Different or Otherwise, Happy Easter to All

By: Joe Mauricio

 

This coming Easter Sunday 2021 will be different than any Easter celebrations we have exprienced in the living memory.

Churches are closed and silent these days (virtual services only), and so are many restaurants and bars.

For this coming Easter Sunday celebration, family members who don’t live under the same roof will not be gathering for the traditional Easter feast of ham, lamb, potatoes, salads and spring vegetables.

Many kids’ real egg hunts are happening in grocery aisles, not in backyards.

The Covid pandemic has shut down homes, churches, party places, and the countries’ economies around the world, and casts a shadow more in keeping the darkness of Good Friday Crucifixion than the sunrise of Easter Resurretion.

Easter is a special day for more than two billion Christians around the world, most of whom will be worshipping through modern techs of remote streaming or through Zoom.

It is not a religious holiday for others, but it has become a celebration all over the world nonetheless.

The holiday traditionally involves family gatherings, centered on children, and mostly, the the unofficial celebration of the beginning of Spring, a traditional time for embracing renewal, rebirth, and a sense of hope after a winter of a lot of snow.

That’s a hope shared by Muslim friends in the Nowruz New Year, by the Indians during the Holi Festival of Colors, by our Jewish friends marking Passover, and many others.

This year, this Easter message of HOPE and Renwal is especially WELCOME, as the nation heads into what experts believe will be the peak of the Covid-19 deaths.

It is a great time for collective pause, and let’s embrace all the good news and all hopes we can find each way for Easter HAPPY EASTER TO ALL!