Design by Alice O.
Some plan to paint or hide eggs, crack cascarones on friends and family, or spend the day decorating their houses. Easter this year will be on April 20th and will be celebrated by many companies with egg hunts or special meals provided, but how will Lively students be spending their holiday?
First and foremost, Easter’s roots are intertwined with ancient pagan spring festivals and the Jewish Passover, though the core Christian meaning is the resurrection of Jesus. Every year it is celebrated on a Sunday because Jesus’s crucifixion on the cross took place on Good Friday. After three days (Sunday), his body was no longer found in his tomb, meaning Jesus had risen from the dead.
One of the seemingly biggest celebrations this year comes from sixth-grade student Ariella Evans and her family. For the past seven or eight years, she has thrown a large party with over 200 guests, family and friends, to party and have a fun Easter. The party consists of egg hunts, lunches, and prizes. She enjoys seeing old relatives or friends she can’t see as often, as it brings everyone together. Sejel Vadlamudi, Ariella’s friend and a guest at her party, says that her new favorite Easter memory is the party.
To focus on the religious aspect of Jesus, we have many students at Lively celebrating Easter to honor Jesus, like 6th grader Josie Markaverich. Josie says that she celebrates to honor the day that Jesus came back. She celebrates by eating kabobs and mashed potatoes made by her grandmother, spending the day at her grandparents’ house doing egg hunts, and spending time with her family. Josie’s earliest memory is her first easter, one she can never forget because of the photo her parents love to pass around and show off.
8th grader Lucia Atkins, an eighth grader who celebrates Easter, said that it connects her back to Jesus and it reminds her of her family. Getting to spend time with them during easter to hunt eggs and eat food is always a blast. “When I used to do egg hunts at my grandma Mimi’s house, we would get $50, but since my parents aren’t made of money, now we only get $8,” said Atkins.
Atkins wishes everybody at Lively an amazing Easter this year, and she hopes they’re all blessed.
Easter has been around for generations, and getting to see how far it has come, what’s changed, and what’s stayed is.. EGG-cellent..ha. We don’t know much about this old time, but we do know that it’s stayed an honorable celebration commemorating the rebirth of Christ, no matter what.