Easter

I don’t think it’s insignificant that Mormons do not have religious holidays, even Christmas and Easter are drawn from western Christian traditions; and thus are usually celebrated by Mormons when the rest of Christendom celebrates them according to the region of the world they are in at the time of those holidays. For instance, Easter in Russia is celebrated by Mormons according to the Orthodox calendar, while Easter in Italy is celebrated by Mormons on the date accorded by Catholic tradition.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints joins with the rest of the Christian world this week in celebrating Easter and remembering the Atonement and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Church’s First Presidency issued this Easter message:

The scene played out like many other Seders at Jewish campus centers, but in Provo, Utah, there was a twist. This traditional Passover celebration was hosted by Brigham Young University. As Gabrielle Birkner writes in The Jewish Daily Forward, about 160 people packed into a hall at the Mormon college a few Fridays ago to dip the bitter herbs in salt water and remember the tears shed when the Israelites fled Egypt to escape slavery.

For both children and adults alike, Christmas is, and probably always will be, a much bigger and more attractive holiday than Easter. Further, the date of Easter makes it difficult to plan for and get excited about, while Christmas is fixed for western Christians on December 25. The date of Easter, dependent as it is upon a lunar calendar, moves around from year to year, often catching us by surprise. But in his Christmas message in 2000, President Gordon B. Hinckley made it clear that Easter really is the more important of the two holidays: “There would be no Christmas if there had not been Easter. The baby Jesus of Bethlehem would be but another baby without the redeeming Christ of Gethsemane and Calvary, and the triumphant fact of the Resurrection.”

We're having a debate here in the office--we can't agree on the tastiest Easter candy.