“Easter Celebration”

Jennifer Smith is a third generation English- American who was born and raised in the valley area surrounding the city of Los Angeles. Her mother is from Miami, Florida and her father is from Los Angeles, California. She spent three years at Bennington College in Vermont.

Jennifer says that, for the most part, her family has always celebrated Easter in the same fashion since she can remember. Her mother’s parents celebrated Easter in the same way and the tradition has passed down now to Jennifer through her mother.

On the night before Easter, everyone decorates hardboiled eggs by using specially prepared colored-dyes. The eggs are then hid in secret places by the parents, during the middle of the night while the child is asleep. In the morning, the children wake up as early as possible in order to start the festivities. The children hunt for the eggs that the parents have hidden. For every egg that a child finds, he/she is given a present in exchange by the parents. For example, Jennifer says that this year she found six eggs and therefore received six presents. The presents can range in size and quality. Jennifer says that usually the majority of the presents are relatively small, such as a basket of jelly- beans. After the children give up on finding all the gifts, it is now time for the parents to retrieve the eggs that were not found. It is important that the parents keep a list of where exactly they hid each egg, because a hardboiled egg is not something one wants to keep in his house for an extended period of time, as it progressively rots. After the parents find the remaining eggs, the family bakes a cake in the shape of a bunny. After the cake is baked, the family then invites relatives to come over and enjoy a home-cooked Easter dinner. Easter dinner usually consists of lamb, ham, and steak. The side dishes for the dinner include mashed potatoes, asparagus, fruit salad, and homemade bread. After the dinner, the children will play various games with the eggs such as an egg on spoon race.

According to Jennifer, the Easter tradition in her family is not a matter of remembering an important religious occasion, but rather it is a time wherein the family reunites and presents one another with gifts in order to express appreciation. I think that this is an interesting celebration, as it is seen to show no religious connotation yet it is held on the day in which many people celebrate the Resurrection of Christ. It is interesting how this celebration focuses around the secular aspects of the Easter holiday in the United States.

Holiday-Easter

“In Spain, Easter time is one of the most important times of the year, especially in southern Spain. For those who do not know, we have these big parades with this entity like an intrafraternity council that coordinates the different fraternities. They are each assigned to a different part of the parade. For example, one could be in charge of remaking the Last Supper. There will be over a hundred people carrying a monument representing the Last Supper because it is so large. Everyone in the community comes out and experiences an interpersonal moment as these fraternities display many of the great stories of the Easter holiday. Many of the people are in tears as they are moved by the great religious feeling. The parade shows the Easter holiday and its importance on the Spanish culture.”

Pablo said that Easter is very important to Spanish culture. He lives in northern Spain so it is not as important there as it is in southern Spain. However, he still feels like Easter represents an extremely religious moment for him and the rest of members of his community. He said that the fraternities are not like the ones you find at different universities. They are devout religious individuals that come together to make this event special. There are about fifty to sixty people in each fraternity, Pablo said, and depending on the size of the city in Spain, there could be few to many fraternities. Whenever he is in Spain, he always goes to the Easter processions because he has been going since he was a child.

When I asked Pablo what the parade meant to him, he said that it was a very interpersonal moment where he felt closer to God and the rest of his community. Pablo used to be an active member of one of the fraternities as he helped carry the monuments across the city. He said that this parade brings everyone into tears because of its overwhelming connection between the community and God. He enjoys Easter because everyone in the community comes out together to watch the fraternities parade through the city.

When I talked to Pablo about his Easter holiday, it made me visualize an entire community rejoicing together in the streets of their city. I agree that this would be a very interpersonal moment and that it also represents their culture. Not everybody has a parade with fraternities parading religious monuments across the city. This holiday shows that the people of Spain feel close to each other and God for the fraternities connect them all. I believe that this parade means that people of Spain want to show their religious practices not only to God, but to the world as well.

Easter

“On Easter we hunt for eggs. After hunting eggs we get more eggs and hide them and ask our Mom and Dad to find them. We go to my cousin’s house and we play there and then we paint Easter eggs and then we go on the monkey pars with our hands ful of paint. After we do everything we eat chocolate eggs and cupcakes- I like the chocolate cupcakes.”

This interpretation of Easter makes me confused. There is no evidence of any church going or celebrating the belief that Jesus was resurrected from the dead on Easter. However, observing this child’s room, I find a shrine dedicated to La Virgen Guadalupe, adorned with rosary, bible, and pictures. She tells me she prays every night before bed. Yet, her account of Easter has no religious significance whatsoever. The non-religious westernized interpretation of Easter is spot-on to Roxy’s accounts.  Easter seems to have lost its religious significance to many modern day Americans. While in fact, as we discussed in class, Easter is also a celebration of spring and fertilization, for a Catholic girl, I expected her account of her Easter to include at least some mention of Jesus or reflection on the past. Yet for children, the ideas of eating chocolate and decorating eggs probably sounds much more enticing than going to church.

But as an elder, I feel religious holidays should be a happy medium of remembrance, sacrifice (if called for), and then celebration. Although I cannot account for personal opinions to Christian holidays, I can relate to the variation of religiousness in my faith. As a conservative Jew, we have Passover, which bans us from eating leavened bread for eight days. Likewise, on Rosh Hashanna, the New Year, we fast to cleanse our bodies of sins. Then, after our sacrifice, reading of the prayers, and perhaps synagogue services, we feast. But, this comes only after we have done what is required of us as loyal Jews. Yet I have come across a few, (though not as abundant as those Christians I have met) who call themselves Jewish yet choose to skip the holidays which actually require some effort and sacrifice. Instead, they may get presents on Chanukkah, the most non-religious holiday in the Jewish faith.

While folklore draws on the way in which people celebrate and does not show a critical eye, I cannot help but think when evaluating this account of celebrating holidays that perhaps they have lost some of their significance. However, I cannot be one to dictate how people choose to spend their days, nor can I judge their overall devotion to their religion based on accounts like this.