A
Allegra
Guest
So, in my community, a nearby orchard/farm has a really fun Easter-themed celebration that includes photos with the “Easter Bunny” (a person in a furry suit) as well as the opportunities to hold baby Easter bunnies (real ones). The kids also get to hold chicks and ducklings, have their faces painted, ride on some carnival rides, decorate a cookie, plant a flower that they get to keep, and ride around the orchard in a hay ride. It’s really inexpensive, the kids totally love it, and I get dozens of photos of my children in their spring dress clothes covered with fluffy ducklings and bunny rabbits.
But the thing is, it’s several weekends before Easter. On one hand, with the exception of the choice of a cross as a cookie shape and a few decorative features that give a nod to the Risen Lord, it’s a 90% secular event. They could easily call it the “Spring Festival” with little change to the event. But they don’t. And I feel a little weird taking my kids to something that is marketed as an Easter celebration in the middle of Lent.
Last year I even sent an email to the farm and pointed out that some families might be more apt to come if they had at least one week of the event (they run it for three weekends in a row) during the liturgical Easter season rather than have all three before Easter when many families are practicing Lent. They sent me a response and explained that their difficulty is that there is such a range of dates that Easter can fall on and when Easter is later, it’s actually really difficult for them to the Easter weekends at all because they really need all hands on deck for the increase in actual farm work in the spring. I guess that makes sense.
So how bad is dressing up your kids in Easter-esque attire and taking them to play with bunnies and chicks and do “spring things” before Easter officially starts? If it makes a difference, we always go on a Sunday after Mass, because in college, a Jesuit told me that we shouldn’t fast or do penance on a Sunday.
If I refrain from calling it an Easter egg hunt and avoid the Easter bunny photo (not really a problem anyway. He’s totally creepy) can we just call this a Spring Festival? I’m not usually scrupulous about stuff, but this just sits a little uneasy with me. I grew up in a Catholic-in-name-only-family and we didn’t practice Lent as much as we rolled our eyes at it. I don’t really want that for my kids and that might make me a little over-sensitive.
But the thing is, it’s several weekends before Easter. On one hand, with the exception of the choice of a cross as a cookie shape and a few decorative features that give a nod to the Risen Lord, it’s a 90% secular event. They could easily call it the “Spring Festival” with little change to the event. But they don’t. And I feel a little weird taking my kids to something that is marketed as an Easter celebration in the middle of Lent.
Last year I even sent an email to the farm and pointed out that some families might be more apt to come if they had at least one week of the event (they run it for three weekends in a row) during the liturgical Easter season rather than have all three before Easter when many families are practicing Lent. They sent me a response and explained that their difficulty is that there is such a range of dates that Easter can fall on and when Easter is later, it’s actually really difficult for them to the Easter weekends at all because they really need all hands on deck for the increase in actual farm work in the spring. I guess that makes sense.
So how bad is dressing up your kids in Easter-esque attire and taking them to play with bunnies and chicks and do “spring things” before Easter officially starts? If it makes a difference, we always go on a Sunday after Mass, because in college, a Jesuit told me that we shouldn’t fast or do penance on a Sunday.
If I refrain from calling it an Easter egg hunt and avoid the Easter bunny photo (not really a problem anyway. He’s totally creepy) can we just call this a Spring Festival? I’m not usually scrupulous about stuff, but this just sits a little uneasy with me. I grew up in a Catholic-in-name-only-family and we didn’t practice Lent as much as we rolled our eyes at it. I don’t really want that for my kids and that might make me a little over-sensitive.