What do atheists do over Easter?

[puellapaschalis]

If you're interested in cheese rolling, here's a clip of that too:

 

[oremus1]

so basically, we are solemnly commemorating the death and resurrection of Our Lord Saviour of the World

Meanwhile the atheists amuse themselves by chasing a cheese down a hill.

 

Sums up rather a lot about our society today don't you think?

[puellapaschalis]

I'm not sure that's a fair distinction - secularisation is a generational thing, and cheese rolling and tar barrels have been going on for centuries. Odds on most participants these days won't have been in church much (if at all) this weekend, but in times past they likely would have been.

[Anomaly]

In some countries people get a public holiday for Good Friday and even Easter Monday. The stores all close for Easter Sunday. What do atheists do?

I mean, at Christmas atheists sing carols, go to mass, see family, celebrate thanksgiving, drink mulled wine and eat turkey and Lebkuchen. they put up Tannenbaum in their houses and big lights and holly adventskranz wrethes. . it is a social occasion for many. some even do good works for the poor. they have big parties at work. they have many urban legends to celebrate with children like the Weihnachtsmann, Elf on Shelf, and Adventskalendar - a special colander with small sweet treats for the children and reinders and dogs for each day. The Christmas Ghost comes on Heiligabend and fills the shoes with presents.

 

But what do they do to mark Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday and Easter Monday?

 

You're welcome for the Easter Bunny, peeps, and Cadbury eggs.   

We  enjoy spring, go outside, give candies to our children in baskets, perpetuate the bunny myth, visit family, eat, watch golf on TV.  Friday and Monday are regular days.   We make zombie jokes too.  

[oremus1]

You're welcome for the Easter Bunny, peeps, and Cadbury eggs.  

We  enjoy spring, go outside, give candies to our children in baskets, perpetuate the bunny myth, visit family, eat, watch golf on TV.  Friday and Monday are regular days.   We make zombie jokes too.

​how do you explain Easter to your children? Do you refer to the bible? what about Christmas?

[Anomaly]

​how do you explain Easter to your children? Do you refer to the bible? what about Christmas?

My children are adults, but they were taught the Catholic explanations.  Regardless, they are both very much secular seasonal celebrations.  No biggie.  It's good to be tolerant of others customs and beliefs.   It's a big world with a lot if nice people in it with many different customs.  

[Gabriela]

Off topic alert:

In the UK there's this thing where once a year people roll great big enormous cheeses down this great big enormous hill (somewhere in Gloucestershire?). And then run down the great big enormous hill after them. Or they did, I'm not sure if Elf 'n Saftay have got to them or not.

​This got discussed in an episode of NPR's Wait Wait Don't Tell Me! show. Apparently some government officials were worried someone would get hurt and sue, so they told the woman who makes the giant cheese wheel they'd pin it all on her if it happened. She told them to bugger off and made the cheese wheel.

[Anastasia13]

[AccountDeleted]

Coming from a secular, agnostic family, we did all the secular, commercial things that non-religious people do at Christmas and Easter. 

Sometimes the night before Easter, my mother would give us a little chocolate Easter egg and tell us we had to go to bed early so the Easter bunny could come. When we woke up in the morning, there would be baskets filled with cellophane 'grass' and lots of different candies near our beds. 

Sometime over the weekend - usually the Saturday, we would boil eggs and color them. Then on Sunday, our parents would hide the eggs all over the yard and we would have an Easter egg hunt.

Being the weird, religious person that I was, sometimes I would watch a movie about Jesus on TV (like King of Kings, my favorite, but there were others too). Our neighbors were Catholic, so I think that one year I actually went to Mass with them  (or perhaps just in the car to pick up someone, I don't know for sure) but as I was very young, I can't remember much more than seeing all the nuns in long white dresses with their heads covered. I thought they looked like angels.

All the religious holidays were also very secular when I was growing up. So we never felt left out of things. Over the years there were even more secular things on TV, like cartoons about Easter bunnies, etc. The religious part of Easter just never really meant much until I grew up and understood what it was all about. It might be a bit like Jewish people who celebrate the secular aspects of Christmas. Society has really secularized Christian religious holidays quite a lot.

[superblue]

This is like asking what people who aren't  Bob's friends do on Bob's birthday.

​from the show Bob's Burgers ?