How is Easter celebrated in America?
Posted by Odd-Geologist-1139@reddit | AskAnAmerican | View on Reddit | 526 comments
In my country, everyone celebrates Easter, even non-christians, as it is more of a cultural holiday than a religious one. We usually gather with our relatives for lunch and eat chocolates.
Is it the same in America? Does everyone celebrate it or only christians? Do Americans eat chocolate on Sunday too?
Smolmanth@reddit
That sounds nice. I live in the northeast (catholic and Jewish populations) so spring school break is scheduled so kids are off for Holy Thursday-easter and passover.
Not religious so I stay home get some chocolate with my partner. Wish it was more common place to do something more casual like having lunch at a park. Unfortunately even if you’re not personally religious, I find our religious holidays have this expectation that they need to be something big or not be at all.
Sinchanzo@reddit
I go to the grocery store the next day to buy candy.
Dry_Albatross5298@reddit
my dad's family is Orthodox and for the longest time I thought "sale candy" was one of those mysterious sacraments that divided the Orthodox from us Catholics
False-Cookie3379@reddit
Orthodox here. Our chocolate bunnys only had ears once every few years.
Miami_Morgendorffer@reddit
Nah I grew up catholic and we did that too
pgm123@reddit
I think he means that they get candy on sale for Easter and not after Easter. Since Orthodox Easter is next week.
jvc1011@reddit
Let’s be real: sale candy is the reason we continue to use the Julian calendar to calculate Pascha.
knifeyspoonysporky@reddit
Get the marshmallow creme chocolate covered eggs
TheVentiLebowski@reddit
The raspberry ones.
Ok_Buy_9703@reddit
They are my favorite!
LadyGreyIcedTea@reddit
There are never any Cadbury mini eggs left by the time the candy goes on clearance though.
jvc1011@reddit
I managed to score three bags today. Went to six places, though.
Minute-Frame-8060@reddit
The only bag of those I got this year was a couple of days after Valentine's Day! They had all the Easter stuff out then, and a tiny little shelf of leftover Valentine's treats.
famousanonamos@reddit
Sounds like my Valentine's plans lol
Ecstatic-Size-3115@reddit
ngl gotta hit up Walgreens for them post-Easter sales, candy game strong fam
GreyHorse_BlueDragon@reddit
I’m a pharmacy tech at Walgreens and that’s what a lot of us do. The sale stacks with our employee discount
LoreKeeper2001@reddit
We look forward to it. November 1 too.
whocares023@reddit
I had planned on doing that but I went in a week ago and the shelves were pretty much wiped clean. They may have restocked it since then but I don't have high hopes.
CupBeEmpty@reddit
Man I went on Saturday to grab some stuff and the Easter aisle was nearly bare. Candy pickings were not great. I suspect tomorrow all the good candy will be gone and not discounted.
Asiu1990@reddit
my second favorite holiday after valentine’s day for candy sales
GlassCommercial7105@reddit
Maybe that’s a stupid question but candy contains chocolate or candy is just like bonbons, lollipops and the like? Because in my translation app it says candy is not chocolate and in my country we almost exclusively eat chocolate for easter and not bonbons.
Great_Chipmunk4357@reddit
You need to get a better dictionary. Americans and Canadians use candy to refer to all sweet confections. Some are just made from flavored sugar. Others are made of chocolate, which can have cream, nuts or coconut inside.
GlassCommercial7105@reddit
Maybe my dictionary is for Oxford English because we learn that in school. I‘m not sure it’s bad just because you might use the word differently than other English speakers. Thanks though for the explanation. We celebrate Easter too, I did not ask about rabbits or eggs. Just about your definition of candy.
Great_Chipmunk4357@reddit
You said you saw it in your app. ONLY Americans and Canadians use “candy.” Other English speakers call them “sweets.” I’m an American university professor of linguistics. I have several excellent dictionaries, but they still have errors.
GlassCommercial7105@reddit
Thank you, this is what I wanted to know. My app said this (cannot copy all) sugar) AM (sweets) f pl, Bonbons ntpl, confectionary nt geh; (piece of candy)Bonbon m o nt
Great_Chipmunk4357@reddit
As I read it, it’s saying that ALL those things are called candy. I spoke too sharply earlier. Please excuse me.
GlassCommercial7105@reddit
No worries. Yeah but it doesn’t mention chocolate. Bonbons and confectionary are not chocolate in my language. They are just sugar and flavours. It would be better if they had at least added that, by not doing so I had so assume it was just sugar stuff.
Great_Chipmunk4357@reddit
If you are going to learn English, you’ll have to learn what words mean in English. Bon bons are ALWAYS chocolate in English.
GlassCommercial7105@reddit
Wow rude. I didn’t copy the entire part and the bon bon was actually not written in English but the actual translation. So this doesn’t matter.
theexpertgamer1@reddit
Chocolate is considered candy in the U.S. and Canada.
GlassCommercial7105@reddit
Interesting thanks
ghostlightshow@reddit
Chocolate is considered candy in the US, and most popular Easter candies contain chocolate.
GlassCommercial7105@reddit
I see, makes sense! Thank you
Red_Beard_Rising@reddit
I have many addictions and chocolate is one of them. I will bing after Easter and Halloween. Dark chocolate is always best served with a dark roast hot coffee chaser. The coffee mixes with the remnants of chocolate between your teeth and it's like your mouth is your own personal mocha machine.
Ecstatic_Site5144@reddit
I went this morning, it's almost all gone, I'd go now!
Khpatton@reddit
I’m agnostic but raised Protestant. My family always did Easter growing up, both the cultural things (Easter egg hunts, Easter baskets, a big family meal) and the religious observance.
I don’t know of anyone without young kids who does any of that unless they’re practicing Christians. I still do a lot of the cultural Christmas things, but I forget every year that Easter exists; I haven’t done anything to acknowledge Easter since leaving the church.
qu33nof5pad35@reddit
It’s not. At least for me.
G00dSh0tJans0n@reddit
I forgot it was easter this past weekend. If you aren't really paying attention you'll miss it.
WolfThick@reddit
Well somehow a magic Bunny creeps around your house while you're not there at church or asleep I'm still not sure then puts down chicken eggs and chocolates and you're supposed to eat that and be happy.
Just_curious4567@reddit
In my family the kids get an Easter basket from the Easter bunny on Sunday morning, it’s filled with candy and toys. Then extended family comes over for a nice brunch( after church) which usually includes ham and deviled eggs.
Then we have an Easter egg hunt outside with all the kids in the family. The eggs are little plastic eggs that open to have candy and sometimes non edible toys. One kid always ends up crying because he or she didn’t find as many eggs as someone else. Sometimes kids will decorate hard boiled eggs also.
whatisakafka@reddit
It's widely celebrated, even by people who aren't religious. Easter baskets with candy are common for kids as it painting eggs and doing easter egg hunts
hiketheworld2@reddit
I feel it is widely celebrated even by non observant Christians.
I don’t feel it is widely celebrated by those who follow or descend from a different religious tradition, particularly Jews who have an important religious observance of their own around the same time.
AndrasKrigare@reddit
I think there's a bit caveat. I'd say it's widely celebrated by non Christians if they have kids. If you're not following the religious aspects, it's purely a children's holiday, and a pretty fun one. A little like Halloween.
But I'd say it differs from something like Christmas, which isn't just for kids, and is pretty widely celebrated.
BearsLoveToulouse@reddit
I do know at least one Jewish friend who celebrates it., honestly the only person I know who is a Jewish couple who celebrates it. There are plenty of half Jewish kids celebrating it
SueNYC1966@reddit
I converted to Christianity but every year I still put out a glass egg filled with chocolates. My husband accidentally broke it - and my daughter found another one (we bought it at Hershey) on EBay. The eggs are like 20 years old.
The kids were raised 100% Jewish. My daughter thought Mary Magladene was Jesus’s mother. It was just we saw this big glass filled Easter Egg on sale in the gift shop at 1/2 off and it became a tradition. We bought it in December. 😳
anneofgraygardens@reddit
I was the half Jewish kid doing Easter as a kid - we did egg hunts and I got an Easter basket with chocolates and other goodies (usually a couple books) every year. As a kid, my (Jewish) dad was just as into it as my mom (who was raised intensely Catholic but lapsed in adulthood). I think he really enjoyed hiding the eggs and watching us hunt for them.
But as with Christmas, as I got older and started to outgrow that phase, we stopped doing anything. My dad sort of lost interest and I'd guess my mom got tired of doing all the work herself.
As a childless person, today is like any other Sunday, which is usually my day for housework. laundry, vacuuming, weeding the garden, etc.
CupBeEmpty@reddit
Yeah I don’t know about that. Our egg hunt on Saturday had some of our Hindu neighbors and the Jewish family from across the street (though they aren’t highly observant).
InevitableRhubarb232@reddit
There are a lot of people who are no religion who partake in the secular aspects of Easter
Non-Christian doesn’t mean another religion
mrsrobotic@reddit
I'm Hindu and all the Hindu parents I know send their kids out for Easter egg hunts. They are not doing Mass and a ham, to be sure, but they still participate. We tend to do Christmas up more though.
whatisakafka@reddit
Sure, but Christians and people descended from Christian traditions is like 90% of the population of the US
hiketheworld2@reddit
68% of religious Americans Identify as Christian - but only 75% of Americans identify as religious - per Gallup polls
Appropriate-Food1757@reddit
I don’t identify as religious but do celebrate Christmas and Easter (Santa and the bunny)
whatisakafka@reddit
Try reading everything I wrote
Melora_T_Rex714@reddit
Like me. When is it this year, lol?
lofgrenator@reddit
I literally asked my catholic girlfriend this question yesterday and she looked at me like I was insane. She said tomorrow and I was like oh OK. So I decided today I would day drink in celebration. (don't tell her)
Andy15291@reddit
Many people will break their Lenten fasts on Easter Sunday (though Thursday at sundown is technically the end of Lent). Plenty of people give up drinking alcohol, so I would think drinking on Easter night would be common.
Easter is also a feast day in the Church, which means you should literally feast. I'd say drinking goes well with that.
Butitsadryheat2@reddit
LOL, only religious hypocrites won't admit that there are millions of people drinking today just to deal with their families! 🐰🥃
CupBeEmpty@reddit
Uhhh Easter is a celebration. Catholics absolutely drink on Easter. Maybe some really huffy baptists or evangelicals don’t drink on Easter but Catholics definitely admit to it, and of course, it’s a party.
Butitsadryheat2@reddit
"Uhhh" I'm not the one who said not to tell their Catholic girlfriend that they were drinking today. 🤷♀️
CupBeEmpty@reddit
Fair
CupBeEmpty@reddit
If your girlfriend would be upset with you drinking on Easter that doesn’t sound very Catholic.
I mean maybe wait until after church but it’s a celebration.
lofgrenator@reddit
Just the day drinking part. I waited until she went to Mass at least.
CupBeEmpty@reddit
Day drinking is very culturally Catholic on celebration days.
Drinking is literally part of the religion.
gtne91@reddit
It was his first public miracle.
blondechick80@reddit
Nothing wrong with celebrating zombie jesus!
MundaneHuckleberry58@reddit
Now if we could actually celebrate it like a proper zombie celebration, I’m 100% in.
As it stands: meh. Hope I score some peeps
Technical-Tear5841@reddit
It was at a wedding, I take it you avoid those.
lofgrenator@reddit
You betcha! Although I am officiating one in August.
ntrrrmilf@reddit
First public miracle!
iamunableto@reddit
today 😭😭
that-Sarah-girl@reddit
Two people mentioned "the holiday weekend" to me before I finally googled it and discovered the holiday was Easter 😂
Cinisajoy2@reddit
That was here too.
jakerooni@reddit
Today lol
hail_to_the_beef@reddit
I grew up catholic and so did my partner, but we are both non believers now and live a fully secular life. We still celebrate Christmas but we do not celebrate Easter.
alv269@reddit
I did easter eggs and baskets for my kids when they were little, but once they realized that it was actually a religious holiday and that we aren't the least bit religious, they thought it was kinda weird. They were well beyond the point of wanting to decorate eggs and such, so we just stopped celebrating.
Outrageous-Pin-4664@reddit
Yeah, we'll be heading to my mom's later to have Easter dinner. The great-grandkids will do the Easter egg thing, but the adults are just there to hang out and eat baked ham.
We're not very religious as a group. The only time I ever saw my parents in church was when someone was getting married, or someone was getting buried.
ham_solo@reddit
Not religious, but in past years I've watched Scorsese's The Last Temptation Of Christ, which is considered pretty blasphemous, but that movie slaps.
HermioneMarch@reddit
Only Christians celebrate, unlike Christmas, which is everyone. But we eat a family meal after church. Children hunt for eggs filled with candy and chocolate.
ResortRadiant4258@reddit
A large percentage of people celebrate with dyeing eggs, Easter egg hunts, Easter baskets full of candy for kids from the "Easter Bunny", and a family meal for many. Many Christians also partake in these things, but also attend services throughout the week or other religious activity like fasting, depending on their religious affiliation.
GreenWhiteBlue86@reddit
Fatsing? Christians fast during Lent in preparation for Easter. Easter is a joyful celebration, and there is no fasting involved.
ResortRadiant4258@reddit
Some Christians fast on Good Friday. I was sort of lumping the whole week together. Easter observance is more than just Sunday for most Christians.
GlassCommercial7105@reddit
Fasting is 40 days before Easter and end on Easter Sunday in the catholic church.
GreenWhiteBlue86@reddit
This is not correct. The 40 days of Lent end with the start of the evening Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday. The Sacred Triduum of Holy Thursday (if that is what you mean by "Green Thursday"), Good Friday and Holy Saturday is not part of Lent. All fasting ends with the Easter Vigil. There is certainly no fasting between the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday evening and Easter Sunday.
