Oh I am sure that many non-religious folks observe it just not as many as do Christmas.
Easter is really more Pagan than anything else. At least in how it is celebrated! It is more about spring's arrival(again, Pagan), the emphasis on nature - ducks and bunnies and the like, the eggs, it's almost all Pagan.
Christmas is also quite Pagan. The date comes from the time that Christians and Mithraites were forced to share catacombs for worship when they were both being persecuted by the Romans. The date is very near the Winter Solstice which was a holy day for the Mithraites.
But the emphasis on the candy and stuff for both holidays? That's all fairly recent and can be traced back to Europe in the last couple of centuries. Santa Claus, gift-giving, those are more recent practices.
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Date: 2010-03-14 11:58 pm (UTC)Easter is really more Pagan than anything else. At least in how it is celebrated! It is more about spring's arrival(again, Pagan), the emphasis on nature - ducks and bunnies and the like, the eggs, it's almost all Pagan.
Christmas is also quite Pagan. The date comes from the time that Christians and Mithraites were forced to share catacombs for worship when they were both being persecuted by the Romans. The date is very near the Winter Solstice which was a holy day for the Mithraites.
But the emphasis on the candy and stuff for both holidays? That's all fairly recent and can be traced back to Europe in the last couple of centuries. Santa Claus, gift-giving, those are more recent practices.