Is Easter creepy?

[myboynoah]

As the others have said, given your upbringing it's no wonder you find Easter creepy. Easter is absolutely my favorite holiday. The weather is usually good, the message (focus on gethsemane and the resurrection, not so much the gruesome details of the crucifixion) is one of hope and renewal. Easter is as important to our family as Christmas is. We celebrate Holy Week with our own liturgy and we make sure the kids know that we're having a big party on Easter, complete with our own egg hunt. It was fun to see our oldest (5) really get into it this year. She was excited all week, talking about how Easter is a special day and we're going to have a special party. She even started planning what she was going to say to wish each family member a happy Easter when we woke up in the morning, she even followed through.

Hey Peligrino, do you mind sharing your liturgy? I've thought about doind something similar and am open to ideas.

[Rosebud]

Hey Peligrino, do you mind sharing your liturgy? I've thought about doind something similar and am open to ideas.

I'd love that too.

I'll admit it: I don't like Easter. It's violent and melodramatic. I think it comes from my childhood, where Easter was couched in hyperreligious guilt-laden rhetoric.

Today I walk into my mom's living room and she's giving my son an Easter lesson involving an egg filled with nails, thorns, and a spear. This is so not okay with me. Does Easter creep anybody else out?

There's a fairly common Mormon Family Home Evening lesson that uses a set of Easter eggs full of objects to tell the story of the last week of Christ's life. No, it's not correlation approved . The crucifixion egg usually has a nail in it that the children are given the option of putting to their own hands. The lesson itself, in my experience, doesn't seem too creepy or full of guilt, though. What kinds of things was your mom saying to your son during this?

I hate hate hate it when I find myself in one of those sticky no-win situations when I have to stop my mom or MIL from saying something crazy to my kids. Luckily only one of my kids is young enough to really be too influenced by them now... but still. It sucks 'cause you know someone has to get hurt.

On a side note, I watched the Easter Mass at the Basilica National Shrine in D.C. today. I grew up on the idea that Catholics pretty much always focus on the death of Christ and was surprised by how positive their rituals were. They very much focused on the renewal of life through Christ. It was cool to see the way the ritual symbolically tied Lent and Eucharist into the resurrection theme. Does anyone know what the burning incense (I assume) in the metal ball is about?

[BoylenOver]

I'll admit it: I don't like Easter. It's violent and melodramatic. I think it comes from my childhood, where Easter was couched in hyperreligious guilt-laden rhetoric.

Today I walk into my mom's living room and she's giving my son an Easter lesson involving an egg filled with nails, thorns, and a spear. This is so not okay with me. Does Easter creep anybody else out?

While my specific church never shied away from discussing the crucifixtion, this seems beyond anything I've heard. This reminds me of the candy cane story, though (where the white symbolizes the sinless nature of Jesus; the red stripes represent the blood He shed; it's in the shape of a J, etc.)

My further regression away from spiritual faith makes it mildly amusing to conceptualize Easter as the tale of zombie Jesus, and I can see where you find it creepy. I think the addition of a bunny rabbit and jelly beans washes out that idea for most people.

I guess what i am trying to say is that the whole nails, spear thing your Mom was trying to teach with the egg would never happen in a mormon household

I get the impression that, for whatever reason, the crucifixtion is de-emphasized by the LDS Church, and not just around Easter. I attach no qualitative judgment to that observation, but it is a noticeable difference compared to Baptists. Heck, I remember when we screened "The Passion of the Christ" with John Caviezel on a Sunday night when it was released.

[Babs]

While my specific church never shied away from discussing the crucifixtion, this seems beyond anything I've heard. This reminds me of the candy cane story, though (where the white symbolizes the sinless nature of Jesus; the red stripes represent the blood He shed; it's in the shape of a J, etc.

sweet! (get it? candy! sweet? ha!) seriously, I can't believe I missed that one. That's perfect. In fact, I bet the red stripes represent the "by his stripes we were healed."

I get the impression that, for whatever reason, the crucifixtion is de-emphasized by the LDS Church, and not just around Easter. I attach no qualitative judgment to that observation, but it is a noticeable difference compared to Baptists. Heck, I remember when we screened "The Passion of the Christ" with John Caviezel on a Sunday night when it was released.

yep. we did this. The Michael W. Smith "Secret Ambition" video is also a classic.

I think the difference in emphasis is partly because Mormons don't believe that the actual atonement took place on the cross (at least this is my understanding - that the atonement took place in the garden). I think it's also partly because the Baptists, as opposed the LDS, are so works-resistant that they have to resort to guilt and melodrama as a means of getting people to keep attending. So they emphasize the suffering of the Savior all the time.

