Today I was trying to explain to my granddaughter what the Easter Bunny has to do with Easter. It wasn’t easy.
As I have said here before, I consider there to be two distinct holidays toward the end of December: Christmas and The Winter Holidays. Many people who celebrate The Winter Holidays minus Jesus call it “Christmas.” I don’t. Those are two different holidays that coincide in time. One is religious (Christian) and the other one is secular. Of course, many people celebrate both.
I told my granddaughter that there are two Easters, two distinct holidays that coincide in time. One is the Christian celebration of Jesus’s resurrection and the other one is the Spring holiday that celebrates the arrival of Spring with Easter eggs and Easter bunnies, etc. Many people celebrate both.
My granddaughter didn’t ask this but I ask: Should Christians celebrate both?
There are at least two Christian attitudes about this. When I was growing up most conservative Christians I knew did not celebrate Winter Holidays with Santa Claus, secular “Christmas music,” etc. In fact, in my home and church Santa Claus was regarded as a usurper of Christmas and was absolutely banned. Some conservative Christians still try to “keep Christ in Christmas” by resisting the Winter Holidays.
On the other hand, many American Christians celebrate both Christ’s birth and the Winter Holidays. Some even go so far as to bring Santa Claus into the church.
The same is true of Easter. Many conservative American Christians resist anything to do with the Easter Bunny and Easter eggs in order to focus on Christ’s resurrection. Many American Christians accept “Easter egg hunts” but are somewhat befuddled by the Easter Bunny. Many celebrate both as much as possible (for them). And some churches have even brought the Easter Bunny into church.
My solution is to regard these as four distinct holidays that coincide, two toward the end of December (or all the time from Thanksgiving to New Year) and two whenever Easter is on the calendar. I try to focus myself and my family and church on the Christian holidays and minimize participation in celebrations of the secular celebrations. I try to resist anything that detracts from the Christian holidays celebrations.
There can be no doubt that the secular holidays and celebrations have inflated in the “public square.” It is now impossible to find Christian-themed greeting cards at Christmas or Easter in big box stores. There are no Christ-depicting or honoring or celebrating displays in stores or malls. Most have been removed from public properties. And some companies forbid their employees from getting customers with “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Easter.”
Outside of a few regions, most notably the Deep South, America is now a post-Christian country. I can’t bring myself to go to she same extent as the Jehovah’s Witnesses and forbid all recognition or celebration of holidays. However, I am disappointed in the manner in which many Christian organizations have adopted the secular celebrations while minimizing the celebrations of Christ’s birth and resurrection. I could tell and have told stories here about those, giving examples of them.
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