GlassCommercial7105@reddit
Where I am from it is. We don’t eat meat on these days, only fish is allowed. We stop lent with mass on Easter Sunday.
pawsplay36@reddit
that is a Lentan observance, but not fasting if you are eating fish.
jvc1011@reddit
In Orthodox religious tradition, fasting means eating no animal products including fish, and no alcohol or oil. “Fasting” doesn’t just mean not eating. It can mean any number of things depending on the tradition.
pawsplay36@reddit
Well, it means only one thing in the dictionary. That's abstention, not fasting.
jvc1011@reddit
Merriam-Webster has two definitions of “fast” as a verb: 1. to abstain from food; 2. to eat sparingly or abstain from some foods.
So you’re wrong, and also you’re dismissing the way hundreds of millions of people use the word because you can’t admit that you’re wrong.
pawsplay36@reddit
Oh, did you say abstain?
jvc1011@reddit
Yes, “to fast” is used as “to abstain from food” or “to eat sparingly or abstain from some foods.”
You said, “That’s abstention, not fasting.” (Emphasis mine.)
All fasting is abstention by definition.
Your statement was incorrect, you clearly didn’t actually bother to use a dictionary before pretending you had, and now you are pretending you said something other than what you did.
pawsplay36@reddit
No, I just didn't use the stupid Merriam Webster. Congratulations, enough people have abused the word fasting it has acquired a secondary meaning. But read the first line of the Wikipedia article.
jvc1011@reddit
You said “the dictionary,” not “Wikipedia,” and this is the way Orthodox Christians have used “fasting” forever.
I’m sorry you’re this stressed out about it, though.
pawsplay36@reddit
When I say "the dictionary," I mean a good one. Also Orthodox Christians are found in many countries, most of which aren't English speaking, so the way an 89 year old Greek bishop uses the word "fasting" in Pittsburgh I don't think fundamentally changes the primary meaning of the word. Just like weird fundies using "defraud" to mean "having tits" doesn't change the meaning of the word defraud.
jvc1011@reddit
So what would you consider a “good” dictionary? And what distinguishes it from a “bad” one?
Many Orthodox priests and bishops in the US are American-born, by the way. You don’t get to define other people’s religious practices for them, and that’s a problem for you, it seems. But not as much of a problem as being wrong.
You didn’t specify which dictionary, you know. You said “the dictionary” and then later (when I called you out) went for Wikipedia. “The” is a “good dictionary,” I guess.
pawsplay36@reddit
I'm not defining other people's religious practices, I'm just saying Orthodox religion doesn't get to define English, at least, not in a sense most people care.
Wikipedia isn't a dictionary. Wiktionary, however, is.
Noun
fasting (countable and uncountable, plural fastings)
Abstinence or mortification for religious reasons, especially abstinence from food.
Abstinence from food, limiting caloric intake, for medical or health reasons, dieting.
It says "food," not fish. If you say you're fasting "from fish," that's a an extended meaning, but I do not agree you are, in a general sense, fasting. That's just not how that word is used. If I fast before I get an endocrine panel, that doesn't mean I'm avoiding fish. I can also take a "video game fast," but I wouldn't say I'm "fasting" because I haven't played Civilization V lately.
jvc1011@reddit
It is how it is used, though. By millions of people. And you’re a writer, so of course you’re right about how people use words! And Wiktionary, which you just now brought in to the discussion for the first time, is a “good dictionary” but Merriam-Webster (a dictionary frequently cited by courts) is not because… you don’t ever get to be wrong.
pawsplay36@reddit
Can I help you with something?
jvc1011@reddit
Possibly.
You haven’t told me what a “good” dictionary is yet. The OED has this sense of fasting attributed as early as 1050 in English.
jvc1011@reddit
Upon reflection, I’m not sure anyone should look to you for what a “good dictionary” is. You can’t spell “Lenten” correctly.
pawsplay36@reddit
Are you paying me to spell correctly? I'm a professional writer.
InevitableRhubarb232@reddit
Fasting doesn’t mean exclusively no food. “Fasting from” <>
GlassCommercial7105@reddit
It is in my culture. We call Lent literally ‚fasting time‘.
InevitableRhubarb232@reddit
I went to catholic school in the Midwest and (while also a school holiday) Good Friday was a fasting day. You couldn’t break your let fast until Easter and often people fasted completely for Good Friday.
GreenWhiteBlue86@reddit
Good Friday is a day of fasting and abstinence as per Canon 1251 of the Code of Canon Law. The observance of Easter begins with the Easter Vigil on the evening of Holy Saturday. Thus, you seem to be agreeing with me.
InevitableRhubarb232@reddit
I thought you said all fasting ends on Thursday evening? So on Friday or Saturday you can break your lent fast. I’ve never known anyone who broke their lent fast before Sunday (unless they went to Easter mass sat night and celebrated Easter that night for family reasons)
CupBeEmpty@reddit
I have always gone by what I learned in my confirmation class which jives with Cannon law. Once the vigil mass happens you can break your fast on Saturday.
I keep my Lenten fasting until the Triduum starts but then fast and maintain abstinence on Good Friday. I break the fast whenever my parish has the vigil mass on Saturday whether I go to that or go Easter morning.
InevitableRhubarb232@reddit
We always just did whatever the nuns told us we had to do so that we didn’t go to hell
CupBeEmpty@reddit
I mean it isn’t a bad rule of thumb… but the nuns probably would prefer you learned what to do so they didn’t have to keep reminding you.
InevitableRhubarb232@reddit
lol, in the long run, I chose going to hell 🤷♀️
CupBeEmpty@reddit
Well Pascal would have something to say about that.
InevitableRhubarb232@reddit
Honestly this is one of my biggest turn-aways from religion. People who choose to be good people with no reward are far better than people who performatively do good simply as an insurance plan not to go to hell.
CupBeEmpty@reddit
I prefer there be a percentage of people that do good just because there are laws or religious strictures telling them to be good than the alternative which is people who just actively don’t care if they do wrong.
I’d prefer if everyone had good and decent role models and healthy moral compass whatever it’s basis, but I’m also not naive enough to know that will be the case with everyone.
Pascal was also only talking about belief.
It’s also theologically unsound, at least in Catholicism, because salvation requires faith and works. You need to do good and actually believe in doing good. Performative goodness is not salvific.
People also overstate Pascal’s wager which is really more of a thought exercise in removing the logical stumbling blocks to faith. Basically the cost of belief in God and all that entails is low compared to eternal damnation. It is not a proof for the existence of God.
And like anything theology related people have been debating Pascal’s wager sin 1670 when his unfinished notes were published.
GreenWhiteBlue86@reddit
Since you can easily go back and read everything I have posted in this discussion, I don't know where you got the idea that I said something which I never said. What I did say was that Lent ends at the start of the Mass of the Lord's Supper on Thursday evening. Good Friday is not part of Lent, but canon law explicitly says it is a day of fast and abstinence, so obviously fasting does not end when Lent ends. Holy Saturday is not a fast day, and whether one fasts earlier on that day or not, it is inappropriate to continue to fast after the Easter Vigil Mass (whether one attends or not.) With the Easter Vigil, the whole Church is celebrating Easter -- the images have been uncovered, the bells which have been silent since Holy Thursday are in use again, and the Pascal candle is burning. To continue to fast while the rest of the Church is joyfully celebrating Easter would seem perverse, and would disregard the importance of the single most important liturgical celebration of the Church year
Anesthesia222@reddit
I went to Catholic school for 13 years, attending Mass weekly for most of that time, and I have never heard of Green Thursday, either. If that’s the day before Good Friday, I’ve only heard it called Holy Thursday.
GreenWhiteBlue86@reddit
Apparently the post was a literal translation into English from either German or Czech. The popular name for Holy Thursday in those languages translates into English as "Green Thursday." That being said, I am surprised that the only name you have heard for the day before Good Friday was "Holy Thursday". The older English name was "Maundy Thursday", with "Maundy" deriving from the Latin "Mandatum", or "commandment". The "Mandatum" observance is the foot washing rite that one finds in the evening Mass on Holy Thursday.
Anesthesia222@reddit
Now that you say that, I have heard it, but hey, our parish was one of liberal California Catholics. One of my parents is actually an adult convert. 😄
jvc1011@reddit
I just found out this year that “Green Thursday” is what German-speakers call it.
CupBeEmpty@reddit
Fasting is highly recommended on Good Friday even though it is technically the Paschal Triduum.
I usually do a “real” fast on Friday rather than my typical Friday of Lent fast.
After the Saturday Vigil (I didn’t go and went Sunday morning) I broke my fast while packing eggs and baskets for the kids.
GreenWhiteBlue86@reddit
Fasting on Good Friday is not merely "highly recommended", but is actually required by canon law.
CupBeEmpty@reddit
Yeah that’s what I meant. If you’re Catholic you should be doing it but if you don’t the consequences are between you and the almighty not the police or society or anything.
InevitableRhubarb232@reddit
They said services “throughout the week” - they start on Thursday with the washing of the feet. The stations of the cross on Friday, which is a fasting day, if only from meat but others fast from all food. And then service on Easter morning
GreenWhiteBlue86@reddit
Holy Thursday services actually start earlier in the day with the Chrism Mass, followed by the Mass of the Lord's Supper in the evening (during which the Mandatum/foot washing ceremony takes place.) The main Catholic liturgical service on Good Friday is not the stations of the cross, but the reading of the Passion, followed by the Solemn Intercessions and the Veneration of the Cross. Refraining from eating meat is not fasting, but is instead "abstinence." As per Canon Law, all Fridays should be days of abstinence, but national conferences of bishops may make alternate rules. In modern Catholic observance, "fasting" is defined as eating only one meal on a day of fast, although two light "collations" may also be taken, providing that together they do not equal a full second meal. (Note that this is the canonical minimum; naturally, people may fast more rigorously whenever they choose.) The two days of the year that must be observed by everyone as days of fasting and abstinence are Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, with the law of fasting binding those 18 and older up to those who are 59, and the law of abstinence binding everyone 14 years old and older, with no maximum age limit. Finally, the first service of Easter is not on Easter morning, but instead is the Easter Vigil mass which takes place after sunset on the evening of Holy Saturday.
Emotional-Ad7276@reddit
If you’re (un)lucky, it’ll snow during the outdoor Easter egg hunt!
CupBeEmpty@reddit
Ours got rescheduled due to rain. The kids will be hunting on the church grounds next week.
Saturday was lovely weather and that’s when we did the secular Easter egg hunt at the local elementary school.
(Before anyone starts going nuts on church/state it is a secular egg hunt put on by a parent group and it’s open to everyone in the three towns of our school district but lots of guests come from outside our district and we don’t mind. Most folks are at least nominally Christian and those that aren’t participate. So far as I know no one has ever complained and lots of non-Christian families come.)
It’s an awesome event. One of our local farmers brought baby cows and sheep for a mini petting zoo. There’s three zones of increasing difficulty for different age groups so the toddlers aren’t having all their eggs snatched by the middle schoolers.
Emotional-Ad7276@reddit
That sounds perfect!
CupBeEmpty@reddit
Absolutely. It’s actually a great little inter town rivalry because we have 3 in the district and they have all kind of laid claim to a festival or two that they try to make cooler than the festivals staked out by the other two towns.
So one town goes all out on Halloween and Christmas, one does the egg hunt and a big Veterans Day festival with the local VFW, Grange, and the Legion, the other one does a big fall festival and summer festival. The towns basically treat them all as a big party for all three towns.
Dawn-Storm@reddit
Dawn's Law of Outdoor Easter Sunrise Service: dress warm.
ResortRadiant4258@reddit
Or sometimes the hunt is in the living room!
CraftyFraggle@reddit
I grew up in a city. When we visited my grandparents, the hunt was outside, but at home, they were inside and my kids have only ever known an inside hunt.
Emotional-Ad7276@reddit
Haha that’s so real!!
CamiJay@reddit
Nah we’re just underwater this year 😭
SonUnforseenByFrodo@reddit
That sounds like exactly like Southeastern United States as well.
Great_Chipmunk4357@reddit
Is “the Midwest” some exotic country far away? ALL Americans celebrate Easter that way!!
ResortRadiant4258@reddit
No, I just didn't want to speak on behalf of places I haven't lived. The US is a big place and I wasn't sure if people in other places have the same experience. In fact, you'll find a variety of contradictory answers in the responses on this post.
Great_Chipmunk4357@reddit
Well, I grew up in Texas and I’ve spent the rest of my life in Florida. Everything you mentioned is customary in those places, too.
d3ut1tta@reddit
I'm Catholic, so it involves going to church and just having a nice meal with family.
I know it's pretty common for people to decorate eggs, take pictures with an Easter bunny, go on egg hunts, etc., but I didn't grow up with this tradition and neither did my husband (non-Christian, but grew up in a Catholic community), so we just don't partake in those sort of things. We'll probably take our kids when they're older though.
Jernbek35@reddit
I’m a practicing Catholic. I’m heading to Easter mass now, I went to Good Friday service and went to confession on Monday for Holy Week. As for the secular side, we have taken our kids to multiple Easter egg hunts and got her an Easter basket with candy and toys. Later I’ll make an Easter dinner with homemade lasagna, garlic bread, salad, and plenty of wine.
Froggirl26@reddit
I've never heard of lasagna on Easter, we always had lamb
jvc1011@reddit
In Italian-American families it’s common to do lasagna for everything. It even accompanies turkey on Thanksgiving.
Froggirl26@reddit
Interesting, we always did Turkey on Thanksgiving, Ham and yorkshire pudding on Christmas; Corned beef and cabbage, and black eyed peas on New Years and Saint Patrick's day; Lamb on Easter; and Pizza on Halloween. Of course there were all of the traditional sides, but a pasta dish was never part of any of the menus.
jvc1011@reddit
And you’re Italian-American?
