Do you prefer Christmas or Easter (if you celebrate, if not pick your favourite holiday)?
My answer:
I feel like saying both and neither at the same time. 😀 Both because they’re both very important to me in a spiritual sense, and neither because I mostly dislike the very social aspect of both and they can be super stressful. Well, maybe not just plain dislike, I do think it’s important and an integral part of these festivities but I simply find it quite challenging and exhausting most of the time so I struggle with it on a personal level.
But I think I’ll choose Easter, because, at the end of the day, it is more important for us Christians and the real essence of our faith, and also because it has less of that kitschy, marketing coating that Christmas is wholly covered in, and which puts me off a bit more each year. It’s not quite so infantile. There’s no Easter music haunting you everywhere from the start of lent so that by the time the actual holiday comes it comes out your ears, as is the case with Christmas. The general craze with shopping, decorating etc. seems a bit lighter. Oh yeah and in recent years, I seem to have followed my Mum and started to really like Lent for all the specifically Lenten prayers and things like that. I used not to like it very much at all but these days I do. And then when it ends, somehow I also feel more joyful than at the end of Advent. Speaking of the ending of Lent, I love the Paschal Triduum and especially the rich, complex and loooong liturgy of the Paschal Vigil. The Midnight Mass on Christmas has a great feel too, but the Easter Vigil is kind of more mysterious, for lack of a better word.
But I do like Christmas food more than Easter food. Maybe it’s just my family and not a generally Polish thing but I feel like there’s a lot more diversity and generally a lot more traditions for Christmas dishes vs Easter dishes, and the Christmas ones are simply better in my opinion, and my siblings think so too. Generally, despite the greater importance of Easter, we always celebrate it more low-key in terms of external festivities like food, presents or what we do on these holidays in general. Like this year for example we didn’t even do presents at all, and that was okay with everyone, we just didn’t feel like doing it this year, especially my Mum. I only bought some candy for Sofi because I promised her a lot earlier that I’ll get her a specific type of candy for Easter that she likes.
How about you? 🙂
I do not celebrate either, but I would say I like the Christmas season more. There is a lot of smiles and goodwill and everyone seems festive. Easter season, other than heralding spring, seems to be more of a somber holiday. I also think my preference for Christmas is that, unlike Easter, and quite sadly, it seems the reason behind the celebration of Christmas is forgotten. Whereas, Easter seems to be more about the religious aspect than the commercialization of the holiday.
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Yes, for me it’s really sad that it seems like people don’t fully realise what Christmas is all about. But I too like how it makes people more joyful and smiling. 🙂
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My family only celebrated Easter when my brother and I were little and we did Easter egg hunts. My mom was really into Christmas, so we had lots of traditions and foods associated with that. I don’t care about Christmas any more, but that’s the depression talking.
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It’s sad that you no longer care about Christmas, but I can totally understand how depression can make people feel this way.
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I love-love-love the Christmas season! It always makes me so happy. I love the commercialism! I love the songs, the movies (most of them), the expansive gift-giving that surpasses whether someone else celebrates Christmas–presents for everyone! I just love it all. It fills me with joy. I used to suffer extreme letdown on December 26, but it’s gotten better over the years!
I love Easter, too, and appreciate how it’s more of a spiritual holiday sans the commercialism! It definitely has its own merits! And I felt them this past Easter when I was trying to explain to someone that Jesus really lived and it wasn’t all fake or pretend.
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While I easily get it how people for various reasons may not think or struggle to believe that Jesus is God, I’m always surprised when people say they don’t believe he ever lived, since there is actual evidence for that. I’m glad you had such a conversation with someone during Easter time, I think they can be very enriching for both sides. 🙂
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Your response made me smile. You may like this post 🙂 https://somebodylovesmeblog.wordpress.com/2015/12/21/jesus-i-know-him/
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Thank you so much for sharing! I really enjoyed reading your post. 🙂
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