i had no idea easter was a party holiday

[dhex]

but apparently in astoria it is. saw some epic puke puddles on the way to work today, like someone squeezed a hippo filled to the brim with bad ideas.

[FortNinety]

You know, despite growing up Catholic, I had no idea that Easter was the biggest day of the Christian faith, even bigger than Christmas (Katie had to clarify for me). For me, it was just another year that I got candy, Ben Hur is on tv, and my mom got all creepy about the son of God.

This was also the first year in which I actually paid attention to the celebration in the city, mostly due to all the protests and the such. The parade in which folks don wacky hats is a yearly thing? I saw a guy dressed as Optimus Prime for example.

[isfet]

you know, it's funny.  i had the realization the other day of how important Easter is technically supposed to be, too.  even though i grew up Catholic and went to church fairly often, i never really quite got the sense of "THIS IS A FUCKING MIRACLE" imbued into me.  maybe that's my own fault, though, and not the church's.

as for heavy drinking?  yea, i dunno.  over eating of chocolate and jelly beans?  HELL YA

[dmauro]

Christmas is much bigger for Catholics in my experience. It's maybe not as important spiritually, but it also has all the weight of all the secular world behind it.

[Fitz]

Orthodox Easter is a multigenerational party event.  This year, by ancient astrological processes which make little sense, the Roman and Orthodox Easter fell upon the same date, and coincided with Passover.

Matt and Joe, given how shoddy Catholic education is about its own faith I'm not surprised you didn't know Easter was the most important ecclesiastical holiday. Christmas has a much greater social quality to it and has a lot more to appeal to kids.  The Easter observance is frankly a bit too esoteric for most people to wrap their heads around.

In an "ideal world" kids would be given some kind of short acting hallucinogenic and then be made to watch a re-edited version of "The Passion of the Christ" taking out all the Hallmark Channel moments and just leaving in the brutality and resurrection. It would be a major Loyolaian Mind Fucker but it might give a sense of what the stakes are within that particular religious frame of reference.