Dick Gross, atheist of Jewish descent, explains why Easter can be fun for all.
We know all the usual critiques of Easter (and its cousin Christmas). Easter is an affront to our multiculturalism. Easter is an irrational religious myth. Easter is crass. Easter is commercial.
And on goes the orthodox critical condemnation of this ancient festival. The critique is adopted by many parties along the belief continuum. The religious are affronted by the commercialism and the non-Christians are confronted by the mainstreaming of a religious culture different and often opposed to their own. The Gospel rendition of the Passion is clearly anti Semitic. And the unbelievers once again must cope with another irrational religious mythology. Surely everyone's a loser? Christian, non Christian and atheist all have grievances about the modern Easter and surely we all must be miserable about it?
And yet, I believe we can all celebrate this odd admixture of cultures — a confluence of the European spring festival, a transcendent Christian faith in the son of God and his sacrifice and the secular worship of chocolate and fertility symbols. Let me explain.
Humans are herd animals. We gather in communal groups and this underpins our social cohesion. Part of our group behaviour is the ritual. Ritual is the non-verbal communication in which groups engage. Such non-verbal rituals may include song, symbols, food and dress. The army provides many visible examples of highly ritualised behaviour: its rituals of saluting, uniforms and marching bring the group together, distinguish the army from other groups and reinforce the hierarchy within the group.
The ritual is thus at the core of the army as a group. In less obvious ways, ritual is at the centre of every human experience when we gather as a group. Thus ritual is important and not to be mocked or ignored. To do so undermines our social cohesiveness. Rituals are what we share as humans and notwithstanding the cynicism about ritual — particularly Easter ritual — such rites are what we treasure.
Easter can thus be understood as a suite of cultural rituals that we employ to express ourselves as a group. And for each sub-group within society, Easter has its own set of symbols that appeal to both the religious and the secular. Easter has, in a perverse Darwinian fashion, evolved to suit almost everyone.
Given the multiple origins of the modern celebration of Easter, this evolution makes sense. It started as a secular festival that celebrated the end of the European winter. It welcomed spring and with spring comes fecundity. So any springtime festival is a celebration of renewal and new life. The egg is the ultimate renewal symbol and the maypole is its male phallic equivalent.
Easter was then grafted by the Romans onto the Christian celebration of the death of Jesus. And along the way, the process of secularisation has added the much maligned commercial aspect – hot cross buns, bunnies and chocolate. It’s not as crass as Christmas but it’s getting there.
So the defence of Easter goes like this. On a national level, it brings all of us together by means of an amalgam of religious and secular symbols that we can all enjoy regardless of belief. It is sufficiently secular to appeal to the non-Christians and it is sufficiently Christian to provide spiritual inspiration for believers.
The specific rituals of hymns, inappropriate food consumption, Easter Bunny and hot cross buns are widely practiced and capable of being enjoyed by all. Rituals need repetition and rehearsal to gain traction. We get that repetition in spades at Easter. And the constant repetition over the years can form a binding set of rites for many.
On a micro level, each group adapts. The secular have many of the same rituals as believers because we all know that Easter has been so thoroughly desacralised and commercialised that it is now palatable to the most hardcore atheist. Look at the preeminent symbols of Easter: eggs, bunnies and chocolate— none of which have any nexus to Baby Jesus. The Passion can, if you wish for a God-free event, be discarded altogether. In fact I know some atheists who adapted the old party game of Pin the Tail on the Donkey to Pin the Nail in the Martyr at their Easter party. The picture of the donkey was replaced by a crucifixion scene and the winner was that person who put the nail closest to spear wound in the Christ’s side. This is a game of immense tactlessness but it clearly works for this bunch of apostates. But of course, if you want to celebrate the birth of Jesus, then that is simple too.
And I know that many Jews simply do on Easter what every Christian does — have a meal with the family. There's nothing else to do. I imagine that other non-Christian groups do much the same thing.
So I believe that there is much curmudgeonly criticism of Easter. This criticism fails to take into account how well modern Australians (I’m an Ozzie) have adapted this strange mixture of spring time and Christian ritual into our secular context. It is still a ritual that can unite us on a national and family level. And in a world where shared community ritual is abating, where groups as diverse as footy clubs, churches and political parties struggle for members, we need every communal ritual we can grab to enhance our social cohesiveness.
Me? Well I do both Passover and Easter. Tonight I am going to a secular Passover meal where we eat matzo, sing the old songs and remind our Jewish side of the herd about that aspect of our lives. And at our Easter meal in a couple of days, we will swap eggs, maybe have a hunt and eat hot cross buns (no disrespectful Pin the Nail in the Martyr for us). Because I love community singing, I will probably go to Mass at St Carthage's Church or Maundy Thursday liturgy at St Paul’s Cathedral. I’ve missed Palm Sunday but there are plenty of choral opportunities awaiting me. Strange for a secular Jew you might think but actually quite consistent with the way modern, tolerant Australia has adapted to this festival that has never ceased to change to meet the changed circumstances of the societies where Easter exists. We all can celebrate without guilt. I do.
Dick Gross+614 1144 6167
Read more about the author’s views on the Passion of Christ at www.mordy.com.au.
