For anyone celebrating Easter this year, it falls on Sunday, April 21st. The Christian religion celebrates this holiday as the resurrection of Jesus; three days after being crucified by the Romans at Calvary. However, most people view the spiritual holiday in a lighter sense, regarding Easter as the beginning of spring. It’s popular to celebrate Easter with baskets full of goodies left from the Easter bunny, dying hard boiled eggs and competing in an egg hunt. On the contrary, not many people are aware of why we celebrate Easter in this manner. In cultures around the world, an egg represents new life, fertility, and rebirth. Since rabbits usually give birth to a big litter of kittens, they as well became a symbol of new life. The legend is that the Easter bunny lays, decorates, and hides eggs to symbolize this new life, as the Christian religion views the new life Jesus gave us.   

Easter baskets are one of the favorite things Pennridge students look forward to receiving this Easter. As far as gifts, many students enjoy money or gift cards, holiday themed candy, gum, any type of jewelry, new spring clothing, and a restock of flower smelling hygiene products. J Bennington, a senior at Pennridge, tells of his favorite gift to receive, “I love a good chocolate bunny, not an off-brand bunny, but a good Hershey or Dove chocolate bunny.”

Although this holiday is known to be celebrated religiously; by attending an Easter service, many students have other traditions. Morgan Biresch, a senior at Pennridge, shares about her family traditions, “We always go to my aunt’s house, where she has a delicious brunch made and we stay there for a couple of hours. After a few Easter activities, we go home and my dad cooks us ham for dinner.” Ben Pourjalivand, a senior, also eats ham on this holiday. As for the rest of Pennridge students, many still participate in eggs hunts. Although, because they are now teens, the treasure inside the eggs have changed from candy to money. Aubrey Maher, a sophomore at Pennridge, dyes hard boiled eggs in colors of red, yellow, and orange to embrace the change of season. In the morning, she breaks them open and eats the eggs for breakfast. Going out to lunch, visiting family and/or friends, throwing a holiday themed event, or embracing the change of the seasons, is how the rest of Pennridge students celebrate Easter.

Personally, every Easter my siblings and I are blessed enough to receive personal Easter baskets from our parents. They are normally filled with candy, perfume, jewelry, and other little things we may have hinted for. We eat a small breakfast before we head off to church, so we can save room for our lunch. After the church service, we all go out to a nice restaurant, a different one each year. We come home that afternoon to be together, as both my siblings are in college. Before we all grew up, we would host egg hunts at our grandparents’ and our own house, and dye eggs the night before. To whoever is reading this, I wish you a HOPPY Easter!