Rebranding Easter for the millennial age
Wondering where your kids are, this long weekend? Probably hosting a friend ‘feast’ or having a gong bath, says Anna Hart
If baby boomer parents around Britain are still hoping to lure their adult children home for the Easter weekend with the offer of a roast dinner and a chocolate egg, they need to think again. In 2019, the competition is stiff, as growing numbers of millennials are choosing to celebrate the traditional Christian festival in some rather untraditional ways.
As far as 32-year-old BBC broadcaster Gemma Cairney is concerned, Easter is less about faith, and all about injecting some muchneeded fun into her life after the long winter months. She has organised an “Easter Extravaganza” rave on Saturday night in her hometown of Margate. “This is a time of new beginnings, soulful spring cleans and having a good time,” she says. “In times of global drudgery, any excuse to do nice things and come together with your friends is a good thing.”
For a number of years now, many have celebrated “Friendsmas” each December – gathering their pals for a Christmas celebration that is more about gin cocktails than Grandma’s eggnog. Now, an Easter spin-off is growing in popularity. Cairney’s version will include a photo booth and a mass roast dinner (for the hung-over) at the venue, Olby’s Soul Café. Such “friend feasts” have become an integral part of millennial Easter celebrations, with large groups of pals – or “urban families” – gathering at cafés and pubs. Increasing numbers of eateries have cottoned on to the trend, such as The Good Egg in London’s Stoke Newington, which offers a multicourse Middle Eastern menu as part of its “Easter feast”.
Face it, four-day weekends don’t come along very often, and for the young and unencumbered this is a precious chance to dance all night
have multiple days to recover. A long stint at the family home just doesn’t hold the same allure any more. Thirty-nine-year-old Alice Santana, who works in film, says that it’s also an opportunity for a muchneeded rest after a hectic first quarter of the year at work.
“For me, Easter is about beach walks, yoga, swimming and low-key celebrations with friends,” she says. “It’s sort of a restorative staycation that I’ve curated myself.”
The rebranding of Easter as a time to “reset” has also been observed by Megan Bradley, 32, who runs Margate’s Hotpod Yoga studio. “Over Easter, we’ve noticed our clients using the pod as a place to take time for themselves,” she says. “Easter brings warmer weather, lots of plans, outings and family get-togethers. As amazing as all of that is, sometimes we need space to ourselves to recharge our batteries, recalibrate and restore – it’s why we now stay open over this weekend.”
Most British parents understand that their millennial offspring (those born between 1980 and the midnineties) have suffered a reversal in financial fortunes, and are widely accepted to be the first generation worse off than their parents.
For overworked and cash-strapped young people, travelling across the country to see family – facing peak fares and clogged motorways – is a tradition that is fading fast. Not to mention that the rail networks seem to have chosen this particular weekend to carry out a slew of emergency works – one colleague, who is braving the journey to see her parents, reports that it will take her 4.5 hours compared to the usual two.
It would be wrong to imagine that all Easter traditions have melted away like an unloved Creme Egg. Easter still means a lot to millennials, even if religion might not, so they are creating their own rituals instead. Forget Auntie Jill’s simnel cake, enter drag queens and gong baths.
For the past five years, Paul Murray, 31, bar manager at The Brighton Tavern, has celebrated Easter Sunday by dressing up and taking part in the annual bonnet parade and drag queen race in aid of a local charity, The Rainbow Fund. “It has become the big Sunday afternoon tradition for a lot of members of the community here,” he says; so much so, that he’s now joined by his aunt and cousins from London. “It’s heartwarming that an LGBTQ event has become such an important part of people’s traditions.”
Being more community-focused is a characteristic regularly attributed to millennials, so it should come as no surprise that, for many, celebrating Easter is about broadening the definition of a “family” and “giving something back”.
Fundraising events are increasingly part of a young person’s plans, and organisers and non-profits now see Easter as an important date in the calendar. On top of events such as Breast Cancer Care’s annual Easter Walk, this year has seen a proliferation of “beach cleans” and volunteerled community events by homeless charities like The People’s Kitchen.
This weekend, 24-year-old Jessica Spencer, who works at an interfaith charity, is hosting a vegetarian Passover Seder for 10 at her flat in Finsbury Park, London.
“My parents are visiting from Edinburgh, but it’s mostly friends coming – a mixture of Jews and nonjews,” she says, pointing out that not all are religious. Jessica is making vegetarian moussaka, quinoa salad, roasted vegetables and hazelnut cake, on top of the traditional unleavened matzah bread. The entire evening will pay respect to the ageold Jewish Passover, while adding more modern elements.
“Traditionally, it is presided over by the patriarch of the family, but this time will be me and a friend,” says Jessica. “But we are adhering to other rituals. I want this to offer an opportunity for all of us to remember communities in the world that still aren’t free, and think about how we can help change this in the year ahead.”
There are also plenty of alternative events catering to those young people who identify as “spiritual but not religious”.
Daren Ellis runs Aho Studio, a shamanic healing space in Hackney Wick. Last night apparently saw a “powerful pink moon”, so he organised an all-night “gong sleepover”. That, for the uninitiated, is where someone plays gongs and crystal bowls from 10pm until 7am. “And on Easter Sunday, we have a special foraging afternoon with John the Poacher in Hackney Marshes,” says Ellis, “so you get to go home with all sorts of fresh edibles you have picked from the land.”
Easter might not look quite like it did a decade ago. But surely the whole point of any holiday – the whole point of any celebration – is that it moves with the times? “I think the Easter weekend is about curating whatever your personal idea of a valuable time is,” says Gemma Cairney. “Be it eating chocolate, dancing with friends or doing yoga – the chance to make life sweeter is something to be grateful for.”
‘This is a time of soulful springcleans – and having a good time’