Easter for Atheists

Well, my family's not religious, but I gotta tell ya, we really do Easter. Brunch, an Easter egg hunt (even though my sister and I are well past the cutsie Easter-Sunday-dresses phase), and we usually have other people over as well. Once upon a time, we went to church, but now, as I like to say, we fully embrace the American consumerism and pagan sides of the holiday.

This is generally my justification for still celebrating most of the Christian holidays-- they all have Pagan root, I say, and these Pagan celebrations have a good reason for celebrating. Christmas, for example, is really just the Winter Solstice (fun fact: my family exchanged gifts on the 21st this year, go us) and Easter is right around the Spring (or Vernal) Equinox. Who doesn't want to celebrate the coming of Spring?

Since I didn't actually know exactly what the Vernal Equinox signified (maybe I did, but I've forgotten) I looked it up for all you fine, potentially imaginary readers. The Vernal Equinox signifies the start of Spring, is usually on March 20th or 21st (this year it's the 20th), and is astronomically significant in that the sun is directly over the equator, so that the day and the night are roughly equal. It's a point of inflection, if you will, on this grand sine curve that is our calendar year.

I'll probably post more about Easter for Atheists, including our guest list, Easter egg hunt plans, and menu. Stay tuned!