning? Well, we do like eggs. And bunnies.* In all seriousness, what we’re truly celebrating is the renewal of the earth. In pagan religions, this is typically celebrated on or around the Vernal Equinox. In the same way that the Church chose to annex the pagan sun god’s birthday for the celebration of Christmas, we choose to delay our Equinox celebration until Easter…everyone’s off work and school, the celebration “time” is already acknowledged by society, etc. (And the bunnies & eggs are readily available!) This is an amazing time of year – the flowers are in bloom (and the pollen is making itself more than well known), the birds’ eggs are hatching, and everything seems a little fresher, a little newer than at any other time of year. Just think how amazing this time was to early men and women, who in many parts of the world had just come through a dark, dismal few (or many!) months. Imagine that cold and darkness dissipating, and the relief they must have felt when Spring made itself known each year. Talk about a reason to celebrate!
The other reason for celebration on this day is the same for every holiday – family tradition. Building traditions and memories for our children and ourselves is more than enough reason to celebrate. We are giving them happy events to look forward to and great things to remember. We’re also giving ourselves memories that will be well-cherished after they have grown. Yes, we build these memories on a daily basis, but building them around an annual framework of holidays and celebrations offers a kind of grounding of those memories, I think.
And there’s always the eggs. And bunnies.
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*Jason’s response when I asked him if I should add anything to this post on his behalf. Ha!
In THIS Life 
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April 20, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Heather
Just to add a different perspective…it is not a foregone conclusion that Christians placed Christmas on December 25th to “annex” the sun-god celebration. Many church fathers wrote about placing Christmas in December based on when they calculated Jesus’s conception occurred. Some based the conception date based on when they thought creation took place (nice and symbolic…March 25th was the supposed date of creation), others based on when Zechariah would have been serving in the temple according to his priestly class (when the angel told him Elizabeth would be pregnant…Mary became pregnant six months later). I am sure that picking the 25th as the actual date, once they were going for December, would never have been to annex the celebration, but to eclipse it.
Just some more theories to add into the mix! =)
As for the “believing in” Jesus…I’m sure what people probably mean is, “Believe Jesus was what He claimed to be,” not “Believe Jesus existed and did some stuff.” Just like if someone asked if I believed in Obama, I’d know that they meant not, “Do you believe Obama exists?” but, “Do you believe Obama will do what he has promised?” =)
Woo hoo–religion and politics in one comment!!! I must be feeling especially wacky today, LOL!!
Happy Spring to you and the family!! The pictures are great, BTW!
April 20, 2009 at 3:07 pm
aimeewrites
Heather, you are absolutely right – ‘eclipse’ is a much better term, and more in line with what I was trying to convey. Thank you for the alternate theories!
Yeah…I know what people mean when they say that (‘believing in Jesus’), but it usually comes across as very condescending and holier-than-thou in a way that isn’t necessary, if you know what I mean. I’ve discovered, too, that there are people who do disbelieve the existence of Jesus, though…something that’s never occurred to me and makes me feel the need to clarify.
(And for the record, I believe that both Jesus and Prez. Obama wholly believe(d) in what they promised, regardless of what one thinks about their abilities to follow through!)