Fwd: MARCH 30, 3013

      Here we are at another religious holiday--but like most of our religious holidays, Easter has acquired some other personalities over the years.

     Christmas originally celebrated--and still does, of course, the birth of Christ.  But those who are less religious can worry happily about gifts and decorating trees. Thanksgiving originally was thanking God for the Pilgrims' survival in a sometimes harsh land.  Food mattered in that survival, of course, but it's really taken over the day now--more emphasis on turkey and fixings than on thanks for survival.  The Pilgrims were giving thanks in a New England winter;  you know they meant it.

     Easter is similar.  It began among Christians as a celebration of Jesus' revival and ascent into heaven.  It still is that, of course, but for some of them and for many other Americans, it is also a celebration of spring, renewal--fancy eggs and bunnies in funny hats.

     Maybe what all the holidays add up to is a celebration of our diversity, of how many traditions we can happily observe.

     Happy whatever.