# Non-Christians:do you celebrate Easter? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 18, 2011, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-do-you-celebrate-easter/568030 "2011-01-18T01:43:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-do-you-celebrate-easter/568030/61 "2011-01-19T14:40:35Z")
Either April or March. This year the RCC Easter Sunday falls on April 24th. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-do-you-celebrate-easter/568030/62 "2011-01-19T15:24:37Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > Also, first time I had a chocolate bunny was about 8 years ago. I was griping that those chocolate bunnies looked good but I couldn’t quite bring myself to buy one. A friend got me one as a sort-of gag. Th’ damned things are HOLLOW!!! I was so disappointed. I thought they were solid. They do make solid ones, but they are more expensive (it’s a lot more chocolate) and you can’t get them everywhere. You’d probably have to somewhere more upscale than the local Kroger. But the hollow ones are useful - you break it off at the head, then fill both the head and body cavities with peanut butter. Ta-da! ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-do-you-celebrate-easter/568030/63 "2011-01-19T15:51:43Z")
Weeeeeeel we’re not very religious but we build a giant whicker man and fill it with virgins, and then set fire to it while we chant hymns to Ouestrus . (I’m pretty sure I spelled that wrong) But its for the kids really, if it wasn’t for them I don’t think that we’d bother. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-do-you-celebrate-easter/568030/64 "2011-01-19T16:01:41Z")
> [@Alice\_The\_Goon](#): > > Atheist. I would like to ask those who do acknowledge it with big dinners or baskets or whatever- why? Are you celebrating Spring, or Jesus dying and coming back to life, or what? Could be they’re celebrating ham on sale at the supermarket. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-do-you-celebrate-easter/568030/65 "2011-01-19T16:06:04Z")
> [@SecondJudith](#): > > I always forget which long May weekend is Easter and which one is just the May bank holiday (yes, I know one is three days and one is four days, I just can’t keep it straight in my head for some reason), so I have no idea when Easter actually is most years. The latest possible day for Easter is April 25, so here’s a rule of thumb: The long May weekend that happens in April is the Easter one. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-do-you-celebrate-easter/568030/66 "2011-01-19T16:12:47Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > Jewish. > > Nope. Don’t celebrate it at all. > > Also, first time I had a chocolate bunny was about 8 years ago. I was griping that those chocolate bunnies looked good but I couldn’t quite bring myself to buy one. A friend got me one as a sort-of gag. Th’ damned things are HOLLOW!!! I was so disappointed. I thought they were solid. ☹ They have solid ones, but you have to look for them. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-do-you-celebrate-easter/568030/67 "2011-01-19T16:29:34Z")
Yeah - Easter eggs, egg hunts, egg painting and egg rolling (adults can get really competitive about this), occasionally Easter bonnet parades when my daughter was younger. Nothing to do with the church. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-do-you-celebrate-easter/568030/68 "2011-01-19T16:32:04Z")
In response to Alice: Like Nava says, I like the folklore. I kinda feel more ‘settled’ if I mark the changing of the seasons in some ritualistic way. Also, all the activities are fun. ---
**Author:** ![Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimmy_Gibbler)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-do-you-celebrate-easter/568030/69 "2011-01-19T16:33:36Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > > [@SecondJudith](#): > > > > I always forget which long May weekend is Easter and which one is just the May bank holiday (yes, I know one is three days and one is four days, I just can’t keep it straight in my head for some reason), so I have no idea when Easter actually is most years. > > The latest possible day for Easter is April 25, so here’s a rule of thumb: The long May weekend that happens in April is the Easter one. 😃 [Ahem.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=13370473&postcount=53) ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-do-you-celebrate-easter/568030/70 "2011-01-19T16:49:29Z")
Yeah, sorry. I posted impulsively instead of finishing the thread first. I guess I should expect an “Ahem” from **Skammer** next. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Goat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Uncle\_Goat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Goat)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-do-you-celebrate-easter/568030/71 "2011-01-19T17:53:45Z")
Not only do I like chocolate, I also like hard boiled eggs. Coloring the eggs is part of the fun, though that’s less likely now that the kids are older. Halloween, Christmas and Easter and to a lesser extent the tooth fairy, allow a parent to be magical to their kids. Watching the kids run about the apartment looking for hidden eggs and candy remains a pleasant memory as well. Magic is generally more fun than any religion as all it requires the willingness to be pleasantly surprised. Childhood should not be denied magic. Being atheistic and introducing magic to a child’s life seems perfectly natural to me. There’s plenty of grim reality – with or without god – in life. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-do-you-celebrate-easter/568030/72 "2011-01-19T20:17:16Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > In the last month, a number of non-Christian Dopers mentioned they celebrate Christmas. For the most part, they said Christmas is effectively a secular holiday now. The question I have is do non-Christian Dopers celebrate Easter also? For that matter, do they have any problems celebrating highly secularized saints’ days like St. Patrick’s Day or Valentine’s Day? You mean Chocolate Friday & Pickled Fish Sunday, Guinness Day and Hallmark Eve? Sure, I celebrate them. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-do-you-celebrate-easter/568030/73 "2011-01-19T21:17:02Z")
