Why Christmas Instead of Easter?

[Judy from Boise]

We do Easter gifts in our house too....but certainly good friday to Easter Sunday is not the time for celebrating, so all of the joy gets put into the single day as opposed to the big buildup.
I personally love Easter music much better than Christmas music.

 

[Decorated_Dust]

If you run by the traditional Christian calender, there is actually more spiritual preparation for Easter than there is for Christmas. Before Easter, you have Lent, which is 40 days of giving up something you might worship other than God. Before Christmas, you have Advent, which is basically four Sundays and a total of one day of fasting. It is just an Americanized or paganized Christianity that celebrates Christmas as more important.

I have know for years that Jesus was born in spring, but it was not until I took a worship class that I realized that the position of Christmas is more significant than it appears. The Christian year begins with Advent and Christmas. We then enter into Epiphany, and then Lent. After Easter, there is Pentacost, which is a time where we recall what we were entrusted with when the Holy Spirit came upon us (this is a reminder many churches need). In short, we have the birth, blessing, death and Resurrection of Jesus, followed by the coming of the Holy Spirit, all "repeated" in one year so we do not forget. Pretty cool how that worked out.

Another thing about Christmas to remember is that it is an important outreach for many churches. Many people only go to church on Christmas (as well as Easter, but to a lesser extent), and this is an opportunity to share the Gospel and "advertise" the church (I hate using that word when it comes to church, but it's hard here in the states when you have to compete for people's attention). This could be another reason why actual churches seem to put so much of an emphasis on Christmas.

And yes, we too have Easter gifts.

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

As a Christ-follower my experiential take on the two holidays is that Christmas is big from the perspective of me celebrating with my family; Easter is about me and my spiritual journey with the risen Christ. Therefore I observe them differently.

 

[ConcKahuna]

Easter was actually named for Ēastre (also known as Ēostre or Ostara).

The legend of the "Easter Bunny" that I heard involved Ēostre (who is the goddess of the Spring).

There was once a robin who was very proud of jer song and his feathers. She was very mean to the other forest animals, since she felt none could sing as well as her or looked as beautiful. She would often make fun of the animals who had no voice, laughing at them in her musical voice. He would follow the squirrels and other animals with her red breast, teasing them with her bright colors.

The goddes Ēostre saw this, and thought to teach the robin a lesson. She turned the robin into a plain rabbit. No longer would the robin sing her songs, or tease other animals about being less colorful. The only thing that made her different than any of the other woodland creatures was the fact that she still laid the blue eggs of a robin. Having been humbled by her punishment, she would give the shells of her eggs to the other creatures so that they could use them to decorate their dens.

 

[cteddiesgirl]

Well, I treat the days as pretty equal. Christmas is extremely because it celebrates the day of Jesus' birth. Had He not been born, it would have been impossible for him to die and be re-born for Easter. Easter is much more important from a religious stand point. The resurrection is the proof that He is the Saviour.


Oh. In my family, we also got presents on Easter. They generally weren't wrapped, but we still got them. It was just on a much smaller scale than on Christmas.

 

[SanFranciscan]

There is also the whole idea of gift-giving for Jesus' birthday. I don't know too many cultures that exchange gifts at the death of a loved one.

BTW...Easter is definitely the more important day, at least religiously speaking.

I think that there is something rather sweet about giving someone a gift in memory of a newly deceased loved one so I doubt that I would find that offensive. I remember visiting a patient in a hospital who was so weak after surgery that she had trouble sitting up to read or anything. A television was brought to her bedside that said that it was donated in memory of the person named at the bottom of the television. I was a little touched by that.