Easter over Santa

Easter  over  Santa

Lukas Vanek

 

        As a kid, I was told Easter was the most important Christian holiday. Even more important than Christmas. That sounded strange. How could remembering someone being tortured to death be more important than having a Christmas tree and gifts? No matter what the adults said, I still liked Christmas more.

        Growing older, I started to comprehend and appreciate the concepts of selfless sacrifice, transformation, and a new beginning. My view on Easter, however, has not been the only thing changing at that time. Ever-so-popular Christmas has been so heavily commercialized that it almost became a one-size-fits-all product. Now, when people hear “Christmas”, they probably think of Santa and gifts no matter whether they live in the Americas, Europe, or even in the parts of the world that did not know much about it some fifty years ago. Thus, once such an intensely meaningful event became nearly meaningless.

 

        Easter, with its not-so-popular motives of suffering, dying, and resurrection, has been partly spared this cultural mutilation. And while chocolate eggs and bunnies are now more spread than ever, the way people in different countries celebrate this holiday varies significantly. Splashing each other with water in Poland, arranging flower carpets in Guatemala, dancing in a Jamaican carnival, hunting rabbits in New Zealand, or rolling eggs in the United States are as contrasting as spring festival variations in Asia.

        Getting older yet, I value Easter for a completely other aspect. To me, it is a symbol of people of various cultures being able to celebrate the same motive of spring and rebirth in their unique ways without one overpowering another. It is a symbol of joint continuity and recreation. A symbol of hope in an attainable peaceful diversity.

 

 

404班 林思瑜

       During the Easter activity in Mr. Armon's class last week, we learned about cooperation during our Easter egg hunt. Of course, a little bit of luck also helped us find the “right” eggs successfully. We all realized that the eggs could be anywhere, and this made the game really interesting. Thanks to teacher Armon who has in the past tried to teach us English by using fun games and activities. 

This time he taught us about Easter and its practices and customs. We competed in an egg hunt, egg spoon race, and egg rolling race. We also played Easter bingo near the end of the class which helped us learn about Easter vocabulary. It was a wonderful and fun experience!

 

402班 張宏澤

        Easter is a very special holiday in Western culture. However, in Asian countries, it is not popular. This is why Teacher Armon taught us about this holiday in class last week. We did many different activities. First, Teacher Armon taught us about the history and customs of Easter. To Christians, Easter is considered a very important day. They believed that Jesus was resurrected, and came back to life, on this day. After that, we had an egg hunt. Eggs were hidden all around the classroom. The eggs were colorful. The game was fun! Then Teacher Armon taught us words about Easter before we played bingo. I won! 

Easter class was a fun class!

 

402班 張心妍

       Easter is one of the most important holidays of Christianity. In the Western world, things like bunnies and eggs are symbols of Easter. Easter is a holiday commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is one of the most valued and celebrated holidays in the Christian faith. Teacher Armon taught this to us in class. Afterward, we played Easter games. We had an Easter egg hunt in class. 

We also had an egg-rolling and egg-spoon race in the hallway. We also learned Easter words and played Easter bingo. It was fun to learn and play at the same time. Happy Easter!

 

 

203班 岑昕晏

       Easter is a holiday that celebrates the spring after a long winter. It is also a religious holiday that is very important to Christians. Teacher Armon taught us in class what rabbits and eggs have to do with Jesus coming back to life. Nothing. 

Rabbits and eggs are symbols of fertility and spring, “new life.” Christians wanted to convert people that celebrated spring and these symbols, so they just changed the story. After learning about the history of Easter, we played Easter games in class. Everything from Easter bingo, egg hunt, and egg races, made learning about Easter a lot more fun!

 

203班 余宥安

       I think this Easter activity is very interesting. Teacher Armon first showed us a video about Easter. He then explained the history of Easter and how it is celebrated. He also explained about the different candy and chocolate that parents give to kids on Easter. I was really interested in learning about the Easter egg hunt. Teacher Armon told us that they don't use hard-boiled eggs anymore. 

People now use plastic eggs with candy, chocolates, and other surprises inside the egg! I really want to experience this activity firsthand if I ever travel abroad, but for now, Teacher Armon had us do our own egg hunt in class. Though there was no candy inside the egg, he did give us candy for winning the egg hunt, which is just as good.

 

405班 施彥廷

        Easter is a holiday in the West. I was not too familiar with this holiday and have never had a class about it before. Teacher Armon's class last week was the first time that I learned about this special holiday. What did we do in class on that day? We learned about the history of Easter. We had an egg hunt in class. We also watched videos about some of the customs and traditions of Easter in the US, but playing Easter bingo was where I had the most fun. I am an unlucky person and most of my classmates got bingo. I didn't even complete one line, but it was fun to play regardless. Easter might be about religion, however, the activities seem to be about kids having fun. Try to find eggs around your home next spring, who knows, you might even have some fun as I did in class.