Monday, April 02, 2007

If you're going to celebrate religious holidays, at least do it right!

Yes, I know, celebration of religious holidays like Easter and Christmas has been under fire for a while now. And, to that, I say, bullshit! We should just celebrate every group's holidays. More celebrating is what we need, not less. I'll celebrate the Jewish holidays, the Hindu holidays, made-up holidays... why not? It's fun, you learn about other people's cultures, there's generally food involved... what's not to like about this?
Anyway, here's the thing, I'm not religious, but I think if you're going to celebrate a religious holiday, you should do it properly.
That's why I was kind of put out when I walked into work this morning, to find the whole joint covered with baskets of chocolate, it's still Lent people! You can't crack out the chocolate until after Good Friday (remember Good Friday? It's only the holiest day of the whole Christian calendar). I know I'm hair splitting, and I suspect that a lot of the people who are getting all into this office Easter celebrating aren't Christians, so you can't really get on their case about not getting it quite right - also, complaining about it makes you seem like a religious cook - which I vehemently am not, I just like things to be done right.
The worst ever was the time we went out to the bar on Holy Thursday night (the day before Good Friday) and the bar was holding a Mardi Gras Party - I can't explain why it bothered me so much. Obviously, I wasn't really observing Lent (since I was at a bar), but it still ticked me off. If you're going to reference a religious holiday then you should do it properly. Mardi Gras is the last day before the beginning of Lent, Lent is a period of fasting and praying, so you party like crazy until midnight of Mardi Gras because it's your last chance before Lent. Good Friday is the last day of Lent and the day you kick the fasting and praying into overdrive. Easter Sunday is the day you celebrate and eat the chocolate and all that fun stuff. So throwing a Mardi Gras party (or cracking out the Easter chocolate) during Lent is just gauche.
In my defence, I'd just like to say that, it bothers me that this bothers me.

4 comments:

Miss Ash said...

Did you partake in any chocolate eating????

Anonymous said...

Yo Jennifer,

I hear you.

I've been trying to break the real story of Easter for five years running: Good Friday was the day Santa's sleigh broke down and the Druids came out to fix it.

BTW. What's a religious cook? Is that like Pope Stew? An Almond Sadhu Salad?

Kook.

Ian

Jennifer said...

See, that's the problem with being a stickler, there's always someone out there who is a bigger stickler than you, and then you just look like an asshole. I'm OK with that.
Hi Ian!

Anonymous said...

Hey Jennifer,

Normally, I wouldn't point out a harmless typo like that. Pointing out harmless tpyos makes you (the pointer-outer) look like an asshole. But "religious cooks"? That's too hard to resist.

Keep the inanity constant.

ian