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How come Easter is not as big holiday as Christmas and Thanksgiving.
People still work on Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Eve, and some even works on Easter Sunday
Easter is on a Sunday while Thanksgiving is a Thursday & Christmas can be any day of the week. Nobody gets off work for Easter since most people don't work on Sundays anyway. Easter is a more religious holiday than even Christmas so many people do not observe. But Christmas has a national feel of family, dinner, gifts, tv basketball or football. Christmas is also during winter & generally much colder than Easter. Thanksgiving day is a secular holiday with religious overtones. Easter is the most religious of the 3 holidays & therefore leaves out Jews/ Muslims, Buddhists, atheists, etc.
I like that Easter has kept more of its religious function.
Anyway I think the decline in formality might have hurt some elements of Easter that were more for grown-ups and profitable. At one time Easter had a bit to do with buying new outfits, particularly hats and bonnets. You can see that in the "Easter Beagle" Peanuts special. However hats and bonnets have went into decline. "Everybody Hates Chris" had an episode where his Mom gets into an elaborate "hat war" concerning Easter, but most places that's maybe no longer a big thing. Considering people are still into fashion that might be surprising, but nowadays fashion is maybe more about looking sexy than looking classy or elegant. Sexiness doesn't fit with Easter somehow.
Nobody gets off work for Easter since most people don't work on Sundays anyway.
I assume you're talking about traditional office and city/state workers, because here again, the employees of the major retail stores like Best Buy, Target, Sam's, Costo, etc etc etc are off on Easter Sunday whereas those stores are traditionally open on Sundays.
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Originally Posted by Mightyqueen801
People for whom Easter is THE No. 1 religious holiday usually take the days (like Holy Thursday and Good Friday) off on their own to observe their religious beliefs.
I know that in some European countries, Easter is a big deal and they get off for Easter Monday. My sister found this out a few years ago when she worked for a tree service that employed some Polish immigrants. When they'd left for the weekend, they said "See you Tuesday." My sister and the boss thought they were kidding. When they didn't show up on Monday, my sister called to see where they were and the worker were appalled that they had been expected to work that day. They were also hungover.
Here in Australia we get Good Friday and 'Eastern Monday' off as a public holiday, maybe it's a bigger thing here?
Also we don't have Thanksgiving, but Anzac Day (commemorating servicemen) is probably just as big.
I assume you're talking about traditional office and city/state workers, because here again, the employees of the major retail stores like Best Buy, Target, Sam's, Costo, etc etc etc are off on Easter Sunday whereas those stores are traditionally open on Sundays.
You're right [I forgot that many malls are basically closed but grocery stores stay open all day + liquor stores, of-course.
Here in Australia we get Good Friday and 'Eastern Monday' off as a public holiday, maybe it's a bigger thing here?
Also we don't have Thanksgiving, but Anzac Day (commemorating servicemen) is probably just as big.
A lot of people get off at noon on Good Friday [only a half work day] but people are suppose to go to church until 3PM - that is too long for many people [if they even go to church].
How come Easter is not as big holiday as Christmas and Thanksgiving.
People still work on Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Eve, and some even works on Easter Sunday
A lot of people work during Christmas and Thanksgiving. Anyone of any religion can celebrate Christmas; whereas, Easter is more of a Christian thing. Plus, there's not a lot of profit to be made in Easter besides Sunday clothes and candy. But Halloween beats Easter when it comes to candy.
I think a lot of Easter's relative lack of profile has to do with the synergy between holidays.
To me, the "holiday season" begins on October 30 and ends on January 2. In that window of time, there are four major holidays to be celebrated -- Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas/Chanukah and New Year's Day. With the exception of Halloween, people go out of their ways to spend time with friends and family during this period of time, and since all the holidays are in such close proximity to each other, it feels like one extended period of happiness. It also helps that the weather begins to get markedly colder during this period of time, so people are looking for reasons to feel "warm," whether it's from a bonfire and S'Mores, a cup of hot chocolate, a glass of eggnog, a plate of freshly-baked cookies, a baked turkey, or the company of others. Businesses offer time off during this period of time, which makes it easier for people to get together, and it's a great way to end the "old year" too. (Can you tell that October, November and December are my three favorite months of the year?)
Easter, on the other hand, occurs sometime during the chasm between St. Patrick's Day and Memorial Day. There's no string of holidays to add to its significance, and there's no old year about to end either; in fact, the new year doesn't begin to pick up any momentum until around this time. And unlike any of the holidays I mentioned above, there's not much of a non-Christian reason to celebrate Easter either. (I know that Christmas is a Christian holiday too, but I think everybody can appreciate the concept of sharing and gift-giving regardless of their religion or religiosity.) This all makes for a lower-profile holiday than those near the end of the year.
It used to be that Easter was a big major holiday the next biggest one after Christmas. However around the 1970s that started to change. Stores and businesses that were closed back then are now open on Easter and people are not as much into wearing Easter outfits as before. Easter baskets are still given to kids and many of them still do Easter egg hunts. Large family dinners are still common but they are much more informal now than they were back then.
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