Celebrating Easter In The Modern Age: New Traditions, Different Minds

Find out why today’s world celebrates Easter differently. How do we bring back the excitement?

I’m writing this 3 days before Easter. It’s a day when I’ve been going around my friends and acquaintances asking:

” Are you going to church for Easter?”

“Huh?”

“Easter, this Sunday!”

“No…”

I can’t help but feel a little bit depleted. Since I’m away from my family, there is a lack of warmth on holiday. Easter used to be exciting.

Easter is a family tradition that brings warmth and a new beginning. But here, in a new country with people my age, not many are keen on going to church.

I guess it’s because none of us feel called to sit down doing mass for two hours or more just because it’s an old tradition. We are the new generation who need a new tradition that gets us to excited in easter again.

So I wonder, why is the excitement for Easter missing for people my age?

How About Hunting the Eggs?

I don’t think that Easter is a religious thing anymore. A lot of non-religious people celebrate Easter because they love the pretty colourful eggs! For example: Egg Hunting.

I grew up as a kid doing egg decorations on Sunday schools. Kids would be so excited. All kinds of colours were present, they would be all sparkly as well. They used the eggs for the competition.

After that the teachers would hide the eggs and we had to find them. The kids who discovered the most eggs would win the prize. It’s how I remember easter for me. It was joyful and exciting.

Going home for a home-cooked meal was expected. We didn’t have a certain food on the menu to cook but we always have a festive meal on Easter.

The best part was celebrating with other relatives who didn’t always come around often. So yes, a good home-cooked festive meal can bring everyone together.

“The Easter egg symbolizes our ability to break out of the hardened, protective shell we’ve surrounded ourselves with.” — Siobhan Shaw

Is it Not About Religion Anymore?

“The great gift of Easter is Hope.” — Basil Hume

I remember attending church with my parents during the celebration. It wasn’t the exciting part that I was looking forward to. It was always the egg hunting.

I can’t deny that attending mass does bring warmth to my heart, even though time seemed to crawl when we were there. Seeing people from different places and races come together to celebrate easter was heart-warming as well. It’s incredible how religion can connect different cultures, creating a sense of unity.

I don’t see that happening right now as I grew up. My peers are Catholics or Christians, but none of us are planning to do something. We’re international students in a different country, far from our families.

“Why aren’t we going to church anymore on Easter?” I asked one of them, curious about what they think.

“Why do we have to?” she responded. “Skipping church doesn’t make us any less believers. We’re still Catholics and Christians. We can celebrate Easter at home. My mom is even decorating the eggs.”

Hence, it’s not about religion anymore.

Tips + Afterword

So, I guess in today’s world, we celebrate Easter differently. We don’t come to church anymore. Many of us don’t attend church anymore, and for many, Easter has evolved into more than just a religious holiday. It’s a heartwarming tradition that people bring together, welcoming the arrival of the Spring season. It could also be a new beginning to this year 2024.

We cannot turn back to the time when we were kids who would be very excited to find hidden colourful eggs. Perhaps, feeling guilty of eating some during the hunt. But we can bring joy and excitement differently.

If you’re away from your family, why not reach out to friends and acquaintances who would be up for enjoying a nice meal together? Merge different cultures by decorating some eggs and creating your own games. Who knows, it may be a new trending tradition since everything can be a hit on TikTok nowadays.

However, for us the new generation, Easter can have a different meaning. let’s keep the excitement alive by being creative on how we celebrate it. Don’t get disheartened! Cheer up and celebrate. Have a good time!

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Thank you for reading :)