Easter. Again.

This week (I'm still not clear on what day) is EASTER for the Greek Orthodox Church. This brings up an aspect of Australia that I actually feel like protesting. OK, I don't really care that the Greek Orthodox may have a different calendar or way of calculating the exact date of this historical event that may or may not have happened and been misinterpreted. Their Greek interpretation may be closer than any English one, certainly.

No, what I feel like protesting in Australia is the alignment that happened between the Christian event calendar and the pagan event calendar, so that more pagans would be able to keep their holiday traditions and still become Christian. Cutting down an evergreen tree in the dead of winter and bringing it into the home - nice. Easter eggs and rabbits symbolizing both pagan fertility rites and the rebirth of Christ - in the SPRING. Yes, in the spring that makes sense. Stringing up lights to celebrate the winter solstice and compensate for the short days of winter - that's when my itchiness began. It makes absolutely no sense to hang out Christmas lights that don't come on until 9:30pm in the summer. Easter eggs in the fall? Ridiculous - but actually, maybe I'm wrong - are there any birds that migrate to Australia and lay eggs in April/May - which is Australian fall?? Unnecessary side-track - the egg thing was TOTALLY adopted, as were all these other traditions, from the Northern Hemisphere, where they made perfect sense. Here, they are just a reminder that we're not in Kansas anymore.

Did the Aboriginals celebrate any holidays? If so, while I've heard a few stories here and there, I have yet to hear of any holidays. For now, I would like to stick to what I know as universal - the solstices. The same day marks the event in both hemispheres. Sure, we can do colored eggs and Christmas trees, or whatever - but some of these things need to be put in their proper seasonal frame. I've heard there's a group that celebrates Christmas in July - they've got the season right, but why move a Christian "date" that's actually already been shifted to accomodate the pagan traditions? I could see doing this in that tiny patch of Australia that gets snow in July. Otherwise, it only reinforces my notion that the solar seasonal markers are what should be the basis for celebration.