As the Easter season passes, I have been wondering what about Easter feels so different to other periods of holiday, like Christmas. Initially, Easter seems less commercialised than Christmas, but as I paid more attention to the concept of Easter and how people choose to celebrate it, it has become clearer and clearer that the Easter Bunny and its entourage have suffered the same fate as Santa Claus.
The religious meaning of Easter, be it the Christian resurrection of Jesus, the celebration of Spring, the Pagan celebration of fertility, or another source of celebration, seems to have been lost to the clutches of chocolate Easter Bunnies and eggs alike.
Just because the Easter Bunny is yet to be seasonally employed by Coca-Cola to sell soft drinks doesn’t mean the holiday is not commercialised. In the UK, all it takes to see this is to walk through the confectionery aisle of any supermarket to be swarmed by tiny chocolate bunnies and eggs of varying dimensions, flavours, and add-ins (would you like some popping candy or melty caramel?). The seasonal craze for Cadbury’s Creme Eggs alone shows how companies have come to take advantage of the Easter Season.
Abroad, it gets even more obvious. Walking through the streets of Milan, it is possible to bear witness to high-fashion chocolate eggs worth literally hundreds, if not thousands, of Euros. If you don’t believe me, look up Marchesi 1824 and be prepared for a shock as you navigate the Easter section of their website. If that isn’t a show of commercialisation, I’m not sure what is.
Ultimately, although Easter is not as commercialised as Christmas or Valentine’s Day (I have yet to see children line up to meet the Easter Bunny, and adults seem to lack a compulsion to book Easter-themed getaways as is seen at Valentine’s Day), various companies take advantage of the holiday for financial gain. Thus, I am afraid to report that Easter is not the last non-commercialised holiday. Maybe the next step is that we will be drinking soft drinks in Easter-themed cans.
Image by Tracy Ratliff (@paisley_pen_creative) for The Student
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Is Easter the last standing non-commercialised holiday?
As the Easter season passes, I have been wondering what about Easter feels so different to other periods of holiday, like Christmas. Initially, Easter seems less commercialised than Christmas, but as I paid more attention to the concept of Easter and how people choose to celebrate it, it has become clearer and clearer that the Easter Bunny and its entourage have suffered the same fate as Santa Claus.
The religious meaning of Easter, be it the Christian resurrection of Jesus, the celebration of Spring, the Pagan celebration of fertility, or another source of celebration, seems to have been lost to the clutches of chocolate Easter Bunnies and eggs alike.
Just because the Easter Bunny is yet to be seasonally employed by Coca-Cola to sell soft drinks doesn’t mean the holiday is not commercialised. In the UK, all it takes to see this is to walk through the confectionery aisle of any supermarket to be swarmed by tiny chocolate bunnies and eggs of varying dimensions, flavours, and add-ins (would you like some popping candy or melty caramel?). The seasonal craze for Cadbury’s Creme Eggs alone shows how companies have come to take advantage of the Easter Season.
Abroad, it gets even more obvious. Walking through the streets of Milan, it is possible to bear witness to high-fashion chocolate eggs worth literally hundreds, if not thousands, of Euros. If you don’t believe me, look up Marchesi 1824 and be prepared for a shock as you navigate the Easter section of their website. If that isn’t a show of commercialisation, I’m not sure what is.
Ultimately, although Easter is not as commercialised as Christmas or Valentine’s Day (I have yet to see children line up to meet the Easter Bunny, and adults seem to lack a compulsion to book Easter-themed getaways as is seen at Valentine’s Day), various companies take advantage of the holiday for financial gain. Thus, I am afraid to report that Easter is not the last non-commercialised holiday. Maybe the next step is that we will be drinking soft drinks in Easter-themed cans.
Image by Tracy Ratliff (@paisley_pen_creative) for The Student
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