Froggirl26@reddit
No, I am not
jvc1011@reddit
Well, that explains not having lasagna at those meals!
CupBeEmpty@reddit
Practicing Catholic north of you and it was really similar. Confession was on Good Friday though, with stations of the cross.
We did chicken parm instead of lasagna though.
We included twice baked potatoes because my kiddo really wanted them.
Jernbek35@reddit
That’s awesome! My parish had their only confession on Monday for a parish wide confession so I had to stay in a state of grace until Sunday (success). That sounds delicious. Hope your had a great Easter
CupBeEmpty@reddit
Yeah our church normally has Monday confession and Saturday confession but they do Good Friday confession on Holy Week and no confession on Saturday so you have e to remain in a state of grace for just a day.
I mean the goal is obviously to always be in a state of grace because no one knows the hour or the day and such.
Top_Copy_693@reddit
Peace be with you!
Jernbek35@reddit
And with your spirit! 🤲
ocvagabond@reddit
Just got back from Easter Mass. it’s the biggest holiest day for us. Day of celebration. We’ll also do the secular stuff.
Jernbek35@reddit
Yup wishing you many blessings this Easter.
Peculiar-Interests@reddit
Sounds delicious. I’m headed to Ukrainian Easter dinner. Ham, Pierogies, Kielbasa, and Stuffed Cabbage.
I’m gonna grub so hard 🤣
Jernbek35@reddit
Amazing friend! Enjoy it! I’m gonna be stuffed!
Cat_the_Great@reddit
Oh mannnnnn that hits. Happy dyngus day!
Cat_the_Great@reddit
Italian easters are the best. Mangia!
Jernbek35@reddit
Mangia!!
capsrock02@reddit
I don’t know. I’m Jewish.
jvc1011@reddit
I have a friend who had an atheist Jewish parent and an atheist Muslim parent.
They got baskets for Easter as kids, and ate a very haram non-Kosher ham.
CupBeEmpty@reddit
We have Jews and Muslims at the egg hunt in town but it’s a really secular event. Jewish and Muslim children, unsurprisingly, also like candy.
capsrock02@reddit
I think there’s a difference between “here’s a fun event for kids” and going to church
CupBeEmpty@reddit
Sure but it’s still celebrating Easter the same way a lot of non-religious or non-Christian people also celebrate Christmas with secular activities.
Cinisajoy2@reddit
Do you have a spring holiday?
quitealargeorangecat@reddit
Passover
capsrock02@reddit
Passover
nalonrae@reddit
I don't know, my Muslim husband grew up dying eggs for Easter.
DesignByChance@reddit
Good Friday service in the afternoon, Easter Sunday service in the morning and then family dinner together later in the day.
beebeesy@reddit
I'm not religous but parts of my family are. Everyone goes to their own service (or not) then we all have a late lunch together. We have turkey, ham, and all the sides. I also put together a Easter egg hunt with about 1000 eggs that all the adults and couple of kids get to hunt. The adults win adult prizes so it is very competitive. For us, it's just an excuse to have a family get together and eat.
Brennisth@reddit
I would say that the majority of families who do not have a strong non-Christian belief set celebrate the "Easter bunny" (baskets, egg hunts, spring themed meal) with their kids. For singles / child free / less social folks, it hasn't yet evolved a counter holiday like Friendsgiving or Festivus, so I would say that it is less universal than the Fall/Winter holidays.
witchy12@reddit
My mom got me an easter basket (I’m 26), but other than that I didn’t do anything.
cavalier78@reddit
Very religious Christian Americans celebrate it like other important religious holidays. The celebration typically centers around church activities, followed by getting together with family. Very religious non-Christians (Muslims, Jews, etc) probably don't celebrate it at all.
Mildly religious Christian Americans (who only attend a few times a year) will generally go to church on Easter. Then they get together with family afterward.
Non-religious Americans with young children will typically have an Easter Egg hunt for their kids.
Non-religious Americans without young children might buy a bunch of candy and chocolate.
manicpixidreamgirl04@reddit
People who come from a Christian background but no longer identify as Christians might celebrate it, but people from Jewish/Muslim/Buddhist etc backgrounds typically do not celebrate it.
andr_wr@reddit
We don't even get to enjoy much of the day because so many things are closed for Easter but there are far more people out trying to do things than in Christmas!
armoredbearclock@reddit
Yeah it’s pretty annoying. So much is closed. We do an egg hunt and decorate because the kids are young and they like it - but otherwise I’d like to get on with my regular day.
Cudi_buddy@reddit
Idk. Is it so bad for things to be slow sometimes and people have some days off? Costco and whatnot will be open Monday like usual.
andr_wr@reddit
Yeah - I would like to be able to conduct my non-Christian life. But, alas.
Amazing_Divide1214@reddit
Easter egg hunt if there are kids. We did brunch this year because it made the most sense with schedules and working on Monday.
arcticmischief@reddit
Grew up evangelical. The main focus of the week was the Easter Sunday morning church service. Unlike in Catholicism, there is not much of a liturgical tradition surrounding all of the other days of the Easter season. We did not observe Lent, Good Friday was mostly just another day, and it wasn’t until I was an adult that I even knew about other days in the liturgical calendar like Maundy Thursday and Easter Monday.
Attending a large non-denominational church, Easter Sunday was always a little bit more of a big production, with a larger band and often a worship choir (unusual for normal services) and, while it was of course a big celebration for those of us in the faith, it also often felt more like an open house intended to welcome the “Christmas and Easter Christians“ who only ever showed up on those holidays and the seekers and others who weren’t Christians and use the service as an opportunity to share the gospel with them. The crowd was always significantly larger on Easter Sunday than a normal Sunday, and sometimes we added extra services as well — I remember one year having five services (and we could probably fit like 750 in the auditorium).
Once the service was over, that was kind of it. Some people do cook a special meal for Easter dinner (I think glazed ham is somewhat traditional, though not ubiquitous like turkey is on Thanksgiving), but not everyone does. And those with kids might participate in various events like Easter egg hunts, and scenes in stores and around the city usually featured decorated Easter eggs and rabbits, although I never quite understood what those two things had to do with each other.
It’s interesting, because at least in my tradition, Easter was regarded as the most special and holiest day of the year, but it was literally like a singular event for a few hours that morning. It’s much less immersive than the Christmas season for me, which has trees and Christmas lights and mall Santas and presents under trees for nearly a month. Easter was basically go to church, maybe go over to an aunt’s house for dinner, and wake up the next morning and go back to school and carry on with normal life.
moodeng2u@reddit
Sometimes god is happy with us.
That's why he gives us Reese's peanut butter eggs.
Familiar-Menu-2725@reddit
I do not associate myself with a religion therefore Easter is just another day to me. I don’t work Sundays so I stayed home 😊
People at work were saying ‘have a happy Easter!’ On Saturday and I’m polite so I just say ‘you too’. But the holiday means nothing to me.
LadyInCrimson@reddit
We fricken love eating chocolate bunnies. You eat the ears first.. and eggs. Do you have Cadbury? We Love It here! We also have ham in my family for dinner.
Comfortable-Waltz452@reddit
Non-Christians celebrate by having a celebration with family, Christians go to church and then do the same. Egg-hunting, egg-painting, basket-finding, easter candy and Easter bunny themed celebrations are consistent regardless of religion, the only thing that changes for Christians is that they have to go to church beforehand.
RedditWidow@reddit
We're not religious and we don't celebrate it
Henry_Fleischer@reddit
It's pretty similar here in the US. This year, my family, which is not religious, made some hard-boiled eggs and ate candy. Before me and my siblings grew up, we would paint the eggs and hide them, and could only have candy after we found them.
seanx50@reddit
Watching women's basketball
redvinebitty@reddit
We sacrifice 40 year old virgins by drowning them in chocolate while having an egg breakfast
LetterheadClassic306@reddit
i feel you on this. easter here is kinda split. religious families do church services and dinner, but a lot of non-church folks still do egg hunts and chocolate. kids get baskets from the easter bunny. my neighborhood does a big egg hunt every year regardless of beliefs. stores sell peeps and cadbury eggs for weeks beforehand. you'll find most people have the day off and do a family lunch, similar to what you described.
Cinisajoy2@reddit
Organized the freezer, ordered groceries, made soup and a dozen cookies. Watched the rest of the Serpent Queen.
Quirky-Bad857@reddit
I celebrated by eating matzo
Devee@reddit
I played World of Warcraft, went for a walk, and then watched Empire Strikes Back.
Shot-Artichoke-4106@reddit
Thats pretty much what we did today. Got together with family, ate lunch and a lot of chocolate. We're not religious.
Secure-Ad9780@reddit
I'm an atheist and I don't celebrate any religious holidays.
Murky-Lunch-6413@reddit
Children awake to Easter baskets full of candy and maybe a stuffed animal. We have Easter egg hunts for the little kids, hiding plastic eggs filled with candy, tiny toys or stickers and sometimes a little money.
jginvest71@reddit
Way, way bigger deal to Catholics than Protestants. Protestants might have a resurrection sermon, but Catholics have a variety of things during the couple months leading up to it, then it all culminates on Easter. Think lent, RCIA/OCIA, RCIC/OCIC, the sacraments that go along with those things. As a holiday, if you have kids, Easter bunny, candy, and egg hunts.
Radiant8763@reddit
Usually we do brunch, but this year i was sick so i camped on the couch watching netflix.
hombre_bu@reddit
You have to eat disgusting ham
Smeaglete@reddit
I think it’s mostly people with children in the family. We have none and did absolutely nothing for Easter.
Floater439@reddit
Christian religious folks celebrate, many “I occasionally go to church” people go to a service and make a ham, and lots of folks might do a family dinner and eat candy from a magical bunny. (Definitely chocolate, but also jelly beans and Peeps.) But I would consider Easter like a fourth place kinda holiday for Americans…Christmas, Thanksgiving, 4th of July, then Easter probably in a three way tie with Labor Day and Memorial Day.
I honestly forgot it was Easter this weekend. We don’t celebrate. I went for a run, grabbed coffee at Starbucks, picked up some groceries, just a regular day for us.
Wicket2024@reddit
At our house growing up my parents hid small chocolate eggs around the house while we were sleeping. In the morning we would wake up to our indoor Easter egg hunt (we lived in Chicago so the weather was unpredictable and indoors always worked. Plus we could do it in our pj's.) There would also be an Easter basket filled with treats like Peeps, chocolate bunny, jelly beans and the like. Then we would get dressed and goto Mass. We would have a fancier dinner later.
sideshow--@reddit
Non-Christians here don't celebrate the holiday commemorating Jesus allegedly rising from the dead.
Komnos@reddit
No, but we may still hide plastic eggs with candy for our kids to find. Celebrations of spring long pre-date Jesus. Even the name is ultimately derived from a word for dawn, linked to spring.
pedaleuse@reddit
Easter is only the name in English, fwiw. In most other European languages, the name is something like Pascua/Pascha, which derives from Pesach (Passover).
Komnos@reddit
Sure, but I think I'm allowed some American defaultism in this subreddit. Anyway, back to work fabricating my linguistic defense of secular Christmas. That one's a little trickier.
sideshow--@reddit
Yeah, most religions have their own celebrations of spring too such that adopting the Christian expression isn’t required.
CraftyFraggle@reddit
But celebrating on the same day is perfectly acceptable.
Our celebration doesn’t have anything to do with the “Christian expression”, it just happens when some people who are Christian celebrate.
sideshow--@reddit
Yeah. And sometimes the 13th falls on a Friday. Ok.
DangerLime113@reddit
Eh, having kids hunt candy filled eggs isn’t really commemorative of Zombie Jesus though. I think plenty of people who aren’t Christian can enjoy a chocolate bunny. It’s all really Spring pagan stuff that created a lot of the traditions anyway. Most of the actual Christian stuff happens through Lent imo.
sideshow--@reddit
Certain religions have a strained history with Christianity, especially around Easter. For centuries, it was a time of heightened peril where pogroms and persecutions were much more common. We would never mark the day as a family. It’s not our holiday. If I was with a Christian family doing that stuff, then sure. But we never did it ourselves.
DangerLime113@reddit
I guess what I’m saying is that none of that stuff has any real connection to Christian mythology, it’s all related to Pagan stuff.
sideshow--@reddit
The vast bulk of Christian mythology has roots in Pagan stuff (Christmas and all the decorations, Easter, concepts of virgin birth, rising from the dead, immaculate conception, etc). That doesn’t make it less Christian though.
CraftyFraggle@reddit
Sure it does.
As a Pagan, there are parts of the holidays with meaning for me. They aren’t the Christian parts.
sideshow--@reddit
No it doesn’t. Human history is the art of taking ideas from others and repurposing them. It doesn’t make it less pagan or less Christian. There is no pure.
hellogoawaynow@reddit
Omg I just responded to this saying I call Easter “Zombie Jesus Day”! I love that this might be universal for non-Christians lol
sideshow--@reddit
Certain religions have a strained history with Christianity, especially around Easter. For centuries, it was a time of heightened peril where pogroms and persecutions were much more common. We would never mark the day as a family. It’s not our holiday. If I was with a Christian family doing that stuff, then sure. But we never did it ourselves.
CommandAlternative10@reddit
I grew up literally not knowing that Easter could have a religious meaning. It was just bunnies, chocolate and pancakes at my house, and our Jewish neighbors often joined us. (I knew Christians dressed up extra fancy for Easter Sunday, but they went to church every Sunday, so that just seemed like their way of celebrating the holiday.) Didn’t figure it out until college. (America’s a big place, religiosity varies widely, etc etc.)
sideshow--@reddit
Your Jewish neighbors may have joined, but I doubt they marked it in their homes or by themselves.
hellogoawaynow@reddit
I’m a non-Christian and I call it Zombie Jesus Day, but my kid still hunts for eggs and gets an Easter basket because she’s a kid and deserves Easter egg hunts lol
Maleficent-Hawk-318@reddit
My Buddhist family kind of did/does. Going on treasure hunts for hidden eggs and giving/getting baskets of candy are fun, yo.
