Why Easter Makes the Cut (There’s a Reason for Miracles)

Because of the increasing secularization (trivialization) of society and culture, Easter has become a minor observation -- instead of the major one it used to be for millennia.

The first step is to make the “holiday” strictly a commercial event -- a reason for another sale -- but Easter has already been replaced by the success of Valentine’s Day as a greater inspiration and motivation for lavish and overgenerous gifts and testaments of worthiness.

But despite that success as the second greatest shopping season, Valentine’s Day is not as significant a passage on the calendar because of its timing -- of never coinciding with the turning points of the year around the midpoint of January, April, July and October -- the traditional markers of seasonality that have ruled the development of the world for most of history.

Easter marks the beginning of spring -- and the renewal of life, after the dormancy of winter. One could plant seeds any time of the year, but done at the precisely right time and conditions, the chances for success are much greater -- than arbitrarily deciding one would like to do so.

The famous fasting of Lent, is not a bad idea when one’s food supplies are likely to be exhausted without diligent attention otherwise. It has been remarked by many historians that the Church simply co-opted a lot of the “pagan” (secular) celebrations into their own -- as a distinctive ritualization of the seasons.

In modern life, seasonality seems much less important because of around-the-clock availability of most products and services -- but accountants and bean counters know, business is likely to be best in the first quarter of each year, while they are likely to be ignored entirely in the last quarter of the year, when overindulgence and excesses are likely to be encouraged.

So what has the celebrations of life come to mean through the ages? We know that July is the celebration of freedom at the summer of the year, and fall is the harvest of that summer and the anticipation of the cold and unfruitful season -- for which all one’s preparations will be put to the test.

At Easter, lives begins to renew -- and one must die to the old memories of hardship and scarcity, to be able to embrace the new realities of opportunities that those who have thought deeply over the past, can now bring to life. How deeply one has been affected by the challenges of the seasons is greatly determined by the severity of those challenges. Here in Hawaii, it is likely to be minimal -- with many even thinking that there are no changes at all, and there is no pattern to the length of days and changes in climate except what the gods arbitrarily inflict.

One is then likely to think that everything is arbitrary -- and there is no rhyme nor reason for anything. People say what they do because no one will hold them accountable for it. So while the discussions most offer -- center on the easy and lush abundance of the setting, the notable lack, whenever there is this rare discussion, is that there is very little depth in the feeling of being directly responsible for any of it.

And that is the meaning and significance of life for which Easter is the outward manifestation. What is one's personal responsibility to the life they live -- and therefore regard the significance of all of life? Many now, have no language for asking that question -- and having that discussion. And that's why they should -- at least once a year, or once in their lifetime.