Tag: spring

To misquote Noddy Holder, It’s Eas-ter!!!!!!!

There are of course two Easters, just as there are two Christmasses – that is to say, there’s the actual religious festival and then there’s the commercial event. And I think, whether wholeheartedly or begrudgingly, we just have to accept that.

It’s inevitable really, given that of all the many religious festivals only those two prompt Bank Holidays and all that go with them. No doubt there’s mutterings in some corners that even this simple fact is yet another example of how fundamentally discriminatory and just plain awful the British are… but in fact no, that’s just how our particular society has evolved. (Personally I’ve no objection whatsoever if anybody wants to get us an extra few days off work for Eid or Diwali – I often think that if Rishi Sunak promised three extra bank holidays (and to fix all the potholes) even he could still get re-elected.)

It would be foolish to expect an entire society to be of one mind, most of the time we can’t even agree on who should win Strictly; so it’s not unreasonable that for those who, to misquote Shakespeare, have Easter thrust upon them, there should be a secular element to give it some identity. Not that I’m suggesting the manufacturers of Easter Cards, and chocolate eggs, and the not-to-be-confused-with-Playboy bunny ears, are doing it out of a sense of civic duty. I’m guessing, to be blunt, they’re mainly in it for the money.

This was made very obvious to me today when I ventured into our local Morrisons to find that the Easter aisle has already been cleared out. No doubt come Monday it’ll be full of buckets and spades and other Summertime paraphernalia (which will be there until about mid-July when they’ll be replaced by new School uniforms and Halloween stuff). For the merchandisers, even before Easter has actually arrived it’s time to dump all that and move onto the next thing.

I’ll be honest, I don’t really mind that. I do, though, have a bit of a problem with the insidious playing down of Easter itself. Actually no, I think insidious is unfair – that suggests strategy, which suggests conspiracy. When, for example, Iceland bizarrely removed the cross from their hot CROSS buns, I don’t believe it was a calculated move to eradicate Easter. Much more likely it’s another example of this infuriating modern trend of trying to pre-empt somebody taking offence, and in the process offending many more people.

I’ve done no research but I’m prepared to go out on a limb and say nobody, nobody, has ever objected to having basic Christian iconography pushed on them via the medium of baked goods. I’d go so far as to say if anybody has objected to it, well, the problem probably isn’t with the bun.

Even the word itself, Easter, seems to be an embarrassment in some quarters, as though there’s a worry that poor innocent consumers might unwittingly come over all C-of-E simply by reading it. Just taking a quick straw poll of the five-and-a-half chocolate eggs currently in our house, the word Easter is only prominent on the two that my wife felt strangely compelled to buy for our dogs – the eggs intended for human consumption mention Easter only once and only in the small print.

All of which seems very odd to me. Of course we are a multi-faith culture now, which is a tremendously encouraging thing to aspire to (even if, as has been pointed out, ultimately only one of them can be right (possibly not even that many)) but at the same time you can’t unwrite the country as it has evolved and you can’t rewrite history. Nobody would visit Vatican City and complain that there are too many Catholics, or open a gift shop there but play down anything that was “a bit too Pope-y”.

So maybe the UK shouldn’t worry so much. Leave the cross on the hot cross bun, leave Easter on the eggs. Anything else, we leave that to your own beliefs.

To not misquote Dave Allen: Goodnight, and may your God go with you.

Happy Easter.