What Easter means to me (hint: not very much so don’t read if it’s super special to you…)

by Nikki Logan

http://www.neatorama.com

So here’s the thing... I’m a heathen. Let’s get that cleared up right now. I was raised CofE and so I have the cultural background re the whole crucifixion, resurrection, rolling back the stone, omg he’s gone thing. But I don’t really do Easter and nor do I get Easter.

I started to write this blog all about the origins and confusions of Easter but there’s really nothing I can say that isn’t going to offend someone - Easter has it’s little chocolatey fingers in so very many cultural pies.

So, I find myself in the rare position of saying nothing at all.
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*cough*

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Blogging GOLD!

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OK so clearly I can’t say nothing for an entire blog. But here’s what I can say…

I’m not a practicing anything so if Easter is one of your holiest holidays then please… look away now. I do not wish to offend, but Easter at my house is, I’m sure, a very different creature to Easter at your house. I would be quite prepared to work over Easter if someone said to me ‘if you don’t observe a holiday, don’t take it’. That’s reasonable. I’m all for reason. I’d probably end up working on The Queens Birthday and Foundation Day and Labour Day, for the same reason cos I really don’t observe those either. In fact, one of them has just been renamed entirely here in Western Australaia and I don’t even know which or why, which gives you a big clue as to how much attention I pay them.

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I do observe ANZAC day because that’s a day I think about my grandfathers who both served. But I don’t observe it very hard, really, or for very long. About a minute, usually silent.  Sometimes I hum because the Last Post is the mother of all earworms. Australia Day, yes, because all those BBQs burning in the neighbourhood and all those strangers out playing street cricket using my sulo bin as wickets…it’s hard not to get caught up in the excitement.

But Easter…not so much.

But, if the Government is going to require me to take these days off then perhaps I should rename them--in the tradition of the Christians--to something more meaningful. Something that tells me and all my descendents a little of what the days mean in the ancient annals of Logan. Henceforth, they shall be known throughout the kingdom (and yay verily...) as:

·        Good Friday-Off - the best day off of all. Because it’s a Friday and it’s the ONLY Friday you get off all year unless you’re skyving. That makes it a very Good Friday Off.

·        Shops-Are-Open Saturday  - this day confuses me. Are we doing easter or aren’t we? Fresh out of Friday’s holiness it’s apparently okay to nick back to the shops to replenish before the splendour of Sunday? But, like everyone else, I dash out on the Saturday as if it’s going to be three weeks before they’ll re-open again. A whole day just feels like a long time to have been banished from the ailses.

Forevergeek.com "Terminator Easter"

·        Chocolate Sundae - I think the spelling, here, is important. This one is apparently also called ‘Resurrection Day’ in Christian lore which I do like… very John Connor. The name, I think, is obvious in its arcane symbolism. 

·        Tumms Monday - I don’t do the chocolate thing anymore, but I used to. And Monday was always Tumms Monday after I spend all of the day before hoeing into chocolate. Owie. There's no good way to sit or lie after a chocolate binge.

·        Awesome-I’m-a-Public-Servant-and-get-an-extra-day-off-Tuesday - Almost as good as Good Friday Off. Any day that not everyone gets is a really good day off. Not really sure why, maybe someone high up just realised we’re all going to flex it off anyway, might as well roll it into our benefits and write it off.

http://www.neatorama.com

And so there we go. I’m sure the new Easter naming conventions will be meaningful for others out there. Perhaps you have your own? Off-to-the-zoo-Monday? Good-day-for-washing-Friday?

A quick nod to the website from which most of these gorgeous, geeky eggs come from: http://www.neatorama.com/2012/04/04/14-wonderfully-geeky-easter-eggs/ Check them out, there's heaps more, all equally brilliant.

To finish, I was holding out for a Simon’s Cat Easter special but I figure if there is one it will probably come out on Chocolate Sundae. But just like last year’s chocolate, these things NEVER get old… So here’s a Simon’s Cat Easter Special from 2011. Enjoy. No calories.

Wishing everyone--regardless of what you do to mark/pass Easter--a very safe and relaxing few days. Please come out safely on the other side. We like having you round.