We really just do the pagan parts, though. None of the Jesus stuff, that's not nearly as fun.
famousanonamos@reddit
I'm not religious, never have been. I invite all the family and friends over and we do a big potluck meal. I schedule it in the afternoon so people can still do church in the morning if they want. I make the meats, always ham and something else like tri tip, plus snacks and some appetizers. We hide plastic eggs full of candy all over the yard for kids to find. My daughter gets a chocolate bunny and a couple little things for her Easter basket, though we don't do the full basket anymore because she's 18 and said she doesn't want it. Sometimes a few people will stay late and we'll play games, but not this year. I'm ok with that because I'm exhausted.
KiwiCat15@reddit
Raised catholic, now agnostic. Celebrate Easter as an egg hunting day for the kids/gathering with friends and family no church or Holy Week for us
Malicious_blu3@reddit
It’s definitely less of a holiday than Halloween and people who are of other religions don’t participate as much. It used to be everything closed for Easter, but that’s no longer true as much.
rcowie@reddit
Kansas shuts down all package alcohol sales on Easter and Christmas. I went to the gas station today and all the beer coolers were roped off. I'd forgotten about the religious laws living away from here for years.
hermmm8@reddit
North Carolina doesn’t sell liquor on any Sundays!
rcowie@reddit
Yeah it was that way here for most of my young adulthood. There was 1 city that sold we drove to. We also had extra weak beer at the gas stations and grocery stores. They did away with all that.
Technical-Tear5841@reddit
OK, I hear people complain they can't buy alcohol on these days. So why not buy extra the day before? Are they too drunk to remember?
feliciams@reddit
When I was 18 (drinking age then), we would drive EVERY Sunday from Massachusetts to New Hampshire to buy beer. Why didn’t we just buy beer on Saturday for the following day? We were dumb kids who couldn’t look ahead even one day. lol
Cinisajoy2@reddit
Because they forget it is a holiday that doesn't sell booze. Since that is only one of two days.
Deep-Hovercraft6716@reddit
Oh yes, the American Taliban imposing its religious nonsense on everyone else.
hermmm8@reddit
Fascinating. I’m in NC, and Easter is definitely a bigger deal than Halloween - and my neighborhood is a big Halloween neighborhood! Everything closes for Easter and everyone I know celebrates it, even if they aren’t religious.
GlassCommercial7105@reddit
So you don’t get a day off on Good Friday and Easter Monday? Here Easter is basically a short vacation for many people and all flights, trains and highways are full.
So if ever you visit Europe, I recommend before or a week after Easter.
Cinisajoy2@reddit
No.
obtusewisdom@reddit
Most places shut for Easter in MA
CraftyFraggle@reddit
NH too.
voirreyirving@reddit
i think it’s celebrated by pretty much everyone who celebrates christmas, i.e. anyone who is even vaguely in the christian sphere of influence. it has a similar amount of secular appeal. for me and my non-religious but historically christian family, we do the easter bunny and candy version. dyeing eggs, easter baskets full of candy, spring pastels, daffodils. it’s pretty much a holiday celebrating spring.
tealccart@reddit
Among children I feel Easter egg hunts are popular despite religion, but family gatherings with meals are more religion oriented
GSilky@reddit
Same here. I'm Jewish, already did my thing and dragged my partner along. Now I go celebrate Easter with his family who would probably be struck with lightning if any of them would bother to enter a church at some point in their completely godless lives besides celebrating Xmas and Easter.
Perfect_Storm_425@reddit
Judgy, you sure you’re not Christian?
AskAnAmerican-ModTeam@reddit
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Cat_the_Great@reddit
He's a jew
Sensitive-Issue84@reddit
Same sky fairy.
AskAnAmerican-ModTeam@reddit
Your comment was removed as it violates Rule 12, “Answers and comment replies should be serious and useful.”
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lfxlPassionz@reddit
It's kinda a retail and day off holiday. Many of us no longer celebrate it and Christianity is becoming less popular, at least where I live it is.
We use it as an excuse to see family, have a day off, and eat candy.
Cinisajoy2@reddit
Oh so you exiled the Christians to Texas.
lfxlPassionz@reddit
No. People here are leaving Christianity because it's extremely flawed. It's still the top religion but barely and many people are choosing not to follow any religion.
We aren't pushing people away, our education focuses more on learning and research rather than copying books so we see the flaws in things like religion more easily.
Cinisajoy2@reddit
I am actually glad to hear that. I couldn't resist saying that though as Texas has Christians running out their ears.
lfxlPassionz@reddit
Yeah Texas is a big part of the Bible belt. Honestly Texas is probably why the Bible belt still exists.
CupBeEmpty@reddit
It’s the big flashy buckle of the Bible Belt.
Sea-Astronomer-6600@reddit
Usually Easter bunny early Sunday mornings, followed by church services, and then on to a huge family lunch. ❤️
EffectiveCycle@reddit
Mainly Christians and families with with kids. Lots of chocolate.
iowanaquarist@reddit
The vast majority of Easter events are secular, though. I go to about a dozen easter events a year, and it's literally been decades since I have seen or heard a religious reference at any of them
sigusr3@reddit
Are they kid-focused? As an adult without kids, I "celebrate" Easter by going, "oh crap it's Easter, is XYZ open?"...and maybe grabbing a pack of Peeps at the grocery store if I remember.
Christmas still has more of a "secular (for me) holiday" feel, rather than "oh yeah, that".
iowanaquarist@reddit
Yup, kids events, and fish fries. Other than fish fries, I don't know of any adult activities for Easter in my area.
CupBeEmpty@reddit
Well there’s Mass and all the Holy Week observances for adults beforehand but those are confined to religious people.
Egg hunts, brunch, and a nice family dinner are pretty widespread for anyone.
Our big egg hunt is at the local elementary school and everyone comes religious or not. It has no religious mention at all. There is an Easter bunny (not religious other than the name) and it’s a “big secret” who is in the bunny costume.
But, all the adults know it is the superintendent. It’s hilarious to hear the older kids when they figure out it’s him. They think they figured out some huge secret and keep it from the little kids while talking with their peers about it like they discovered Banksy’s identity.
feliciams@reddit
I love Peeps! I eat a ton at Easter because they’re not around after.
Living_Fig_6386@reddit
Easter is not a national holiday, and not all Americans observe the holiday. There are dozens of Christian sects (denominations) in the USA. Orthodox and non-orthodox denominations have different dates for Easter. Different denominations and different ethnicities have different traditions, and there are many family traditions. Its observance is far more varied than in other countries.
Some common traditions include: attending a religious observance, decorating with religious symbols or symbols evoking spring and rebirth, having a special meal (brunches, lamb roast dinners are common, but food traditions tend to vary by family ancestry), the gifting of candy (particularly to children), and maybe things centered around eggs as a symbol of the holiday (decorating eggs, hiding and seeking plastic eggs filled with candy).
Our family observes the holiday by decorating with flowers and spring-themed handicrafts made by my mother-in-law. We buy some chocolate that we like, and we host a lamb roast dinner for family and friends.
BelligerentWyvern@reddit
It's treated broadly similarly to Thanksgiving and Halloween combined. Family gets together and eats turkey or ham. Do Easter Egg hunts with the kiddos and give out Easter baskets which have candy and relax.
It's just not a holiday you get off work from usually.
And for the religious you do all the above but also go to mass.
Dramatic-Blueberry98@reddit
Depends on the area. Growing up, my family and I would usually go to a sunrise church service. Then, we would go to either a family brunch (breakfast/ lunch) or just straight up lunch.
And sometimes, we’d either have our own Easter egg hunt (plastic eggs with either candy, money, or something else in them) or go to a community held one. Some folks also paint eggs for Easter.
jvc1011@reddit
No.
It’s a much smaller deal among many Protestants than it is in traditionally Catholic or Orthodox countries, and the US is traditionally Protestant.
How it’s celebrated depends heavily on religious tradition.
Christian or nonreligious kids will usually get a visit from the Easter Bunny. He brings candy and eggs and small toys or books in a basket. Most Muslim and Jewish kids will not get such a visit.
In my tradition, Easter is a BIG HUGE MASSIVE deal (but it happens next week). In other traditions you might have a special dinner after a morning church service.
etchedchampion@reddit
We have Easter breakfast, which is just a giant breakfast buffet, then we look for eggs that are filled with money or candy. Now I'm an adult I sit inside talking to the other adults while the kids look. Them usually we play horse, but today it was raining so we played board games instead.
jackfaire@reddit
It's cultural for a lot of us here too. My family when I was growing up did Easter Egg hunts and the whole bit we never really went in for the religious trappings.
Sensitive-Issue84@reddit
I'm not religious and don't really know when Easter is except when the corporations start pushing it on us to buy! buy!! buy!!!. It's just another way to make money off the poor.
2GreyKitties@reddit
FYI-- Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the Spring equinox.
Sensitive-Issue84@reddit
I really don't care. It's spring, I like spring flowers. I do not like religion.
2GreyKitties@reddit
Fine by me. Just thought you might be curious how the date is determined astronomically.
Sensitive-Issue84@reddit
I did say thank you for the information. Why are you making it weird?
2GreyKitties@reddit
Because you added the extraneous snark to me, “I do not like religion.” Who Nothing I said had anything to do with religion. Why were *you* making it weird, eh?
Have a nice 5th of April.
Sensitive-Issue84@reddit
Truth is not snark. This is the interesting part of just seeing text without nuance. You read it as snark. I was just giving information.
pokematic@reddit
My personal traditions:
LockNessCrotchMonst@reddit
Easter eggs and ham
PA_MallowPrincess_98@reddit
I went to church this morning, had dinner, and I have homework due tonight. Easter isn’t a public holiday in the United States. If it weren't for church, it would be a normal Sunday for me🫠
TheMilkSpeaks@reddit
Gather for lunch typically, make lots of traditional dishes, bake, do Easter egg hunt (Easter bunny), eat chocolate, and (if religious) celebrate Jesus rising
It’s usually also filled with more decadent dishes because most of my family is Catholic/christian so they fasted for 40 days
Twink-in-progress@reddit
I use it as an excuse to eat those Robin eggs with no guilt, that’s about it.
bruyere_dubois_again@reddit
Literally every Christian tradition is represented in significant numbers somewhere in the United States. Easter celebrations will vary hugely depending on where you are
Ok-Entertainment5045@reddit
Church, dinner with family, Easter baskets for the kids, a candy tray for the big kids
WowsrsBowsrsTrousrs@reddit
Stale peeps - buy 'em the day after Easter, stick them in the fridge for a week or two. One of my favorite guilty pleasures.
tcspears@reddit
Easter celebrations will depend on the region and the religion/culture of their family. There isn’t a single overall US way to celebrate, since the US doesn’t have an official religion, and we have a very diverse population.
Warr_Ainjal-6228@reddit
We go to church, then cook a nice piece of meat. I would be there right now, but I'm sick as a dog.
malai556@reddit
Same. I started out at church but had to leave when the sermon started because I just couldn’t stay. Doctor agrees I’m not well, but all the tests came back negative. Allergies I guess. 🤷♀️
feliciams@reddit
Ugh! This allergy season has been tough on me too. I hope you feel better soon. Keep up your fight to get healthy. We can beat this!
feliciams@reddit
I’m sick today too! It’s been a rough week. Hope you feel better soon. As a kid, my mom always cooked lamb on Easter. We had it with mint jelly. She would put a chocolate bunny in our shoe so we would find it before church but we couldn’t eat it until after. She would also have us color eggs on Saturday.
IsThisDecent@reddit
I am not religious and I don't have little kids, so I did absolutely nothing, besides buying some nice flowers.
My parents would hide eggs and we would decorate when I was little enough to believe in the easter bunny
Ok-Pomegranate-9481@reddit
Honestly, I completely forget about it other than when I see displays of candy at the store, or the like. Some businesses close, some don't, but at least where I am it is not a particularly massive holiday. It has some presence , but I'd say about as much, if not a little less, than Valentine's Day.
No-Carry4971@reddit
With an unhinged post from the President insulting 2B people and threatening to rain fire and bring hell.
No-Pickle-8200@reddit
Really only people who are Christian/culturally Christian do Easter stuff, and it varies family to family. I’m not very religious but we are culturally catholic/ raised catholic. My family usually has a big family meal similar to a Christmas or thanksgiving dinner- the most popular main courses are ham and lamb in my family. We also always have deviled eggs made from the hard boiled Easter eggs as an appetizer. Some families I know do foods that are specific to their cultural background- pirogies are popular with Polish-Americans for example.
Some families go to organized Easter egg hunts with their families, or have Easter photos taken with the Easter bunny. When I was a kid, I would leave out carrot sticks for the Easter bunny, and “he would bring me” an Easter basket. The Easter basket usually had some candy or small toys, nothing super expensive. Some families go way more elaborate and make the Easter baskets really big and fancy.
I also always dyed Easter eggs using an egg dyeing kit as a kid- we would use the hard boiled eggs to make deviled eggs and egg salad after.
There are a lot of candies popular specifically for Easter, like Peeps, Cadbury Eggs, and jelly beans.
CraftyFraggle@reddit
I think a great many people who aren’t “culturally Christian” but aren’t “culturally any other religion” also celebrate Easter.
I grew up celebrating a completely secular Easter. I’m now Pagan, married to a Jew and, as a family, we celebrate Passover but also a Pagan/Secular Easter.
The traditions I grew up with (basket, decorating eggs, egg hunt, celebrating Spring, family meal) are important to me even if they hold zero Christian religious meaning for me.
