Christians and Fools: The Problem With Holidays
I don't know how my more religious family members and friends feel, but I think it's sacrilegious for Easter and Passover to be celebrated on the same day we are celebrating fools. How did that happen? April First is always fools' day, and Easter is always on Sunday. But both Easter and Passover move around; sometimes they're in March, sometimes in April. I didn't worry about why those religious holidays weren't, like Christmas, always on the same date, until they landed on April First. When I researched the scheduling of Passover and Easter, I discovered (according to the Internet) that the scheduling is based on the full moon. WHAT!? I can understand why Halloween or even Valentine's Day might be connected to the moon, but why Easter and Passover? Maybe I need to contact a religious scholar or read a book about religious holidays.
Too often the dates for holidays and even the holidays themselves seem arbitrary. After researching Easter and Passover, I decided to investigate why fools were celebrated on April 1. Why not June 1 or December 30? Apparently, the Dutch started it in 1561. But why celebrate fools and fooling at all? Why not have a celebration of smart or wise people? Why not have a day when we try to show off our wit and knowledge? We could celebrate wisdom and intelligence on Einstein's birthday, March 14. Following that logic, since we have a day, February 14, when we celebrate love, we should have a day to celebrate hate. I'd choose Trump's birthday, but June 14 is already a holiday, Flag Day, so Hitler's birthday, April 20, could be the day we post mean messages on Facebook, send hateful cards (Hallmark will have to create new cards), or have nasty gifts (whatever food our targets dislike or to which they are allergic) delivered to the people we hate.
Actually, we don't need to add any holidays; we need to delete some. There are already too many holidays. A friendly Irish Facebook friend, who likes to wish his friends happy holidays, wished us a Happy Saint Joseph's Day two days after wishing us a Happy Saint Patrick's Day. Who is Saint Joseph, and how did I manage to reach the age of sixty-nine without realizing that March 19 was his day? Another Facebook friend, a paternal second cousin, recently posted a picture of her cute dog and announced that it was Puppy Day; I guess it couldn't be Dog Day because that means something else and happens in the late summer, not the late winter or early spring. Still another Facebook friend named Linda claimed that one day last week was Linda day. She obviously forgot what I told her last year when she posted that same announcement. If there is a female name that should have a day, it's mine. Linda was not the mother of Jesus; Mary was. And if we have a day for each name, even each female name, we will run out of days. One of my mother's caretakers just had a cute baby girl named Bailey. My nieces are named Hazmine and Yakieya. Should their names have a day?
Instead of adding more holidays, let's fix Easter so that it will never again happen on April First. Easter should be treated like Thanksgiving, which is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November. We should celebrate Easter on either the last Sunday in March or the second Sunday in April. No more Easters on April Fools Day. I would fix Passover, but I was raised Christian, so I have no business telling my Jewish friends and neighbors what to do with their religious holidays.
Happy Easter or Passover, religious friends and family. Happy April Fools Day to all fools.
Too often the dates for holidays and even the holidays themselves seem arbitrary. After researching Easter and Passover, I decided to investigate why fools were celebrated on April 1. Why not June 1 or December 30? Apparently, the Dutch started it in 1561. But why celebrate fools and fooling at all? Why not have a celebration of smart or wise people? Why not have a day when we try to show off our wit and knowledge? We could celebrate wisdom and intelligence on Einstein's birthday, March 14. Following that logic, since we have a day, February 14, when we celebrate love, we should have a day to celebrate hate. I'd choose Trump's birthday, but June 14 is already a holiday, Flag Day, so Hitler's birthday, April 20, could be the day we post mean messages on Facebook, send hateful cards (Hallmark will have to create new cards), or have nasty gifts (whatever food our targets dislike or to which they are allergic) delivered to the people we hate.
Actually, we don't need to add any holidays; we need to delete some. There are already too many holidays. A friendly Irish Facebook friend, who likes to wish his friends happy holidays, wished us a Happy Saint Joseph's Day two days after wishing us a Happy Saint Patrick's Day. Who is Saint Joseph, and how did I manage to reach the age of sixty-nine without realizing that March 19 was his day? Another Facebook friend, a paternal second cousin, recently posted a picture of her cute dog and announced that it was Puppy Day; I guess it couldn't be Dog Day because that means something else and happens in the late summer, not the late winter or early spring. Still another Facebook friend named Linda claimed that one day last week was Linda day. She obviously forgot what I told her last year when she posted that same announcement. If there is a female name that should have a day, it's mine. Linda was not the mother of Jesus; Mary was. And if we have a day for each name, even each female name, we will run out of days. One of my mother's caretakers just had a cute baby girl named Bailey. My nieces are named Hazmine and Yakieya. Should their names have a day?
Instead of adding more holidays, let's fix Easter so that it will never again happen on April First. Easter should be treated like Thanksgiving, which is celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November. We should celebrate Easter on either the last Sunday in March or the second Sunday in April. No more Easters on April Fools Day. I would fix Passover, but I was raised Christian, so I have no business telling my Jewish friends and neighbors what to do with their religious holidays.
Happy Easter or Passover, religious friends and family. Happy April Fools Day to all fools.
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