Easter baskets are totally Pagan.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a Christian I can safely say that the Easter Bunny has absolutely nothing to do with the actual meaning of the holiday, and I would not be in the least offended if my non-Christian friends gave their kids an "Easter" basket. There are lots of different kinds and last I checked all kids like candy, not just Christian ones. Nor would I be offended if non-Christans attended the Easter egg roll. Dyed eggs have nothing to do with the religious holiday either. It all ties back to pagan rituals, and don't we all love those?

That is very big of you. Just for info, what presents am I not allowed to get my children in case they offend you?
(I am worried my kids' Jesus action figure might be at risk!)

Why are you being a smart-ass? I assumed from OP's post that he/she had some level of guilt about engaging in a holiday that is perceived to be outside of their belief system. Simply assuring him/her that no one gives a fig one way or the other. Unbunch your panties already.

Right, or that sometimes folks with a particular faith feel like their celebration is being "appropriated" by others, and the cultural or religious aspect of the tradition is therefore being "diluted." We encountered this when we used a Chuppa-like ceremony in our wedding without any of the religious aspects (just the sentiments that we thought were beautiful and universal), though we're not practicing Jews.

There are some boundaries that people don't want crossed. Sometimes people get upset. This person is saying, "Yo, we don't care if you do or don't, no matter who you are."

So voicing this opinion might seem like a petty thing to say in our cosmopolitan Western microcosm, but, wow, consider how revolutionary a sentiment this is in many other parts of the world, and even would have been here just a generation ago.

No way. Not our holiday.

No. We have our own holidays that are just as fun if not more fun for my kids. Passover is such a fun holiday for my family and it is also very meaningful to us. Easter has no meaning for us whatsoever.

We don't do an easter basket with gifts and candy but we do easter egg hunts around the yard or house and participate when there is a community egg roll.

OP here, thanks for the replies. I just wanted to be clear that I have no guilt of any sort. We aren't Christian, we practice another faith. We don't do Easter; it's not an option. I wanted to see how common it is for people of other faiths to do something for Easter. It seems they don't. Only agnostic/atheists do, if I'm reading most responses here correctly. Which is fine. I'll just go with 13:11's suggestion that different families do different things, and not focus the discussion on religion per se, if/when my kid comes home telling me the Easter Bunny gave jelly beans to his Jewish friend, why not him?

Yes, we do. An Easter basket and eggs and bunny has nothing to do with Christian Easter.

We do, and we hide plastic eggs filled with goodies (stickers, dried fruit, candy) in the yard. Agree with PPs that we think of it as a fun spring thing, not a Jesus-risen-from-the-dead thing.

Anonymous wrote:We celebrate as a coming of spring and mix in a little Ostara. So we get the bunnies and the eggs. I add in seeds and some gardening gloves and call it a day.

Sounds fun but what is Ostara?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a Christian I can safely say that the Easter Bunny has absolutely nothing to do with the actual meaning of the holiday, and I would not be in the least offended if my non-Christian friends gave their kids an "Easter" basket. There are lots of different kinds and last I checked all kids like candy, not just Christian ones. Nor would I be offended if non-Christans attended the Easter egg roll. Dyed eggs have nothing to do with the religious holiday either. It all ties back to pagan rituals, and don't we all love those?

That is very big of you. Just for info, what presents am I not allowed to get my children in case they offend you?
(I am worried my kids' Jesus action figure might be at risk!)

Why are you being a smart-ass? I assumed from OP's post that he/she had some level of guilt about engaging in a holiday that is perceived to be outside of their belief system. Simply assuring him/her that no one gives a fig one way or the other. Unbunch your panties already.

No. We just eat cookies after Passover ends and feast on half-priced Easter candy. Love Reese's peanut butter eggs!

Yes. The kids get candy baskets and a toy. We usually do an egg hunt of some kind.

former Catholic, now athiest

Anonymous wrote:Hell, no! Easter candy isn't kosher for Passover.

But seriously, it's important for us -- and for other religious minorities I know -- to teach that sort of contrastive identity, i.e. Easter is one of the holidays we don't observe, the same way our Christian friends don't do Purim or Eid. That said, we'd certainly participate in an Easter celebration hosted by Christian or secular friends (pending dietary restrictions). But not in our house.

This is how we feel too. But no judgment on Jewish families who choose to do it differently. I can tell you that I grew up without a single Christmas tree, stocking, Easter basket, etc., and I was about the least deprived child you'll ever meet.

Anonymous wrote:Non-religious Jew here, and no we don't give our kids Easter baskets. We do, however, continue the tradition that my parents began when I was a child -- bringing home half-price Easter candy from the drugstore the next week!

My husband is Jewish and that is one of his favorite childhood memories as well...the half-priced candy.

Hell, no! Easter candy isn't kosher for Passover.

But seriously, it's important for us -- and for other religious minorities I know -- to teach that sort of contrastive identity, i.e. Easter is one of the holidays we don't observe, the same way our Christian friends don't do Purim or Eid. That said, we'd certainly participate in an Easter celebration hosted by Christian or secular friends (pending dietary restrictions). But not in our house.