Who's afraid of the Easter Bunny
I was about to write a few words about Easter (since today it is Easter day), but my thoughts got mingled into this play that I watched a few days ago "Who's afraid of Viginia Woolf" in one of my (nowadays) rare civilized nights out. Now let's see if I manage to get them straight again.
It all started last Saturday (yesterday) when I quickly jumped out of the car (husband and kids still buckled in) to run to the supermarket to fetch the last ingredients for Nora's bread teddy bears project. I rushed through the supermarket and at maximum speed reached the check out counter with all my goods.
The check out girl politely wished me a Happy Easter and I completely absentmindedly automatically replied "Same to you". I picked my bags, took a few steps towards the exit and then I froze, the image of the check out girl suddenly appearing in my mind with her very apparent head scarf. Had I just wished Happy Easter to a Muslim girl?!?! To my excuse....she started it.
Why did she start it, I couldn't help but wonder. The answer is of course obvious, clear directions from the supermarket management. Had I been less absent minded and less in a hurry I might have asked her whether she was actually celebrating Easter. To my excuse again, I do not even remember the last time that I have walked through a supermarket without being in a hurry. And I might have to wait for my pension for the next time that it might happen again.
But back to my Easter considerations, even though I did not ask it is safe to assume that the Muslim checkout girl did not celebrate Easter, what did her statement mean then? Probably nothing and I think it was not a good idea to force her to say that. I might have been a Muslim myself for all that she knew. For people that are not really into Christendom Easter means absolutely nothing! Much less than Christmas which has acquired lots of non religious significance due to literature, cinema and local folklore. Why then wishing each other Happy Easter, we could as well wish each other "Have a happy day" and we could do that every day!
It is true that there are people for which Easter means still what it originally meant (me being one of them) but they are definitely not the majority anymore even Europe, definitely not in the Netherlands. Why so much consideration for such a small group? My own view on this is that we like to pretend that this group is much larger than it really is, we like to pretend that we have not dropped most of the beliefs that we once had, and we hold on to our traditions even though deprived of every meaning. Who am I to want to break this candid illusion? For me miracles still happen at Easter and I witnessed one just today, Oliver called me mom for the first time.
It all started last Saturday (yesterday) when I quickly jumped out of the car (husband and kids still buckled in) to run to the supermarket to fetch the last ingredients for Nora's bread teddy bears project. I rushed through the supermarket and at maximum speed reached the check out counter with all my goods.
The check out girl politely wished me a Happy Easter and I completely absentmindedly automatically replied "Same to you". I picked my bags, took a few steps towards the exit and then I froze, the image of the check out girl suddenly appearing in my mind with her very apparent head scarf. Had I just wished Happy Easter to a Muslim girl?!?! To my excuse....she started it.
Why did she start it, I couldn't help but wonder. The answer is of course obvious, clear directions from the supermarket management. Had I been less absent minded and less in a hurry I might have asked her whether she was actually celebrating Easter. To my excuse again, I do not even remember the last time that I have walked through a supermarket without being in a hurry. And I might have to wait for my pension for the next time that it might happen again.
But back to my Easter considerations, even though I did not ask it is safe to assume that the Muslim checkout girl did not celebrate Easter, what did her statement mean then? Probably nothing and I think it was not a good idea to force her to say that. I might have been a Muslim myself for all that she knew. For people that are not really into Christendom Easter means absolutely nothing! Much less than Christmas which has acquired lots of non religious significance due to literature, cinema and local folklore. Why then wishing each other Happy Easter, we could as well wish each other "Have a happy day" and we could do that every day!
It is true that there are people for which Easter means still what it originally meant (me being one of them) but they are definitely not the majority anymore even Europe, definitely not in the Netherlands. Why so much consideration for such a small group? My own view on this is that we like to pretend that this group is much larger than it really is, we like to pretend that we have not dropped most of the beliefs that we once had, and we hold on to our traditions even though deprived of every meaning. Who am I to want to break this candid illusion? For me miracles still happen at Easter and I witnessed one just today, Oliver called me mom for the first time.
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