I know a lot of people with similar views.
No-Pickle-8200@reddit
By “culturally Christian” I mean people who were raised by families who were at one time Christian, so they have those traditions like Christmas and Easter, even if they are agnostic or atheist.
It sounds like you may fall into that category even if you are now a pagan.
I would say I am “culturally Christian” but I am an atheist. Some of my family members are very religious Catholics, I haven’t attended church in 30 years.
CraftyFraggle@reddit
My family hasn’t been Christian for ages.
And my husband is Jewish and celebrates with us.
It’s completely possible for families in the US to have been non-religious, even “culturally”, for generations.
“Having ancestors who were Christian” doesn’t make one “culturally Christian” if the family has abandoned that culture.
No-Pickle-8200@reddit
I think it arguably does, if you are still celebrating the holidays? You haven’t abandoned that culture if you still celebrate their holidays…
CraftyFraggle@reddit
We’ve abandoned all the Christian bits.
No-Pickle-8200@reddit
Christmas and Easter are still culturally Christian holidays, even if you are not going to church for them.
CraftyFraggle@reddit
No. They’re really not.
Easter as a celebration of Spring isn’t Christian.
Christmas as an extension of the Winter Solstice isn’t either.
That’s like saying Thursday is “culturally Norse” because it’s named for Thor.
No-Pickle-8200@reddit
I think you are deliberately missing my point here.
CraftyFraggle@reddit
No. I’m anrguing against it.
No-Pickle-8200@reddit
Were your grandparents some form of Christian? Were your great grandparents?
If they weren’t… you would not be celebrating Easter now. You would celebrate some other cultural tradition.
CraftyFraggle@reddit
I do celebrate other cultural traditions. I just also secularly celebrate the holiday the bulk of the people around me also celebrate.
When there’s Easter decorations everywhere, egg and bunny projects done in schools, Easter baskets sold in stores, Easter candy marketed everywhere to everyone, it’s disingenuous to insist that everyone who partakes is Christian of any sort.
Like the majority of Americans, I do have Christian ancestors (of a variety dirts). That does not make me “culturally Christian”. It makes me “culturally American”.
Unless you’re saying everyone celebrating with eggs and bunnies are “culturally Pagan”, your argument is ridiculous.
No-Pickle-8200@reddit
It’s not ridiculous, and for better or worse many “American” traditions are based in Christian tradition. Christmas is everywhere in December because of the dominance of Christianity in our culture, which has made it a prominent part of American culture.
Again, I myself am an atheist so I am not celebrating the religious aspects of the holiday either.
CraftyFraggle@reddit
“Based on” doesn’t mean is though.
That’s the distinction you’re failing to make.
And a great many of the traditions you seem to consider “Christian” are not, actually, Christian at all.
Queen_V_17@reddit
I'm with you on this! Replied to the other person instead, but....I would bet money that folks celebrating Easter in the US - even "culturally" - descend from people who were primarily Christian.
Queen_V_17@reddit
I'm with NoPickle on this one. It's like folks whose ancestors immigrated from X country over a hundred years ago and despite all of you being fully assimilated Americans and only identifying as American, you still have some practices your family brought from the old country.
I bet if we looked at statistics of US Americans who say they celebrate Easter in some capacity and asked them if at any point in the last 100-150 years of their family lineage, the majority of folks were Christian, it would be "yes". I also bet that the amount of people whose families were non-religious for generations is very, very small.
CraftyFraggle@reddit
Almost 70% of Americans identify as some sort of Christian so that’s likely.
That doesn’t make those who don’t identify as Christian “culturally Christian” though.
Queen_V_17@reddit
I think you're missing the point that NoPickle and I are trying to make. And that's okay. :)
CraftyFraggle@reddit
No. I just don’t agree with it.
Having Christian ancestry doesn’t make one “culturally Christian” unless one embraces that culture.
Queen_V_17@reddit
That wasn't personally my argument. I agree that was NoPickle's. Although.... how is embracing Easter and Christmas not embracing at least part of the culture?
CraftyFraggle@reddit
Because they aren’t only Christian any more.
They can be, but they can also be completely secular.
It’s simpler to celebrate on a day when a lot of others celebrate. That doesn’t mean everyone is celebrating the same things.
No-Pickle-8200@reddit
Right, like for example many of our family recipes are German recipes… even though the last person from Germany died like a hundred years ago. Those very traditional things stick around for a long time, and holidays are a huge part of that.
Queen_V_17@reddit
Absolutely! I'm sure my family has some traditions that we don't even know where they came from anymore, but we still like 'em so here we are.
Wise_Rutabaga_7479@reddit
Apparently by having our president threaten war crimes, hbu
Soundtracklover72@reddit
We had family over for a big meal. I think there were 20 of us.
I personally don’t care about this holiday. If I didn’t celebrate with family it’d be no big loss.
seifd@reddit
Christians have services on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Families often get together for lunch or dinner. Kids will dye Easter eggs and participate in an Easter egg hunt.
goodmorningohio@reddit
What country are you from that easter is more cultural than religious?
Semi-Pros-and-Cons@reddit
In my part of the country, tomorrow is Dyngus Day, which is much more fun.
LastOfTheAsparagus@reddit
I hate chocolate and rabbits freak me out so its a no for me.
Additional-Studio-72@reddit
Just another day for me.
Minute-Frame-8060@reddit
This might be the first year of my life that I have not had any Reese's eggs!!! Unless I spot some when I go out on Tuesday but those always sell fast.
nauticalfiesta@reddit
candy, ham, and deviled eggs
MessoGesso@reddit
Some non religious families do have easter badkets for kids or a dinner. Some do nothing. Some are creligious
BelleMakaiHawaii@reddit
We don’t celebrate most holidays, it’s just not a thing
Ok_Challenge_5176@reddit
We are Eastern Orthodox, we are celebrating Palm Sunday today. We will buy discount chocolate for next week~
theeCrawlingChaos@reddit
Most people, even non-Christians, celebrate it to some extent. I grew up in an atheist household and we celebrated Easter with egg painting/hiding/seeking and eating Peeps chicks and chocolate bunnies. Now that I am a Catholic, I celebrate it primarily by attending the Holy Saturday/Easter Vigil mass.
L8dTigress@reddit
Why yes we do.
sneath_@reddit
People dye eggs, go to church, have a big dinner (usually ham), and eat chocolates. Sometimes for children, the “easter bunny” will hide candy eggs around the yard for them to find. In the south especially, fancy clothes like big dresses, pastel vests, bonnets, are very common.
charlesphotog@reddit
I watched Life of Brian.
SuperflyandApplePie@reddit
I am a non-Christian American.
When my daughter was a child we celebrated Easter with a basket and gifts from the Easter Bunny. Since she became an adult we don't do anything to celebrate or observe Easter.
armoredbearclock@reddit
Yeah same. People in here proclaiming everyone celebrates it are semi-cracking me up because of how often I get asked “What are you doing for Easter?” Ummm, nothing? I get asked if I celebrate Christmas but not Easter. I don’t get it.
Like, we don’t get time off, so there’s no excuse to go anywhere, it changes every year so not like the weather is consistent for any kind of traditional purpose, and everything is closed so we can’t go anywhere local anyway… it’s a weird non holiday.
Academic-Contest3309@reddit
We just get together with family. Usually have lunch or dinner. Sometimes an Easter egg hunt and/or church.
Cant-think-of-a-nam@reddit
Pretty much family gets together and the kids go egg hunting that the adults hid
No_Artichoke4686@reddit
We go to church to celebrate Jesus’ Resurrection although as good Christians we do that every week through the Communion.
Then after the lovely church service we have a sweet egg hunt. Which is actually not pagan since the Easter Bunny and eggs and egg hunts have no mention at all around the holiday until well after Christianity was the major religion. And Eastre the goddess has only one line written about her by Bede, they would feast to her. That is all. Nothing about when or who she was or what they ate or what else they did. English and German are the only languages that have that etymology. Every other language use their variation of Passover which is what Easter and celebrating the Resurrection came from. The Jewish Passover.
Then we have a sweet meal with family.
ITrCool@reddit
It's very similar in America, yes. A lot of people go to church for services, even if not regular attendees.
Most folks use it as a day to get together, as a lot of businesses will close to observe the holiday generally, so it's a guaranteed day off for folks. We'll eat a good meal together as a family or friends and enjoy time together, maybe play some board games, or watch a good movie. Go outside and play some football, etc.
Afterward, the stores get raided for the Easter candy deals that inevitably come the next day for stores to sell off inventory.
Meilingcrusader@reddit
It sounds pretty similar yeah
Perle1234@reddit
Yeah it’s largely the same but a lot of people here do go to church and celebrate the religious aspect. I used to do a family meal, and decorate the house with spring decorations. I always had the neighborhood egg hunt with one golden egg containing a $20. It was fun!
nope-its@reddit
Everyone definitely doesn’t celebrate - only Christians and some former Christians will celebrate with their family.
I’m going to a completely unrelated to Easter event today at a local brewery. I expect it to be packed like it was last year. No Easter celebrating here.
Technical_Plum2239@reddit
Feels like Easter is a very Christmas like holiday.
Vaguely a pre-Christian holiday kind of blended in with Christian church.
Everyone did Spring celebrations - rebirth, etc. It's probably why the Christian religion chose to celebrate it then.
Lots of non-Christians do egg hunts and baskets and stuff.
Queen_V_17@reddit
That's exactly how the Church got Pagan Europeans to convert and have it stick! They tried the forced conversions, but by the next generation, they were back to their own ways and maybe going to church to save face.
So the church started integrating Pagan traditions into key Christian events to slowly lure people in and have them stay because now the familiar was blended with the unfamiliar. Holly & ivy, evergreen, green & red, bunnies/eggs/rebirth, etc. There's a reason Christmas is December 25 despite the description of Jesus' birth clearly being more like spring. Easter...the verdict is out on that one, I believe. It is celebrated around the time Jews celebrate Passover so I've heard the hypothesis that the Last Supper was a seder. Who knows.
pedaleuse@reddit
The story literally occurs during Passover, and that is why Easter is celebrated close to the same time. They don’t exactly coincidence because of some complexities relating to calendar calculation, but they’re always close in time.
The date of Christmas was fixed based on when they thought Easter occurred and when they believed the annunciation occurred; there’s more stuff related to how controversies over calendar calculation that explains why it’s fixed instead of floating.
nope-its@reddit
The amount of people I know that don’t celebrate Easter but celebrate Christmas is literally in the hundreds.
More businesses are open near me, when they aren’t open on Christmas. People are out hiking, drinking, going to brunch, and doing as many non-Easter things as you can imagine for a Sunday.
It’s nowhere near as close to as popular. You can’t try to argue it all you want but you’ll continue you be wrong (or delusional).
And Christians chose Easter because it aligned with holidays celebrated at the time so they could entice people to possibly follow their religion.
pedaleuse@reddit
Easter is celebrated at this time because the original story occurred during Passover. It no longer perfectly aligns with Passover for a variety of reasons relating to how calendars are calculated, but that’s why. In non-English speaking countries, the name of the holiday is Pascua/Pascha/etc., which derives from Pesach.
Technical_Plum2239@reddit
" only Christians and some former Christians will celebrate with their extended family."
Not in my experience. And I didn't say it's "as popular".
Just saying candy and baskets are common with non-Christians. My Jewish friends do it along with Passover, non-observant Jews are doing it too.
I live in Mass and lots of completely non religious folks do Easter stuff, too, and to a much bigger degree than when I was going up. My mom was super religious but the only thing we did was get a single chocolate bunny or egg.
The stuff my friend's families are doing today is wild. It's as elaborate as our Christmases. Hindu, Jewish -- and not brought up religious at all.
We had easter egg/nips hunt.
Dangerous-Safe-4336@reddit
The Christian celebration is based on Passover, which is from the Jewish lunar calendar. That's why the date floats the way it does. No one really knows about Easter, but pre-Christian Anglo-Saxon Britain had "Eostermonath" (Easter Month) every spring. It may have They also used a lunar calendar, so it was easy for the two to line up.
SavannahInChicago@reddit
I am working. I am in healthcare. Everything in healthcare is open today. Normal hours. Easter is only religious here.
Crayshack@reddit
Just the Christians in my experience. I don't have anything else to contribute to your questions because I've never celebrated Easter.
Illustrious_Code_347@reddit
For everyone, it’s usually a gathering and a meal. There isn’t one specific thing everyone eats, but there are some very common ones like lamb.
Christians usually go to Church, even if they aren’t very devout and that’s pretty much the only time they go all year (along with Christmas).
People with children (Christians and non-Christians alike) will have “Easter egg hunts” where the parents hide these colorful eggs filled with stuff (usually candy) around the house or yard or wherever, and the kids go looking for them. Many will do other egg- or Easter bunny-themed things like decorating eggs by painting them
CommsConsultants@reddit
Ham is a popular choice for the family meal, and often it happens mid afternoon instead of evening.
sluttypidge@reddit
I don't have anything planned at all and generally don't do anything. I probably would have had to take a rain check today anyways. I've been sick the last few days.
br13ch3353@reddit
It depends on if you’re religious or not most Christian’s and Catholics enjoy church services. During these services it’s usually peak attendance times because new attendee’s and holiday only attendee’s make an appearance. Depending on the church structure there may be extra services, volunteers, and seating to accommodate. The church may provide a sermon on Jesus’ death on the cross or a message on salvation through Christ. Many church members usually wear more semi formal (like a basic suit or formal dress) or semi casual outfits (like spring dresses and button down shirts ) to church. Also, it’s not uncommon for churches to do an Easter egg hunt for the children. Usually afterwards the families go to their own family gathering comprising of food and their own Easter egg hunt if the church doesn’t have one or they chose not to attend a church hunt or public hunt. However there are people who skip church altogether and only do the hunts for their children. The eggs used for the hunts are either plastic and filled with candy,toys, and sometimes money or are hard boiled and colored with water egg dye or colored with markers/ crayon. Easter baskets are usually given to children as well and are filled with toys, candy, and chocolate bunnies or chocolate crosses. Most people celebrate it but it’s traditionally a Christian holiday.
br13ch3353@reddit
Also if your church is really interesting they might have a Seder during the Holy Week to show the connection between the Israelites leaving Egypt and the Resurrection of Jesus.
gsquaredbotics@reddit
Pretty much the same!
coldupnorth11@reddit
A lot of people just use the day to take a picture of their family dressed up at church to show everyone how good they are, but in reality they aren't good at all.
