1. Introduction | Celebrating Easter
Hello, everyone! It’s time to celebrate Easter, so grab your chocolate, remember not to eat meat if you’re Christian and gather the family!
Okay, there’s a little problem there, right?
Unfortunately, due to the recent social isolation we can’t celebrate Easter with the whole family, but worry not my dears, CNN Health gave us a whole list on “How to celebrate Easter during a pandemic”:
How to celebrate Easter
A central theme across planning for religious holidays this year is to do it virtually.
“We are speaking of downloading a multi-video chat app for Easter,” said Steven McCoy, a journalist and founder of Spoken Entertainment from New York City. “Easter has always been big in our family so we wanted to ensure we still celebrate it.”
The McCoy family’s plan is to get together with extended family via video chat all day, and paint Easter eggs over a web cam. They’ll do what McCoy called an “Easter Quarantine Egg Hunt” by hiding the eggs within their camera-framed space and giving each player three chances to guess where the egg might be.
“I find that it is imperative to always have alternative ideas. I look at it as a first aid kit celebration,” McCoy said. “Finding a way to celebrate the holidays with your family is so important. [I’m] so grateful for technology!”
Families don’t have to hold back on dressing up this year. Sorrentino and her family plan to mimic the Front Steps Project, where photographers (from a distance) take portraits of families posed near their front steps. Her daughters will set up a tripod so they can still take a family Easter photo even without a photographer.
“It is a way to get dressed instead of staying in your pyjamas all day and being depressed that you’re not seeing family,” Sorrentino said.
Her family’s evening activities are made possible by Zoom. This way, the extended families can still have dinner, coffee and dessert together; play charades and other games; and allow the kids to see their cousins.
“Even though we can’t physically be next to each other, we still can be with each other. We can still have all the same conversations and enjoy each other’s company,” Sorrentino said.
If you’re concerned about missing church on Easter Sunday, you can attend an online service or search for a drive-in service in your area. Maybe participate in a virtual egg decorating contest.
Some people are organizing Easter egg hunts in their neighbourhoods. It sounds counterintuitive to social distancing guidelines, but it works by families hanging pictures of Easter eggs on their front door or windows.
Parents can then take turns walking their kids around the block to find which homes have eggs. The eggs will have a number next to them so children can keep track of how many they find without picking them up.
An adult in the neighbourhood can also organize a social distancing visit from the Easter Bunny by donning a costume and waving to little ones from afar.
“Both of these activities sound reasonable and pose no risk so long as people maintain appropriate distancing, and the kids don’t pick up the eggs,” said Dr. Daniel Kuritzkes, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
“People who have been diagnosed with Covid-19 should not participate (stay inside!), nor should they be preparing eggs to hide on their lawns or porches, in case young children impulsively rush to pick them up.” Easter means a lot to the McCoy family.
“My family and I are disappointed that we can’t be together on Easter this year, especially after so many absences throughout the year due to everyone’s work schedules. Easter means a lot to us as it is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ,” McCoy said.
“However, we are so grateful that everyone is alive and well as we plan to get through this pandemic together — even if it means we have to be creative during our time separated.”
(Adapted from here)
Reflection:
Read the questions below. You can write the answers on your notebook, in a text file in your computer / cell phone or send us a message using the comments.
- 1. Do you usually celebrate Easter with your family?
- 2. Had you considered any of those possibilities to celebrate Easter before reading the text?
- 3. Did you like any of the suggestions? Would you do any of them? Which one?
- 4. CNN is an American news network, so the cultural examples they use are all American. What are some different traditions in the text that we don’t do here in Brazil?
Learning outcomes: By the end of this lesson you will be able to:talk and discuss Easter; talk about the cultural differences of Easter.