Modern Day Good Friday- Or, Follow the Easter Bunny- He has Chocolate

 Modern Day Good Friday

Or follow the Easter Bunny -he has Chocolate

There was a  giant green monster with teeth on their lawn, it was nestled into half an Easter eggshell, along with some other jolly looking creatures, one was yellow with one eye and another, well I can’t make out what it was, something with pink spots and a ridiculous look on its face.  As I walked my dog on by, I couldn’t help but careen my neck one last time and think, “Pagans!”  Some years ago, these giant garish inflatable yard things started popping up on people’s lawns and I have two thoughts, one “tacky” and two, “folks, is that what you spend your money on”?  Maybe some lazy husband  stuck it up to get his decorating demanding wife off his back.

“There, one and done!” he thinks.

 But then, I don’t ever remember people decorating for Easter either, ever! So, then I am back to my original thoughts.

·         Pagans- Which means a heathen or anyone who does not profess monotheism, one God, Creator of Heaven and earth. More properly a pagan is a person who has abandoned all religious belief.  Does believing in inflatable green lawn monsters count? I think not. 

Contrary to widespread belief, Easter celebration is not based on Pagan origins. According to Apologist, Jimmy Atkin,

“In English, of course, tha name is “Easter” and in German “Ostern.” These are related in name to a pagan spring festival, whose name, if you check a dictionary, was derived from the prehistoric West Germanic word akin to the Old English term east, which means, simply enough, “east,” the direction of the rising sun. It has nothing to do, contrary to what you will hear from some anti-Easter-ites, with the goddess Ishtar.”

·         Tacky- While at the gym recently I was speaking with a woman who had a giant Easter Bunny emblazoned on her sweat shirt, she says to me, “The deeply religious meaning of Easter is not lost on me but can I just say that I totally love eggs and chocolate! “

·         Money- The worldwide Christmas market alone is estimated to be worth over seven billion U.S dollars, that is Christmas alone.  Catholic spiritual days of observance are clearly an opportunity to sell  decorations and chocolate “something’s” to the masses.  Saint Nicholas,  Christmas gifts and chocolate,  Saint Valentine day Cards and chocolate, Saint Patrick, small chocolate shamrocks wrapped in green tinfoil, here we sold something a little different,  Corned Beef and Cabbage.  And then of course Resurrection day, more chocolate.

Chocolate and decorations aside, today is Good Friday which means,  according to, Surprised by Truth author, Jimmy Atkin,

 “Holy Friday,” the same way we have Holy Thursday and Holy Saturday. It is the most somber day of the Christian year and the day our Savior died for us. It’s the day we were redeemed from our sins by the voluntary death of God, Himself at the hands of man.”

All in all, it seems there are a lot of people confused by Easter.  Not wanting to confuse the next generation, last Easter, my grandson and I drove by one of those inflatable thingy’s on a neighbor’s lawn, I said under my breath, Pagan! My grandson looks up at me, with his helium sounding voice  and says, “Grammy what’s a pagan?   Grammy says, “Its someone who likes chocolate!”