> [@Askance](#): > > Interestingly, due to the confluence of Easter and Anzac Day we get a 5 day weekend this year! Oh, do you get an extra day in Oz? Drat, we (NZ) just get to have both Easter Monday and ANZAC Day on the 25th. (It’s particularly bad this year as _Waitangi Day_ also falls on a Sunday and that one doesn’t get Monday-ized either). ☹ OP: Atheist-ish (that’ll do for this purpose). 🙂 Choc-eggs and a big egg or bunny for the kid. Otherwise it’s just a long weekend… and when the moon is right my birthday falls within it. I was even born on a Good Friday… not sure how “good” my mother felt that made it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-do-you-celebrate-easter/568030/74 "2011-01-19T21:31:52Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > Also, first time I had a chocolate bunny was about 8 years ago. I was griping that those chocolate bunnies looked good but I couldn’t quite bring myself to buy one. A friend got me one as a sort-of gag. Th’ damned things are HOLLOW!!! I was so disappointed. I thought they were solid. ☹ Ah yes, chocolate bunnies as a metaphor for life. 🙂 Many of the things we covet glisten and glitter. They present an attractive and appealing external appearance making us desire them, and yet their reality turns out to be hollow leaving us feeling unfulfilled and disappointed. I believe this is a life lesson children need to learn early. I also buy my son chocolate Santas. (Why isn’t there an “evil” smiley?) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-do-you-celebrate-easter/568030/75 "2011-01-19T22:01:30Z")
> [@Apollyon](#): > > Oh, do you get an extra day in Oz? Drat, we (NZ) just get to have both Easter Monday and ANZAC Day on the 25th. (It’s particularly bad this year as _Waitangi Day_ also falls on a Sunday and that one doesn’t get Monday-ized either). ☹ Most British kids are getting pretty much all of April off, what with the Easter holidays and then the Royal wedding. We’ll have Friday 22nd, Monday 25th and Friday 29th April plus Monday 2nd May as bank holidays, 2 4-day weekends in a row; can’t imagine much work’ll get done in the intervening weekdays. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-do-you-celebrate-easter/568030/76 "2011-01-19T22:31:16Z")
Now Jewish, ex-Christian. I stopped celebrating Easter a long time before I stopped celebrating Christmas. Easter stopped being much fun when I got too old to hunt for eggs and became a teenager and started my ongoing struggle with my weight. My first year of college, I managed to break it to my mom that I wouldn’t be coming home to celebrate Easter. I didn’t stop celebrating Christmas until I was just about ready to convert to Judaism, probably about eight years later. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2011, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-do-you-celebrate-easter/568030/77 "2011-01-19T22:34:33Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > I guess I should expect an “Ahem” from **Skammer** next. 😛 I’m satisfied, as long as you already feel convicted in your heart. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-do-you-celebrate-easter/568030/78 "2011-01-20T00:35:08Z")
Atheist son of atheist parents. We always got candy into our teens and when we were younger we colored eggs. Plus fancy dinners ( usually the traditional ham ) most years. Despite their extremely fervent atheism my folks took a very pragmatic view of major religious holidays, for the sake of us kids if nothing else. If they were big enough to be fairly universal and somewhat secularized, they were celebrated as holidays with most of the standard trappings, sans Jesus & Company. All my parents still do some version Christmas and Thanksgiving and I expect my mother at least will probably get me some bag of nasty candy ( cheap-ass milk chocolate or Jujubes or both ) for Easter. ETA: I personally do not consider Easter a “major” holiday anymore and don’t aim to have any sort of celebration. Though I will attend one ( dinner, usually ) if invited. ---
**Author:** ![mrklutz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@mrklutz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrklutz)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2011, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-do-you-celebrate-easter/568030/79 "2011-01-20T18:56:28Z")
Atheist, no kids. It’s an even bet as to whether or not I’ll even remember that the day in question is Easter. I don’t get a day off for it at my current company, so it tends to drop off my mental radar. When I first started in the corporate world, I was looking at the calendar of holidays. I said, incredulously, “We get April Fool’s Day off?” My co-worker laughed and informed me that Good Friday was the reason for the holiday. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-do-you-celebrate-easter/568030/80 "2011-01-21T09:23:40Z")
> [@Anne\_Neville](#): > > Now Jewish, ex-Christian. > > I stopped celebrating Easter a long time before I stopped celebrating Christmas. Easter stopped being much fun when I got too old to hunt for eggs and became a teenager and started my ongoing struggle with my weight. My first year of college, I managed to break it to my mom that I wouldn’t be coming home to celebrate Easter. I didn’t stop celebrating Christmas until I was just about ready to convert to Judaism, probably about eight years later. OK, but… the Christian Easter is linked to a Jewish holiday: do you celebrate that one? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-do-you-celebrate-easter/568030.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-christians-do-you-celebrate-easter/568030.md?page=5)