So in short, they celebrate with a photo op.
SabresBills69@reddit
you have religious ones who attend church….
many retail businesses are closed. supermarkets have less hours, many restaurants are closed. drug stores can be open but the pharmacy could be closed.
if you are young kids getting Easter bssket with candy is common as is doing egg coloring and some sort of Easter egg searching,
extrnded families in the same area usually get together
with many schools, they have some off time around Easter. where I grew up we would have the week before and week after off from school. If winter was harsher then thry would eat away at the Easter break for school make up days. I recall one two week Easter we dro evdown to Florida to visit great parents.
Dogs_Are_Just_Better@reddit
We have a family gathering. Kids find eggs. We eat ham
tetrasodium@reddit
Depends on if you have kids or are a younger kid. Candy is involved if so.
For adults maybe similar to Valentine's day if dating.
rebby2000@reddit
It's pretty widely celebrated. I won't say *everyone* celebrates it, but it's very common to do so regardless of religion. Dying eggs and having egg hunts (sometimes with the dyed eggs, sometimes with plastic ones with little prizes inside). A lot of the time there's a meal involved - and yes, candy lmao. Specifically, it's common for people to give (mostly children) chocolate bunnies.
For my family, specifically? We tend to go lowkey and just have a special meal with family in the area + inviting friends we know don't have anyone to celebrate with.
InevitableRhubarb232@reddit
In my family we rolled hard boiled eggs down a downspout and tried to crash them into other people’s eggs, demolition derby style. +1 point for everyone you hit. -1 point if you get hit.
oswin13@reddit
We'll be roasting a lamb in the church parking lot. But today is our Palm Sunday.
ReeMayRe@reddit
early Easter dinner and yes, we eat candy/chocolate. Some people go to church, some visit graves in cemetaries of loved ones who passed. Some people have Easter egg hunts, some people go to their local botanical gardens to take pics in their Easter outfits. there are all sorts of traditions. Depends on the people
Salty_Permit4437@reddit
Easter egg hunts, Easter baskets, church services, Easter lunch and dinner, peeps
Unlucky_Community_99@reddit
same thing just cultural fun holiday nothing meaningful unless you are very religious. there is not a lot of religion in america
Botanico56@reddit
Wow, it’s WILDLY inaccurate to say there’s not a lot of religion in America. It’s true there are regions (including New England, where I live) where secular culture is predominant, many (most?) of us are agnostic if not atheist, and religion isn’t a big part of public life, similar to much of Europe.
But the South, the Midwest, Texas, and other areas of the country have a huge amount of religiosity. And it has a huge effect on public life—for example, the millions of conservative Christians who think it doesn’t matter that Trump is a slimeball, because he’s part of God’s plan to save the country.
Unlucky_Community_99@reddit
yeah true. i don't think anyone who isn't from that region ever goes there though, so of course I'm kinda oblivious to how they act lol
Botanico56@reddit
Uhh … if you’re not just trolling here, I think you have a lot to learn about America and the world.
You can always answer based on your own experience, but I’d suggest thinking twice before making general statements about things you don’t know anything about. Or at least do some research
Unlucky_Community_99@reddit
there's nothing to learn bro, there are plenty of cultural quirks about America that you don't know either, because you agree it's not relevant. i'm from a big city, there is absolutely no reason for me to know about the culture of the poorest states in america that never make headlines lol. how much do u know about New Jersey culture?
Cinisajoy2@reddit
That all your wives are media darlings that do silly things.
Or at least that is what Tv shows.
I also know some areas are mostly open Memorial Day to Labor Day.
And that 20 miles is a long drive.
CraftyFraggle@reddit
I know a fair amount. And about the Bible Belt, and a host of other places.
I’m from a big city too, and now I live in a small town you’re never heard of. But I’ve expanded my interests outside my little bubble, ya know?
flying_wrenches@reddit
There is a entire region called “the Bible Belt”.. religion is a big part of the US.
Unlucky_Community_99@reddit
never really heard of it and think most people under 20 will say the same. looked it up and seems like this is the poorer country side so i guess that checks out, wouldn't expect them to make any news coverage
flying_wrenches@reddit
It’s a slang term for a region where you can find a high concentrations of churches.. higher than usual... Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina are the general states.
Just because you don’t know about it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
The rust belt. The bread basket. The PNW. The big apple. New England. The South. Yankees, southerners etc etc etc. east coast, west coast. Gulf states. “The colonies”. Any of those ring a bell?
Unlucky_Community_99@reddit
never said it doesn't exist, only said i really never heard of it. thanks for informing me.
yes some of those ring a bell, i'm from a big city so i've never once heard any news come out of any of those places you named other than football colleges lol
Cinisajoy2@reddit
Why would churches make the news?
flying_wrenches@reddit
all good.. It’s just your sphere of influence, I know nothing about the towns a few miles south of me ya know?
Or anything about California aside from “it’s hot”
Cinisajoy2@reddit
Joel Osteen or whatever his name is. The 700 club is also in the Bible belt.
Also churches usually don't make the news.
Also the town I live in there are no less than 8 churches within a mile.
AchtungCloud@reddit
I don’t think you know enough about America to be speaking about it like you did in your original comment. It sounds like you’re young, from a city on one of the coasts, and fairly unaware about the rest of the country outside of your bubble.
Unlucky_Community_99@reddit
but every comment is agreeing with me, just not phrasing it so blunt
Botanico56@reddit
Reddit skews secular, just like the big coastal cities. American culture is polarized. There are parts of the country where one of the first things people ask new acquaintances is “What church do you go to?”
Unlucky_Community_99@reddit
that's respectable, didn't know that. makes me optimistic lol
AchtungCloud@reddit
Because Reddit is disproportionately a certain type of American. If only Redditors represented America in voting, we would have a different president, despite the right-wing subs.
Technical_Plum2239@reddit
Compared to much of Europe it's pretty religious.
minnick27@reddit
I got dressed up to go sit on someone else’s couch
emtaylor517@reddit
Me & my atheist family do Easter baskets for the kids and then brunch/lunch with the grandparents. We used to dye eggs when the kids were little.
lisasimpsonfan@reddit
Husband and I are Christian so celebrate the religious side by going to church and then having a kind of laid back family meal compared to other holidays.. I don't do as much cooking. Our daughter and her fiancé are not Christian so they skip church but usually join us for the meal. When she was little we would dye eggs and the Easter Bunny would hide a basket of candy and toys for her.
On Easter Monday we hit up the stores for discount chocolate.
tzweezle@reddit
Eating and chocolating with family as I type
ArztWurm@reddit
Easter for Christians in America is a big deal with church and family dinners.
Easter for both Christians and non Christians that have small kids is celebrated with activities like egg hunts and egg painting and Easter baskets and candy.
Easter for non Christians who don’t have kids is basically a day to eat a bunch of candy that they bought on sale at the store
jessper17@reddit
My family might get together for breakfast but it’s not holiday specific.
pawsplay36@reddit
If you have young kids... you get up early in the morning and set out Easter baskets. The more Catholic your city, the bigger the baskets. You hide candy eggs. You remember you forgot to dye some hard-boiled eggs, so you do that with the kids. You set this out to display but you decide not to hide them because you worry about salmonella. You make the kids eat a banana and a yogurt. The kids look for eggs in the yard. You eat a late breakfast, everyone is a little delirious at this point. Maybe you go to church. Everyone who isn't feeling slightly ill by now starts gluttonously eating candy. You change into comfy clothes. Lunch is late, probably a ham or a chicken, or maybe a bucket of KFC (or the equivalent from the local supermarket).
It's mainly celebrated by Christians and culturally Christian atheists. Most pagans and New Age types will go along with it, adding their own little twist on things.
Downfall_OfUsAll@reddit
It’s widely celebrated but it’s not necessarily that big of a holiday for every family. My family is all Catholic, we all go to mass and meet up for lunch/dinner.
Today I’m spending Easter with my father’s side of the family at my uncle’s house. We are Puerto Rican so often time the food of choice is pernil. As a matter of fact, we have a pig roasting over an open fire right now
CycadelicSparkles@reddit
We did nothing.
Well, we did try to go to the local appliance store to look at dryers, but like every single business is closed. Which, hey, I'm happy everyone got a hopefully paid day off, but I was still surprised. I don't remember Easter being this much of a thing in past years.
Technical-Tear5841@reddit
Newest statistic, the average person will spend $200 on food and candy. Some must spend much more, my wife and I spend nothing. Much spending is secular, Easter eggs and candy, more is spent on Halloween, that is a more popular event.
Cinisajoy2@reddit
We are on the zero spend too.
Atlas7993@reddit
We go to the early morning church service, visit with people, go work out, meet up with family for lunch, go home and decompress.
midwestCD5@reddit
As a kid, would hard boil and dye eggs with my parents on Saturday, they’d hide them all over the back yard and the next morning, the hunt would begin. Easter baskets with candy and everything. As an adult, Ham, cheesy potatoes and apple pie with some ice cream lol
EgoSenatus@reddit
Only Christians really celebrate. We go to church and then either go out to brunch or have a big lunch at home with ham and potatoes. If there are kids, an Easter egg hunt would probably occur.
Loisgrand6@reddit
Not everyone in America do the same things
Cinisajoy2@reddit
We are a country of 350 million people with at least 50 different flavors of Christianity. So it is not one culture. I have no idea how people celebrate Easter. Some do Easter eggs. In at least the Baptist church, all the girls get pretty Easter dresses. And in my area about half the time, the Easter dresses are covered by coats. Some churches do Son Rise services. Meaning they hold church at sunrise. So expect a variety of answers.
Funny thing Christmas 2025 was 86 degrees. I just looked and Easter is 61 degrees.
MyldExcitement@reddit
Jews don't celebrate Easter. So much fuss for a little Jewish boy.
PlanMagnet38@reddit
My family is pagan, so we celebrate the spring equinox with an egg hunt, baskets, chocolates, etc. But we don’t do it the same day as the other folks celebrating Christian Easter.
petits_riens@reddit
It’s not a federal holiday, so it’s not as prominent culturally as Christmas. But if you have any sort of Christianity anywhere in your family, you’re probably at least getting together with family for a nice celebratory lunch. The stereotypical meal is a glazed ham, usually served with some kinda potato, carrots, and other spring veggies — but every family has their own traditions.
For adults, that’s pretty much it. You’re probably doing it right after church if you (or relatives you’re trying not to offend lol) are practicing.
Kids have a bunch of fun traditions, though! They’ll get baskets of candies and small presents from the Easter Bunny (basically Easter Santa). Dying eggs together is a popular craft. And you’ll probably take them to an Easter egg hunt at some point.
Mysterious-Alps-4845@reddit
Spiral cut honey ham. Or possibly a prime rib.
Sea-Finance-8422@reddit
I continue to claim it's not a real holiday as there are zero national holidays or days off for it, but I have two parties to go to and I wish I had zero.
It's really a giant waste of time to celebrate religious zealotry and I hope it dies off very soon and is never reserected.
LaLechuzaVerde@reddit
Most people in the US celebrate, whether they are religious or not.
People who are only marginally religious or who aren’t religious at all except out of a sense of family tradition often attend church only on Easter and Christmas.
Both Christians and non-Christians tend to enjoy Easter Egg decorating and egg hunts, Easter baskets with small Spring-themed gifts, and candy.
Many also have a nice meal and/or spend time with family and/or dress up a little. Ham is a common special dinner treat for Easter.
LizzardBreath94@reddit
I’m a Christian. The entire week is pretty busy. Communion, Good Friday, and then Easter service on Sunday. After church we go to my grandmothers for a Thanksgiving like meal and egg hunt. My secular friends usually just do lunch and an egg hunt with family.
Dry_Albatross5298@reddit
Depending on where you live, there are huge Orthodox communities and they celebrate next Sunday.
blking@reddit
Either Brunch or dinner. When my grandmother was alive it was dinner, because she went to Mass in the morning. Usually a ham, sometimes a roast.
Now I do Brunch, sometimes I make it, sometimes I go out.
bebefinale@reddit
I grew up in the U.S. and now live in Australia. In the U.S. it is not a four day weekend, you only get Good Friday off in a few heavily religious Southern states if you are a state employee.
We celebrated by gathering with our families, usually for brunch. When my grandparents were my cousins would all gather. When I was a kid there were Easter egg hunts and chocolate bunnies. Sometimes we dressed up nicely and often I would have a nice spring hat as a little girl that would match some floral spring dress.
There wasn’t a tradition of decorating Easter hats like in Australia. But otherwise it was pretty similar I think—gather with families for a meal, dye some eggs, eat some chocolate bunnies, etc.
Emotional-Nature4597@reddit
Good Friday is also a holiday in California. The more Catholic historically states tend to have more Christian holidays embedded in their calendars.
baalroo@reddit
I usually forget that it's a thing unless I see the aisle for it at the grocery store.
Dapper-Presence4975@reddit
It’s somewhat similar to Halloween (i.e., candy holiday), but we also get together for a meal. The more religious go to church.
When I was a kid in the 90s, Good Friday was a holiday, but that’s considered very old-fashioned these days.
