What Easter Means to Me Now (It's Not What You'd Expect)

On reclaiming holidays, making traditions your own, and why you don't have to blow up everything just because you left the belief system

Okay so Easter is today and I have some thoughts. 😅

For a long time after I left Christianity I just kind of avoided it. Like, that’s a church holiday, I don’t do church anymore, so I guess I just don’t do that.

I’d see everyone posting their family photos in their pastel outfits and feel this weird mix of relief that I wasn’t doing that anymore and also kind of... sad? Nostalgic for something I couldn’t quite put my finger on?

And then at some point I realized I was being kind of ridiculous about it.

Not every tradition has to go in the trash just because the belief system it came wrapped in did. That’s a perfect example of throwing the baby out with the bathwater because you’re mad at the bathwater. Which honestly I get! The bathwater was pretty bad! But still.

Easter never belonged to Christianity to begin with.

The word Easter most likely comes from Eostre, a Germanic goddess of spring and dawn. The eggs, the rabbits, the whole vibe of it, these things are ancient. They predate Jesus by a long shot. They’re about spring, the earth coming back to life, and light returning after a long dark stretch.

The early church basically just... plopped their resurrection story on top of an existing spring festival because it made conversion easier. Which, now that I know that, is so on brand for them. 😂

So when (if!) I show up to an Easter dinner now, it’s not because I believe Jesus rose from the dead. It’s because I love the people at the table. Because spring genuinely makes me happy. Because the food is good and the flowers are out and… something about this time of year just feels like things are starting again.

And that feeling, that new beginning, that thawing out energy, that’s actually a pretty perfect metaphor for what a lot of us are going through in deconstruction now that I think about it.

So here’s what nobody really talks about when it comes to navigating holidays post-deconstruction.