Children’s view of Easter revealing
With all the commercial hype at Easter, many children are unaware of the religious significance and assume the event celebrates chocolate eggs, writes
IT’S Easter, a time when millions of Christians from across the world mourn the death and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from his tomb.
It’s also a time when children indulge in chocolate Easter eggs, many completely oblivious to the meaning or significance behind them.
A 2010 UK study – conducted by British Lion Eggs among 1 000 children aged six to 10 – revealed that most children do not have a clue about the meaning of Easter. It was found that a whopping 53% did not know what Easter was about, with 30% mistakenly thinking it’s a time to celebrate the Easter bunny’s birthday.
One in 20 of the children thought Easter marks the birth of Jesus, while many did not know why chocolate Easter eggs were eaten at this time of year.
More than a quarter thought Easter time was the anniversary of the invention of chocolate.
In an article that appeared on the website Egg Info, a British Lion Eggs spokesperson was quoted as saying: “Almost every youngster looks forward to Easter, yet it seems few actually know why they celebrate it.”
Eggs are associated with Easter as they signify the new life associated with springtime which in the northern hemisphere occurs at this time of year.
“Easter Sunday also marks the end of Lent – hens kept producing eggs even though people stopped eating them during Lent, so there was a surplus for everyone to enjoy on Easter Sunday.
“However, for children, it seems Easter is really about chocolate eggs rather than the meaning behind them,” reads the article.
Within the same study, the children were just as stumped about the meaning of Lent, with 40% saying it was to mark Jesus’ time in the wilderness.
Lent is in fact a religious observance recognised by Christians in preparation for Easter which begins on Ash Wednesday, which this year was on March 1 and ends 40 days later not counting Sundays, on Holy Saturday, this year on April 15.
The 40 days are said to represent the time Jesus spent in the wilderness, enduring the temptation of Satan and preparing to begin his ministry.
Lent is a time of repentance, fasting and preparation for the coming of Easter.
This week the Daily Dispatch did its own mini survey on children in East London aged between five to 12 to ask if they knew what Easter was. Almost all the respondents associated Easter with either the Easter Bunny or with chocolate eggs, with very few mentioning Jesus. Their responses are: ● Gabby Castro, 5: “I don’t know what Easter is, all I know is the Easter bunny. I love eating Easter eggs but I don’t know what it’s about or where the eggs come from.”
● Joshua Cole, 10: “Easter is a day to hide eggs, find them and eat them. It’s also a time where you get to celebrate being together as a family.”
● Christopher Swart, 12: “Easter is about Jesus. I know it’s about Jesus but I just don’t know what exactly. I just know that it’s about Jesus.”
● Lela Foqo, 8: “I don’t know what Easter is and I also don’t know what the Easter bunny is. They might have something to do with Easter eggs.”
● Anam Dlayedwa, 10: “I know something about Easter but not a lot. I know that it’s about Jesus’s death, I heard about it at church. I don’t know much about the Easter bunny but I do eat Easter eggs.”
● Anowam Ndabambi, 5: “Easter is about the Easter bunny. It’s a time when the Easter bunny bounces and he bounces all through Easter leaving eggs behind.”
● Ronelia Oerson, 7: “Easter is about Jesus becoming Christ. I heard all about it on TV.”
● Cesika Swart, 8: “I don’t know much about Easter but I think it’s when Jesus stood up on the wood. I also don’t know much about the Easter bunny, like where he comes from, but I do eat lots of Easter eggs at Easter.”
● Yanga Toto, 7: “I think I heard my mother say it’s the time Jesus dies and then the Easter bunny comes to give him eggs to make him better again and then he wakes up.”
● Mbali Ronga, 5: “We learnt all about Easter at school. Our teacher told us that the Easter Bunny hides all the eggs; we find them and we eat them.”
Pastor Tshepo Machaea of Ibandla Lasemthini Evangelical Movement stressed the importance of teaching children about Easter.
According to Machaea, Easter is a time to commemorate and mourn the death of Jesus – and to remember and observe all the pain he went through.
“Children need to be taught the importance of Easter and learn all of the stages of the cross so they can understand the path Jesus followed.
“This will teach children from a young age the power of the word,” he said, also lamenting the fact that Easter was too commercialised, with many people taking advantage of the time off from work to perform unrelated activities.
“Some commercial churches like to go on trips or host conferences at this time which is not right. Easter eggs and the Easter bunny have no place at Easter. I think the two are different. Easter is being treated like Christmas, completely commercialised and deviating from the true issue.
“I don’t think this sort of thing benefits anyone and many end up not understanding the true significance of these days.”
Pastor Tutuma Rixane of the Christian Awake Ministries said Easter was about getting people back to the pure state they were in before sin. He said Easter was a time of forgiving of sins and beginning again.
“This is the time to say to anyone, irrespective of the sins they have committed, that they can turn over and enter into the eternal life offered by God. Every one of us has been born into sin but that sin can be forgiven. We can connect with God with the blood of Jesus Christ which was spilt for our sins to be forgiven.”
Also associated with Easter are hot-cross buns and pickled fish. These are typically the only food eaten by Christians on Good Friday.
In a story which appeared in the Daily Dispatch in 2013 Catholic priest Father Peter Whitehead explained that the practice dated back to 1966 where restaurant menus in all Catholic countries had fish as a main meal.
Although things changed over time, many families still have the meal on Good Friday, Whitehead had said then.