Spend wisely this Children’s Sunday and for Easter
BULA vinaka shoppers, The commercialisation of major holidays can make consumers feel they must purchase certain goods to celebrate the day fully or make it relevant. This is driven by clever advertising campaigns of what traders deem to be goods that are essential to the holiday.
For Easter, this may be chocolate eggs, hot cross buns and more. However, consumers should consider these are not all essential to the celebration of Easter. Easter celebrates the defeat of death and the hope of salvation for Christians. Leading up to Easter is Children’s Sunday or Palm Sunday.
Rooted in more than 2000 years of ritual and rite, Easter commemorates the central event in the Christian calendar.
It markes the fulfilling of the biblical prophecy of a Messiah who would rise from the dead and give eternal life in heaven to those who believe in Him.
The holiday takes place at the end of Lent, a 40-day season of fasting and repentance that culminates in Holy Week and a commemoration of the biblical events surrounding Jesus’ persecution, crucifixion, death and resurrection.
Holy Week includes Palm Sunday or Children’s Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and Easter Sunday.
John says too much spending is placed on Easter that actually starts a week before with Children’s/Palm Sunday this week.
“There’s just a lot of spending involved and this needs to change to suit the times we live in, as many families are struggling to make ends meet,” he rightly said.
Every year we know families will look for the white dresses for girls and the white shirts and black sulu for boys with matching shoes and other accessories. Sometimes our families overspend to keep up with trends and fashion and to please relatives during these get togethers.
It’s a time to celebrate and when we do we end up spending a lot of money on food, desserts as well as clothes which can be tight on the budget whether we live in town or villages. Looking back I recall how Children’s Sunday was always about having a new attire and memorising Bible verses.
Sunday School practice would be about cramming a whole sermon and enacting
Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem.
Families look forward to church programs featuring the children.
And if you had a mum like mine she would go out of her way to sew a new dress every year.
Children’s Sunday or Palm Sunday feast is special for Christians. Its very name originates from the palm branches waved by the crowd to greet and honour Jesus as he entered the city.
Sala a single mother of a toddler says she has to find a white shirt for her son as they looked forward to a big get together for a Sunday family lunch this weekend. She said she would buy a white shirt that matched her budget of around $10-$20 for her son to wear this Sunday.
The mother of one who is making a lot of sacrifices to complete her law degree said she would look for a shirt that was big in size for her son so she did not have to keep buying one every year. Sounds smart coming from a working mother, cause she was already thinking of not having to keep buying every year.
It made me think about what John said that too much money was wasted on such events. Christians should realise the whole Easter observance was not about hot cross buns or Easter chocolate bunnies and new clothes with matching accesories. “We have just commercialised the event more over the years and it has taken the true meaning of the death of Jesus Christ to save sinners like you and me away,” he said.
The commercialisation of these events takes the focus away from its true meaning of Children’s/Palm Sunday and the Easter holidays. If you can afford to splash money and celebrate in a big way, fine.
But if you don’t than spend wisely and just buy what you need or clothes that your children can wear again. After all Easter should be about sharing the love of Christ. So tomorrow as you shop around for Children’s Sunday and for the long Easter weekend next week, think about the less fortunate families and how you can celebrate with lasting memories without overspending. Happy shopping and enjoy Children’s Sunday all!