[Babs]

On a side note, I watched the Easter Mass at the Basilica National Shrine in D.C. today. I grew up on the idea that Catholics pretty much always focus on the death of Christ and was surprised by how positive their rituals were. They very much focused on the renewal of life through Christ. It was cool to see the way the ritual symbolically tied Lent and Eucharist into the resurrection theme. Does anyone know what the burning incense (I assume) in the metal ball is about?

you know it's interesting that you bring this up, rosebud, I made that very comment to my husband -- that my tradition has always stereotyped the Catholics as obsessing over the suffering Christ, but (imo) the fundamentalists have far surpassed anything the modern Catholics do to commemorate the crucifixion. I dated a Catholic guy for over a year back in the day, and went to Mass all the time, I never saw anything that was overly emphatic of his suffering. They did once discuss the religious implications of Eagles lyrics, though, and that was pretty painful.

You should go to Mass some time if you get a chance. The service has so much poetic and historic value. You'd like it.

[wuapinmon]

I think this thread needs to go read up on the Catholic Church's overlaying the Crucifixion and Resurrection over a pagan holiday as a way to subvert & supplant a major pagan celebration of the coming of Spring in Europe.

As to the nails and thorns for kids, what the hell is wrong with Baptists?

Some comedian once joked about how if Jesus had been killed with a sniper rifle, people would wear sniper scopes with laser sights on necklaces and earrings. He said that we could also do this for Jackie Kennedy, "Just thinking of John, Jackie. Just thinking of John."

[Solon]

, "Just thinking of John, Jackie. Just thinking of John."

WWJFKD?

As a modern western society, I think we've largely lost our connection with death. People expect to live a long time. We're shocked when children die. We treat our pets better than millions of human slaves throughout history. Unless you're cowboy, meat comes from the grocery store rather than from the ranch or the farm.

I obviously don't think this is a bad thing, but it makes for intensely sobering moments when we momentarily glimpse just how brutal, brief, and painful life was even a hundred or two hundred years ago.

As LA Ute would say, "Life is pain. Anyone who tells you differently is selling something."

[jay santos]

Easter's the opposite of that for me. In the springtime, symbolic of rebirth. Pastel colors of lavender, yellow, and green. Little girls dressed up for church in new dresses. Hard to top singing "He is Risen" on Easter morning as a joyful worship experience.

[LA Ute]

As LA Ute would say, "Life is pain. Anyone who tells you differently is selling something."

Yes, one of my most-quoted statements. I prefer "pain" to "nasty, brutish and short," which seems so . . . well, negative.

[YOhio]

Does Easter creep anybody else out?

No. You're the only one screwed up enough to hate the second best holiday.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Interesting article this past weekend on the disconnect between LDS culture and Easter:

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700021832/BYU-study-Disconnect-between-Mormons-and-Easter.html

[kccougar]

Interesting article this past weekend on the disconnect between LDS culture and Easter:

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/7...nd-Easter.html

I read that article this weekend and thought the disconnect was between me and the people this guy surveyed. His results don't match my experiences at all.

[LA Ute]

I think this thread needs to go read up on the Catholic Church's overlaying the Crucifixion and Resurrection over a pagan holiday as a way to subvert & supplant a major pagan celebration of the coming of Spring in Europe.

I think culture explains many of the excesses. As you know, during Semana Santa in Central America (well, Guatemala, which is the only Central American place I have been during Holy Week) there is quite bit of ritual focusing on the bloody aspects of the Passion. Large groups of men carry huge platforms with statues depicting various events leading up to the crucifixion. For example, there is always one with a life-size Jesus being flogged, complete with bloody back; one with him on the cross, and so forth. Here's a photo[/URL] one of the tamer depictions, in Quetzaltenango, where I served:



There are usually 10-20 of these platforms. In some cities (Antigua, e.g.) the locals lay out on the streets beautiful carpets of colorful sawdust with intricate patterns. The men carrying the platforms walk through those carpets and destroy them. It is quite a spectacle and moving in its own way.

But never did I see a platform with the resurrected Christ on it. Again, it's mainly culture. You'd never see this in the U.S. or Canada.

[jay santos]

Interesting article this past weekend on the disconnect between LDS culture and Easter:

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/7...nd-Easter.html

I wouldn't say conference completely usurps Easter, as the study noted it only falls on same day 23% of the time. But it's probably true for that 23%. It might be nice to move GC a week up or back in a year it falls on Easter. It doesn't feel as Eastery not going to church on Easter.

[kccougar]

I wouldn't say conference completely usurps Easter, as the study noted it only falls on same day 23% of the time. But it's probably true for that 23%. It might be nice to move GC a week up or back in a year it falls on Easter. It doesn't feel as Eastery not going to church on Easter.

Except that the conference talks on those weekends are very heavy on Easter references.