Calaveras-Metal@reddit
That when we buy guns for our kids at the age of 12.
Then they have to go hunt for eggs in the yard (or around the house if you live in an apartment). IT will be a mix of dyed eggs and plastic eggs with live rounds in them. After they get enough rounds to fill the magazine we take them out back to do some target practice. And if they score a bullseye we give them a shot of Kentucky Bourbon.
Daped01@reddit
Are you spying on my compound?
Calaveras-Metal@reddit
Don't you think Jaden has had too many shots?
Daped01@reddit
Na, he can handle his liquor, can’t say so much for his ma though
thosmarvin@reddit
Yeah i remember my german colleagues saying they could tell it was Ostern, because they could smell smoke….i guess folks would turn up down by the river and have huge bonfires, and of course, they all had Monday off as well.
kmoonster@reddit
Each church has their own approach for religious aspects.
The non-religious aspects are usually children-focused and it's sort of a fun spring thing for kids, often with an element of being outdoors.
Appropriate-Food1757@reddit
I celebrate Christmas and Easter and we are not religious at all.
WonderChopstix@reddit
Doom scrolling on reddit clearly
pandemonday@reddit
It is the most toned-down, non-commercialized day on the American cultural calendar. Then our work week begins again: https://youtu.be/ltl0EQ9O7Gg
Cheap_Coffee@reddit
Is easter coming up soon?
wrfostersmith@reddit
It’s like Christmas. For many, cultural only. Observed for the egg hunts, candy and family meals as much for the (supposed) resurrection of Christ.
Ericakat@reddit
Depends on if you’re Christian or not. If you’re Christian, you typically go to church in the morning, and then have Easter lunch with your family. Children typically have an easter egg hunt in the morning, and eggs are filled with candy, get an Easter basket filled with a chocolate bunny, candy, or toys, and eat said candy afterwards.
No-Buy503@reddit
Big Businesses try to sell us crap that we don't need, throw away the next day or is unhealthy.
jacowab@reddit
Bunch of family comes over and you hide fake eggs with candy inside around the house/yard, then you let the kids run around searching for the eggs while the adults just chill and usually make lunch/dinner.
Jsmith2127@reddit
Some people go to church, some just buy their kids Easter baskets, and do egg hunts, some people do both. Some people do none of the above.
Now that my children are adults, sometimes I buy clearanced Easter candy, after the fact.
seatownquilt-N-plant@reddit
I'm the youngest child in my family, we were not religious. Once I outgrew getting an Easter basket we stopped doing things "for Easter". We'd still eat the candy though.
Positive-Avocado-881@reddit
I’ve been at church all day
Seeggul@reddit
Yes.
And on Monday, and Tuesday, and Wednesday...
Illustrious_Try478@reddit
Leftover Easter candy is a big part of the draw. Until September, when you have to decide whether to eat the last of the jellybeans or throw them out.
malinagurek@reddit
I celebrate all holiday candy. Because it’s Easter Sunday today, I’m eating Cadbury Creme eggs, but I’ve been eating Manischewitz toasted coconut marshmallows all week.
My parents were immigrants from Poland. I was sent to Catholic school in grade school, but that was the extent of it. My parents weren’t religious, but they’d get weirdly defensive if you pointed out that they weren’t religious. I married a man who went to a Jesuit high school. We’re both atheist. We both have a lot of Jewish friends, so we’ve been to Passover seders. I used to bake Polish babka some years, but it seems I’m already eating too many sweets!
As a child, we used to make Easter baskets and get them blessed at Polish church. My mom and I were competitive about having the best basket, which probably wasn’t in the spirit of the tradition. I discovered in college that that was a Polish tradition rather than a Catholic one, so I didn’t have an easy way to maintain that tradition even among my Catholic friends.
brian_ts118@reddit
Much like American Christmas, there’s two layers to it, there is a secular layer involving the Easter Bunny bringing baskets of candy to kids and Easter egg hunts, maybe a fancy meal. Then of course there is the religious layer. Also I should mention that it’s far less ubiquitous than Christmas.
Boston_Brand1967@reddit
Atheist in a Moravian family here. Easter was always a family get together. Cookout if it is nice. If there are kids they do an easter egg hunt. Used to do gift via easter baskets but not very common in my family.
Outside of a blessing for food it was never really religious to us.
Extended family did sunrise services. Banquet style breakfast after.
Off topic, Easter is just not as fun as other holidays, and I personally do not like the candy. Xmas feels almost totally secular at this point (90/10 to me), but Easter can not shake that icky religious stuff in it's branding and marketing. Eh, got way less fun as I got older. Feels more like a C tier holiday, like Memorial Day.
biggcb@reddit
I would say it is more of a religious day than cultural. Growing up, it was Easter egg hunts, Easter baskets, church, then a ham dinner. Nowadays, don't really do anything. And as others said, discount candy shopping tomorrow!
GOTaSMALL1@reddit
Ham’s been on the smoker for a couple hours already.
Flimsy_Equal8841@reddit
Yes. Yes. Yes
Eat_Carbs_OD@reddit
I'm not planning on doing anything special.
randomrreeddddiitt@reddit
Apparently, with the president giving all praise to Allah.
AskAnAmerican-ModTeam@reddit
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Vachic09@reddit
Many churches do communion on Easter Sunday, and kids traditionally get a new church outfit for it in my hometown. The secular side includes: dying eggs, egg hunts, eating candy, etc.
caism@reddit
We take the time to make sure our zombie preparedness plan is in plan. By reviewing annually, we can make sure that, in the event of a zombie apocalypse, our families are safe.
AskAnAmerican-ModTeam@reddit
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devnullopinions@reddit
Apparently by threatening to destroy the power for millions of civilians and then saying “praise allah”
AskAnAmerican-ModTeam@reddit
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NegotiationOk4424@reddit
With threats and praise for Allah. Oh and bunny rabbits and eggs.
AskAnAmerican-ModTeam@reddit
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Individual_Suit1188@reddit
With a president swearing online
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cottoncandymandy@reddit
I am not religious and I don't celebrate it. 🤷♀️.
Judgy-Introvert@reddit
We’re going to a baseball game. We don’t celebrate it. Some of our friends do, but most don’t.
CowboyOzzie@reddit
Many non-Christians “celebrate”— usually meaning a special meal, candy for the kids, and an egg hunt. But it’s not nearly as culturally pervasive as Christmas, which is a big secular holiday for a large majority of Americans with a season lasting weeks.
jakerooni@reddit
I’m at Wild Eggs sitting at the bar eating a delicious farmers market hash with some coffee. Not because it’s Easter, but because I was hungry. My family is mostly gone and this isn’t first Easter without having to go to a lunch gathering. It was pleasant when I was younger, and the Easter egg hunting was fun, but nowadays it’s just another day.
Daped01@reddit
We eat ham and shoot shit
vashtachordata@reddit
The kids get Easter baskets (mostly new swim suits/rash guards, sandals and candy) and then we have lunch with family. We’re not religious, so that’s about it. If the weather is good sometimes we’ll go to the beach.
When I was a kid it was about the same. Every year we got a new swimsuit, sandals and a season pass to Astroworld, so Easter was always one fonjy favorite holidays.
AdelleDeWitt@reddit
Yeah it's a cultural holiday probably as much or more than it is a religious holiday. Many cities throw non-religious events for kids with an Easter Bunny and Easter egg hunt.
I'm a teacher and a few years ago I had a student explaining to me that Christians have really good Eod parties. I was really confused by this and asked her to describe the Christian Eid party that she had been to, and she said the Christians hide eggs full of candy on their Eid parties and then you can look for them in the park. She had been to the city sponsored Easter party and I think her dad had tried to explain what Easter is and since it comes after the Christian month of fasting and had happened around the same time of year, she assumed that Easter was just the Christian word for Eid.
AbilityAdventurous22@reddit
I’m an adult and my parents still make me “Easter baskets” with candy and treats lol we usually will have dinner too
OriginalSilentTuba@reddit
Not religious. This morning my daughter hunted for Easter eggs that were hidden by the Easter Bunny. She also got a basket of goodies that were waiting for her on the table. I then made us all a nice breakfast.
Most Christian families will celebrate the same way, except they will also go to Church. The only times I’ve ever been to church on Easter is when I was paid to do so, playing music for the services.
Lopsided-Public8205@reddit
My wife makes enough food to feed and US Navy. Gifts and candy for the kids. A lot of people who don't regularly go to church, go on Easter Sunday.
CosyBeluga@reddit
It’s pretty much just a thing for Christians and families with kids.
Sensitive-Chemical83@reddit
For the kids we hide colorful eggs around the church or the yard or wherever and in the eggs you put candy. The kids then go and look for the eggs and collect the candy. It's cute and fun.
Otherwise it's a feast holiday. Traditions vary for the food. But in my family we always have a lamb. Depending on how many guests we're expecting changes how much lamb. We've done smaller ones with just a shoulder roast. We've done bigger ones where we whole roast two lambs. Just depends on how many guests you're expecting. But lamb is my family's traditional Easter meat. My wife's family always does an easter ham. Which is pretty common. Beef also is common.
Alcohol is typically served. Wine is traditional but beer or spirits isn't uncommon.
Many families will go to church on Easter Sunday. There's a joke that many Americans are "Christmas and Easter" Christians. As in those are the only two days a year they attend church.
Many shops and stores close. But not all.
holymacaroley@reddit
Lots of Americans who are not religious but were brought up in Christian families either a generation or 2 ago celebrate it as a secular holiday. But the vast majority of people of are religious but are non-Christian like those who are Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, etc don't celebrate it at all.
Prestigious-Name-323@reddit
We’re getting together at a local bbq restaurant and I made an Easter basket for my nephew. Because I like buying him stuff.
bygtopp@reddit
Meh. It is just another day. Once the day off from work. I’ll be by myself. Wife and kids are with niece and her kid in Panama City Florida coming back tomorrow. Someone has to stay here and take care of the Animals we have. Most of the rest of her family can’t take care of them selves let alone another persons animals who have different needs and feeds.
cometshoney@reddit
I'm sitting in bed and eating chocolate right now, and I'm a grown ass adult. It's a wonderful thing when you can go to the store and buy it yourself. I don't have to worry about jellybeans showing up in my candy. My family stopped getting together for Easter when all of us kids had our own kids.
anclwar@reddit
I'm Jewish, I don't celebrate Christian holidays.
Culturally, many non-religious people from Christian-based backgrounds will celebrate Easter and Christmas even if they never go to church or don't believe in God.
StillC5sdad@reddit
I got up went food shopping, now I'm doing laundry. It's Sunday.
Gypsysinner666@reddit
My daughters get new dresses (they still do matching dresses) to go to church in. After mass they receive Easter baskets that I put together for them every year. We have a nice Easter dinner at grandma's house. Our family tries to maintain traditions as much as humanly possible.
Q8DD33C7J8@reddit
If you have kids. Do Easter baskets. Kids wake up get thier baskets. Eat some candy. Get dressed go to church. Go to lunch or go home and make Easter dinner that focuses on ham. Eat.
No kids. Get up get ready for church goto church, go to lunch or go to family members house and have dinner.
Bluestarkittycat@reddit
Well, my family never really did much, they would go to church (for awhile they made me go with them but eventually i talked them out of making me go to church). We didnt really do things like Easter egg hunts and stuff like that but we would usually prepare a big Easter brunch at home after they got back from church. (Or we would go somewhere fancy if we didnt feel like preparing anything)
ConditionHoliday2844@reddit
My family all gets drunk
Tinkerfan57912@reddit
My house, it’s church Easter morning, kids search for Easter baskets, all though not this year. I’ve had some serious medical issues in recent weeks. Then dinner with my in-laws. Over all a relaxing day usually planned.
FreeStateOfPortland@reddit
It’s basically the same here. There’s a secular version of celebrating with chocolate bunnies and Easter Eggs. I’m not religious so we celebrated it every year growing up.
Unhappy-Fox1017@reddit
My wife and I are not religious, but we still go to a big family gathering every Easter at her Grandparents house. We eat a big home cooked meal together and talk about all that has been going on since we last saw each other at Christmas. We will watch the kids in the family have a little egg and candy hunt. We’ll eat lots of sweet treats too. A lot of times we will all play a fun board game together after eating. We also take pictures of everyone together and separately with our own family. We hang out for 2-4 hours and then head back home. So yeah, religious aspect or not, we celebrate Easter every year with out extended family.
Deep-Hovercraft6716@reddit
My perception is that it's not really something people celebrate unless they have children. You don't really see groups of adults getting together for Easter gatherings.
Cakeliesx@reddit
A lot of us barely even notice it is a 'holiday' - I always know it is coming sometime soon because of easter candy in the stores, but me and my friends wouldn't have a clue which Sunday it was.
If it fell on a weekday and impacted the work week, we would likely notice. But to many of us it just another sunday.
lily_fairy@reddit
i see non christians with kids celebrate it. most people (at least where i live) have christian grandparents or parents so even if they're not religious themselves, they celebrate with family. it's similar to christmas in the sense that if you have any loose tie to christianity, you probably celebrate it by getting together with family.
im catholic so last night i went to the easter vigil mass. it's long (almost 4 hours) but very peaceful and beautiful. i prefer that over the crowded easter morning mass that i used to go to as a kid. my parents used to wake us up early before church and leave a few candies and small gifts in our easter baskets to wake up to. after church, we'd go to my aunt's house to see the whole extended family. the kids would do an egg hunt outside where we all collect plastic eggs filled with candy or sometimes money. we'd also do an egg toss with hard boiled eggs, just like a water balloon toss where you keep stepping further back from your partner and the last pair standing wins a prize. we'd eat dinner and usually head home by like 6 pm since it's a school night. we also would decorate hard boiled eggs a few days before easter.
my fiancé's family is evangelical and had a similar easter. church in the morning, sibling egg hunt in the house, and then the extended family came over and they would play a game where everyone decorates hard boiled eggs and take turns going up against one other person to smash their eggs together. whoever's egg doesn't crack is still in. it's like a tournament. then they eat food and just hang out.
