Easter Sunday is coming tomorrow, and Ben had trouble falling asleep in anticipation of both the Easter Bunny's arrival and his promotion to the "big kid" class at church.
I was at a birthday party today and another mom was saying that they weren't really going to do anything for Easter - that her husband was going to put new windows into the house. She sounded a bit conflicted about it. She said they weren't religious so celebrating Easter didn't seen right, but I could tell she may have wished they did celebrate something.
I had always known that Christmas was layered on top of the Winter Solstice - a time of year when ancient people around the globe celebrated their god(s) and gave thanks for the lengthening days. I was recently reminded that Easter, too, is layered on top on ancient traditions welcoming Spring and the Equinox - including the egg - a strong symbol of rebirth. Mostly I was reminded that from the beginning of time people have sought a connection with the divine and celebrated the important passages of time and seasons.
My kids remind me everyday just how important holidays are. The anticipation, the planning, the decorating, and finally, the celebrating, especially in community. I feel sad that another mom would give up on traditions of celebrating rebirth (and not just Christian ones) over 3000 years old, just because she feels like she's not religious enough for Easter. It's funny that with religion we often feel like we have to know all the answers, or be in 100% agreement, before we even begin the journey. In contrast to a yoga class, where half the time I can't keep up, don't know what they are saying, or sometimes don't feel the same way as the teacher, but I go - and allow my body and heart to be opened - and I come away a bit more connected.
So, for all you seekers, I encourage you to open your heart and find a community to celebrate with - a Buddhist temple, a synagogue, a mosque, a meeting hall, a church. Rebirth is a powerful thing, and we all need some of that.
This post really resonates with Andjana and me (Martin). I like to say that I'm a "recovering Catholic" and shun even the idea of attending any church-related events...while Andjana still holds onto her roots and yearns for tradition and community. So, now stuck in the limbo between devout churchgoers and ritual-free agnostics, while also being far from family, we're trying to find our own footing with old and new traditions and local community. It's challenging. But this post gave us a little confidence that religious-based traditions serve deeper human needs than just worship...and we can use them to grow, develop and heal as families.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a great conversation. And so hard when part of the family feels moved one direction and the other in another direction. Sometimes if we fail to choose something to celebrate we get left with emptiness or busyness. We struggle with this too.
DeleteLove this post so much!! Two weeks Julian and I rescued a caterpillar with a broken spike on the sidewalk. We named him, fed him fresh leaves every day, read him books, and watched him turn into a cocoon. Yesterday he (or she, I have no idea how to tell the gender of a butterfly) emerged from the chrysalis and everyone in my family, even my crochety father-in-law, watched in wonderment as Hattie flew out of the jar and into the wide world. I thought it was a happy coincidence, great timing to teach a lesson of rebirth, but I think it was the universe sending me a ritual that I could really get behind. We did baskets and egg hunts and ham today, but the take away ritual for our family will be to find a new life to care for every Spring, and find ways to take better care of each other in the process. Love you, Megs. Thank you for this.
ReplyDeleteI love this story. And so amazing that you were still enough to notice the caterpiller in the first place. That in itself in an act in paying attention to this miracle called life.
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