Updated April 8, 1996
CNN Interactive's World of Faith page explores the importance of faith and spirituality in everyday life. This month, the Feedback page will focus on what you think about the spring holidays, Easter and Passover.
Even though Easter is a religious feast, I have always associated it with the start of spring and all of its connotations of new life and beginnings. Even in the most religious sense this would still seem to be what the Easter celebration is all about.
Our family has gone from a traditional Easter bunny focus to exclusive Roman Catholic religious focus on the passion, death, and resurrection of our savior Jesus Christ. We take the Lenten season quite seriously and use the 40 days to reflect on the great sacrifice Jesus made for our salvation and rejoice in the great miracle of his triumphant resurrection from the dead. We continue our religious focus through the ascension into heaven on the 40th day, and the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles and disciples on Pentecost (the 50th day).
Our family has been very receptive to this change and it is now a wonderful discovery time for us individually and collectively.
Bob
lyonsra@vitro.com
An interesting story that often doesn't get covered is the rush for bread after Passover is over. I remember being in Israel 20 years ago. As soon as Passover ended, once the sun went down, the ovens that bake pita bread were ready for full production.
There was a huge rush for fresh hot pita bread that had been baked as soon as Passover was officially over. So by late evening many people had their hands and mouths on leaven bread. Needless-to-say, the line-ups for bread on the morning following Passover are also memorable.
Seymore Applebaum
crosscc@ontrac.ccs.yorku.ca
A lot of people associate Easter with a day for renewal and finding inner strength and peace, as well as springtime hope that this will be a great year, and so on. Jesus Christ not only says that we should look for strength and peace and hope but that we can find all those things in him. In the history of mankind, perhaps there is not any other event that yields more hope than the empty tomb that was found on the morning of the first Easter, for it emphatically declares that Jesus has triumphed over death and thus can bring hope for others, so that whoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. Easter is also a time of healing. For me personally, I have been struggling with issues in life that have hurt me greatly in the past, and Easter is no better time than to ask healing and restoration from the Great Physician himself. Look no further, ye hopeful -- He is risen!
Simon Y. Chang
Simon_Chang@Brown.EDU
Easter traditions are weird, probably because they get overshadowed by Christmas. I mean, yeah, you have the egg hunt, but that isn't religious unless you worship chocolate. You usually get a new suit, or shirt, or tie, but you needed one anyway since the winter wardrobe is on its way to storage about now. I liked the way that church became more than just Sunday when I was growing up. We went on Thursday, Friday, and then Sunday morning. That focused on the whole event of Jesus' suffering, death, burial, and resurrection. It opened up like a symphony.
JMH
jhesh@dynanet.com
You asked how I celebrate Easter that is different from how my parents celebrated. My parents are traditional Christians and I remember celebrating as a child by wearing new clothes to church and hunting Easter eggs. But now I celebrate the spring equinox more than Easter as the beginning of spring. Easter is still a holy day for me. I remember how the dogwoods trees bloom at this time of the year regardless of how the weather is and also how the Easter amaryllis always blooms right on Easter day.
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