8:43 a.m. - March 24, 2008
I'm Dreaming Of A White...Easter???
Why wasn�t anyone singing Easter carols this weekend?
It definitely felt like that other holiday up here, with 6-10 inches of new snow and some chilly temps this morning. Of course, this is about the earliest Easter can be based on the current Easter date-setting convention, so I�m not surprised that there was snow. Heck, I remember some snow on Easter in April in Indiana.
But it did remind me of Christmas, without the carols and the staggering commercialism. Yes, there is commercialism of Easter � it�s just colossal, not staggering.
There was no one on Faux News bleating about �THE WAR ON EASTER!� because some retail outlets say �Happy Holidays�. You know, it was Purim as well. So, �Happy Holidays� would have fit. Actually, most everyone says �Happy Easter� anyway, and if they�re like me, they actually say �Hoppy Easter� and make little bunny-hopping motions with their fingers.
Oh, that�s me.
I can see why there are no carols for Easter. For Christmas, it�s easy to sing about a joyous birth of the Saviour, and then that Santa Claus chap makes for good fodder for songs.
For Easter, there is the bunny. And an Easter bonnet. There are some songs exalting the Resurrection. But there�s some anticipation for Christmas, because it is a celebration. Thus the songs of joy and comfort. You know, everyone enjoys a good wassail now and then.
Leading up to the Resurrection, you have goop smeared on your forehead, and have 40 days of sacrifice, and do kids really want to sing about the fact that they have to eat fish sandwiches and tomato soup every Friday for 6 weeks? (Ok, maybe a cheese pizza thrown in there�)
Then there�s Maundy Thursday, which is quite important but sounds ominous, and then Good Friday. Ah, yes, Good Friday. Can�t get too fired up about someone driving nails into the wrists and feet of someone, can you?
However, it�s Easter Saturday that causes the holiday to lose it�s momentum, I feel. On Christmas, you have Christmas Eve. Easter Saturday you�you�watch basketball?
I know that on Easter people go to church with their Easter bonnets, kids eat too much candy and run roughshod over parents (including kitties in the bathtub), and people do actually think and reflect on the meaning of Easter for about 20 minutes, but since you really don�t get days off work for Easter (I know some have Good Friday off, but again, how fired up can you be for that holiday) then Easter Monday is rather�um�.routine.
But even without the bells and whistles of Christmas, Easter does have meaning. Perhaps because of the lack of some of the Christmas trappings, Easter has retained some more of its meaning and dignity.
Well, if you think giant bunnies are dignified.
So I hope you and yours had a good Easter weekend. And now, perhaps, this song won�t be in my head for a while:
(It�s �I Am The Resurrection� by the Stone Roses�)