StrongStyleDragon@reddit
It varies from family to family. Some are very religious like to the book. Some just go to church and do fun things. Some just egg hunt and have a BBQ
Chemical-Mix-6206@reddit
Here in Louisiana, family crawfish boils are a popular easter tradition. (They have boils at other times but if you have the setup, you will do one easter weekend.) There are a couple parades today in New Orleans.
Christians go to church (this is a Biggie for the twice-a-year Christians.)
Most families will decorate eggs, fill Easter baskets with candy & small toys for the kids, and have an easter egg hunt in the back yard. Many cities and towns hold an easter egg hunt at a public park.
Own-Appointment1633@reddit
From a secular standpoint, it's not at the top of the list of holidays. Christmas, Thanksgiving, Halloween, New Year's Day, and the Fourth of July are much more popular.
IthurielSpear@reddit
To be honest, I celebrated it when my kids were little by hand making Easter baskets (paper maiche), painting eggs, eating chocolates and giving gifts in the basket like beach toys and sandals, and I made a special dinner. but I really don’t do anything anymore.
I hate the religious part of it, it’s like torture porn, and some churches really get into that.
It feels like a kids holiday to me.
HotButteredPoptart@reddit
We go to my mom's house and eat ham.
EvangelineRain@reddit
It’s not a holiday people without kids feel compelled do acknowledge if they’re not religious, but in the context of families, Easter brunches or dinners, and Easter egg hunts/Easter baskets/chocolate/and the Easter bunny are all popular ways to celebrate, regardless of whether you’re religious.
Gabriel_Collins@reddit
I just put a pork shoulder in the oven with a mustard glace on it. Then, I played a few songs from”Jesus Christ Superstar”. Maybe, I’ll eat a chocolate bunny later.
OrcaFins@reddit
It varies massively. Almost everyone eats chocolate almost every day of the year.
Gaming_with_batman@reddit
My parents make a egg detective hunt thing around the house
GotMeAMuleToRide@reddit
As a child I always hated Easter and Thanksgiving. Both involved family feasts where I'd be nagged about the fact that I didn't enjoy most of the food (I'll say the pressure finally did help me get over my pickiness). Easter also involved being crammed into a pew at a packed church, wearing uncomfortable clothes, and posing for family photos.
I have no reason to have bad memories of these family occasions, as we didn't even have much in the way of dysfunction, but I still hate seeing those photographs and remembering how I felt like I didn't belong.
Content-Elk-2037@reddit
We don’t do a meal or anything, but we have Easter baskets for our kids, we have an egg hunt, and we decorate eggs. They are ages 16-22 but we still do this. Most of the hidden eggs have cash in them.
dobbydisneyfan@reddit
We pretty much do the same thing. Many folks will also go to church, even if they’re not religious. They’ll either do it out of tradition, or because their mom asked them and they want to honor her (or grandma, or father or grandfather etc). We have a grand feast for lunch a la Thanksgiving or Christmas. Kids will often receive Easter baskets or do egg hunts or both.
grrgrrtigergrr@reddit
I’m going to an NBA game and eating hot dog’s with my family.
Acrobatic_Total5475@reddit
Another holiday excuse to get candy same concept like Halloween think of Easter as less scary version
StressorAnxiety@reddit
To my knowledge, as a country we do not celebrate.
I'm a practicing Catholic and last night my family and I went to the vigil Mass, today my mother has organized Easter baskets and we're having people over for dinner later.
Embarrassed-Cause250@reddit
We also try to gather and have a meal with family. Younger kids get Easter Baskets, go egg hunting, and maybe get some toys. The more religious people also go to church.
CommanderKrieger@reddit
My family hasn’t “celebrated” Easter in at least a decade, in that we don’t do anything with Easter eggs, decorating, etc. Instead we just get together for a nice dinner with the grandparents and call it good.
venus_arises@reddit
Christians (cultural and non) will do church services, do egg hunts, have festive meals, or go out to the restaurants to do brunch (a former roommate worked an Easter Brunch once, and that's when I knew she was done with that world). There are plenty of chocolate bunnies, but also things in the jelly bean/marshmallow area.
None... do their own things. I'm eating matzah and remembering the exodus (all together now: "for we were once slaves in the land of Egypt..."), and everyone else hangs out. In a way, it's a regular Sunday, but you will have to double-check what is open and what is closed today.
False-Leather6842@reddit
Home alone while playing Red Dead Redemption 2
Particular_Bet_5466@reddit
That’s seriously one of the greatest games ever. Good choice. I been meaning to do another play through now that I got it on PC. Played it a ton back on Xbox one during the pandemic.
dangleicious13@reddit
I'm not religious anymore but my family is. We met at my parents' house yesterday for lunch. Today is just a normal Sunday for me. Going to eat lunch with my dad (we do this almost every Sunday) and then going to a play this afternoon (Much Ado About Nothing).
neoslith@reddit
Before I got married, it was just another day with less options to eat out on. Now that I'm married, my mother in law has a dinner on Sunday and my wife and I get goody baskets of candy.
Impossible_Memory_85@reddit
Yes on the chocolate and you have two versions here. The religious one where people celebrate that way. And the ones who just do the Easter bunny version with candy and maybe a meal.
jigglypuffcreative@reddit
We are both of these! My small immediate family is not religious. We do baskets for the kids and then we go to a dinner with the rest of the family - who are religious lol.
MotherOf4Jedi1Sith@reddit
For Christians, Catholics, and other followers of Christ will celebrate by going to church, participate in egg hunts, giving Easter baskets to their chidren, and spending the day with family. Many secular people will also celebrate the holiday by doing the same as above, except going to church. It's almost as much a social holiday as a religious one.
PayApprehensive5173@reddit
Only knew it was a holiday as if a couple years ago up here in Canada
Particular_Bet_5466@reddit
Are you born in Canada? I would have thought Easter was kind of a big thing just like in the US. I mean a lot of places here shut down Good Friday, we have “Easter break” (spring break) in school etc. I am American that works with Germans and they are taking nearly 2 weeks off work for Easter. Half of them are on vacation and part of the entire business is shut down.
hellogoawaynow@reddit
Everyone participates! There’s religious Easter, where people go to church and do egg hunts there, they also get Easter baskets at home and probably dye eggs.
Easter bunny Easter comes with an Easter basket full of goodies, egg dying and hunting (depending on kids ages), plastic eggs filled with candy and goodies hunting (for all ages).
As an Easter bunny Easter person, I’ve really only celebrated it when I was a kid hunting for eggs and 30 years later when my kid is hunting for eggs.
Fickle_Waltz_2211@reddit
We get drunk and eat steak. Candy and toys for the good. We are not religious so we don’t go to church. We treat it as more of an excuse to have a party lol
achaedia@reddit
I’m not Christian but my family is culturally Catholic so we do celebrate Easter. I appreciate the Spring Equinox aspects of it (I don’t care about Jesus). Chocolate bunnies and dyed eggs aren’t Christian anyway.
Nitetigrezz@reddit
Oh there are a lot of non-Christians who celebrate x3 Generally speaking, it's become way more of a commercial celebration about chocolate eggs and marshmallow peeps and dyed or plastic eggs than a religious holiday. Not for everyone, but a good number.
AchtungCloud@reddit
I’m not Christian (much to my mother’s chagrin), but we’ve always celebrated Easter.
Usually nice outfits that have a spring theme to them, and taking some family photos outside. Helping the kids dye hard-boiled eggs. Having the kids hunt those eggs along with some plastic ones filled with candy. And then a big extended family meal later in the day, normally brisket or ham.
This year is a little different, though. My youngest has declared he’s too old for hunting eggs, so no more egg hunts. And Easter this year coincided with my father-in-laws birthday, so we did an extended family meal last night for his birthday instead.
So today is just more of a regular Sunday.
firewifegirlmom0124@reddit
My family is culturally Christian on paper, but I don’t think any of us has set foot in a church in half a CENTURY. We celebrate Christmas as a secular holiday, and we celebrate Easter the same. Easter egg hunts, baskets, chocolate and a big family lunch.
IWasGoatbeardFirst@reddit
Easter basket with candy and small gifts for the kid. Brunch with immediate family.
Dinner with extended family later in the day.
Ollly77@reddit
Most Americans are Christian, most Americans also care more about the Easter bunny than the actual purpose of Easter
Particular_Bet_5466@reddit
Oh yeah, we just do our Easter egg hunt, give out some candy, and make a meal with family. I can’t remember ever treating it religiously. Maybe when I was a kid I went to my grandparents with church a couple esters, but I don’t think that’s much a thing for the average person anymore. I mean at least to people I know, I’m sure churches are still packed today.
Individual-Fox5795@reddit
We talk about how it’s to celebrate Jesus being a zombie and eat and paint eggs. We discuss how a dead guy couldn’t come back to life. We hide plastic eggs filled with candy and hope the dogs don’t find any we missed.
WhichWitch9402@reddit
Easter has become quite commercial for a fair number of Americans. You’ve got a range from your uber religious, your Xmas/easter Christians, and everything in between. My husband’s mom and his aunt (we go to aunt’s house to Easter dinner) are religious. Pretty much everyone else is not.
I’m all about the bunnies and having fun with my grandchild.
JJCalixto@reddit
The “non denominational” christian cult i grew up in would host a 6am church service in the town cemetery, complete with blood rituals, pseudo-sacrifice, and dramatic reenactments of the crucifixion. We would then go to the actual church building and do the same things indoors with congregants that weren’t invited to the cemetery event. After all the church stuff we’d gather as a family for an easter egg hunt for the kiddos, copious amounts of alcohol for the adults, and some admittedly yummy foods.
I don’t celebrate easter now as an adult, and have a pretty difficult time with all of the religiously affiliated holidays.
AKA-Pseudonym@reddit
it isn't as big as it is in European orSouth American countries, butt's widely celebrated as a secular holiday. Lots of traditions are aimed at kids particularly younger ones. They'll dye eggs or participate in Easter egg hunts (adults hide eggs, kids trytofind them). People might have dinner with their extended families if their local, but generally won't travel long distances to do it the way they do for Thanksgiving or Christmas.
Odd_Rub5758@reddit
Usually most of the non-churchgoers and people that aren't religious still go to church on Easter as with Christmas. Most religous people focus on the resurrection side and non religious celebrate it as a spring celebration. We all do easter egg hunts and chocolate rabbits and usually dinner with extended family
shwh1963@reddit
Going to church as I did on Good Friday and Holy Saturday.
Bored_Accountant999@reddit
Very much depends on the person/family
My family does nothing for Easter. Never has.
sadeland21@reddit
Same! My friend was like “what are you doing next weekend” I was like what is next weekend? lol I forgot it was Easter. I will buy my kid a chocolate bunny because it’s cute but that’s it
Bored_Accountant999@reddit
I had two different clients tell me on calls on Thursday that they were off the next day. After the second one I was like wait a minute. What's going on? Lol. Oh.
mpurdey12@reddit
I think it depends on the person/family.
My husband and I aren't religious at all, but we are going out for lunch together.
My parents did the Easter Bunny, chocolates, and a nice meal with family version of Easter with my brother and me when we were kids.
Technical_Plum2239@reddit
It's about religion for some and for some just a welcome-to-spring holiday.
Very traditional and common for kids to have an egg hunt and families get together and have a meal.
Foods are a bit less heavy than Christmas.
Icouldusesomerock@reddit
Eggs and ham baby
wetcornbread@reddit
Most people celebrate it. It’s common for people to go to church even if they don’t go that often.
Then people do Easter egg hunts either with real ones or plastic eggs with candy inside. Kids might open up baskets that have even more candy in them.
After that people have “dinner” with friends/family but it’s typically much earlier than you’d normally eat dinner.
8MCM1@reddit
We are non-religious celebrators of Easter in the States. I put together gifts for my kids (21 and 18) and my husband. We will probably spend some time outside, and plan to cook a nice dinner.
Some years, we go to the beach, on vacation, bbq, or have friends over.
Basically, it is just an excuse to show some love and spend extra time together over delicious food.
Spiritual_Extent_187@reddit
We are not religious and we celebrate cause it’s a holiday, we do Easter egg hunts for the kids and have people over for Easter lunch
SuperPomegranate7933@reddit
Pretty much the same. Less chocolate now that we're all adults, but next year there will be a baby & the candy will return. Lunch with my family, dinner with the inlaws.
redflagsmoothie@reddit
A lot of people do a big family dinner. I studiously avoid celebrating Easter because it feels weird celebrating a holiday I do not hold a belief in.
CandidateHefty329@reddit
Easter baskets for kids are popular no matter your religion. If you go to church this the day you wear your best.
Cache-Cow@reddit
I’d say it’s somewhat similar to what you describe. We tend to do Easter egg hunts for the children’s, give children Easter baskets with little toys and chocolate/candy, dye eggs, and have a nice meal with family/friends. I’m not a Christian but I still do all those things. Only thing a Christian might add is going to church.
notthegoatseguy@reddit
I would say the majority of easter egg hunting and other similar activities are sponsored by Chrisitan churches and other faith based organizations. Some neighborhood orgs may do it too.
For a lot of Americans its just a normal, early spring weekend. We hope for good weather and maybe get a reason to go outside after a long winter.
Wodan11@reddit
Yeah non Christians will still do things for kids, give them a basket with goodies, have an Easter egg hunt in the yard...
Mairon12@reddit
It’s basically a spring equinox celebration.
Johnny_Burrito@reddit
I’m not religious by all, but I will be visiting my family for dinner.