the otherwhirled

Before we get started today, let’s review:

1. While pointedly about the infestation, for lack of a better word, of Christianity into our political and legal cultures, I believe that this post does adhere to the standards set forth in the Blog Against Theocracy. I am specifically addressing Christianity today because of its pervasiveness in American government, and Easter happens to be one of the easiest examples of this.
2. It is of note that under Christian concepts, only this mythological “Jesus” and The People He Supposedly Raised are allowed to be resurrected. Applied to everyone else in the world, to Christians, resurrection is a ludicrous concept, appalling in consideration, and harkening back to all the things that are considered evil about Hallowe’en.
3. The tradition of the “Easter Bunny” has the interesting origin of the rabbit’s (and hare’s) use as a fertility symbol in many pagan religions. Consider that next time you let your kids sit on the Easter Bunny’s lap.
4. The word “Easter” is actually derived from the Old English name, Eostre (German Ostara). Worship of Eostre by Anglo-Saxons fell to disuse sometime before the year 899, but it was to her that various celebrations of the vernal equinox are attributed. And celebrations of the vernal equinox were always pretty kinky.
5. Eggs are also a fertility symbol. Certainly, since we either use ones where the life has been boiled out of them and color them in gaudy hues and fanciful patterns has absolutely no correlation to young teenagers who wear too much makeup. And just as assuredly, the plastic ones filled with candy and other surprises certainly bears no striking resemblance to the superficial state of our culture today.
6. The hijacking of celebrations of the vernal equinox—okay, let’s say it plainly, the hijacking of orgiastic celebrations of human sexuality—and turning it into the “recognition” of the resurrection of Christ is really quite charming. The innuendo of “rising up” from the grave is, quite frankly, religious comedy at its finest. That later-day Christians have turned it into a fairly commercialized permissive fondling of various fertility symbols (in Jesus’ name, Amen), is a Freudian slip of Jungian proportions.
7. And lastly, considering the fact that Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the vernal equinox should serve as clarity enough that this was hardly “the day” when anyone rose from the grave. So, very early on, I was always somewhat amused by my parents’ admonishments for me to watch my behavior on such a “holy day”.

Wow, that was a lot of prelude for a simple anecdote. I noticed this last year, but failed to put it into words in a timely fashion for the blogswarm.

Each year in March, we get the schedule for next year’s school calendar. Mrs. Other and I now have one child in the Harrisburg School District and one in the Sioux Falls School District, so this year we got two calendars. This is also the same time of year we soccer referees get our schedules for the Spring season, so I spent about half a work-day earlier this week getting major events on the school calendars and my referee assignments entered into my electronic calendar, complete with alarms for early-release days and notations on the school holidays. For planning purposes, it’s quite nice to have all this information entered in well in advance. And it ties in nicely with my client-services schedule, which already has bookings out to August of 2009.

Now, when we moved out here in August of 2004, it didn’t take long for us to realize just how incredibly conservative of an area we live in. And the elections of that November bore that observation out, if in no other way than in the number of conversations I had with moderate Democrats who chose to vote for John Thune, thus putting an untimely and unfortunate end to Tom Daschle’s service as a US Senator. Let me say that again in more clear terms: The vast majority of registered Democrats out here would be identified as moderate conservatives anywhere else. The right is so far right out here that moderatism looks liberal.

However, even given that, Sioux Falls is noticeably more secular than other communities throughout the State, if for no other reason than the fact that it’s the largest city in South Dakota. I found it amusing to find this fact exemplified on the receipt of these school calendars this year. The kids both had no school yesterday, nor will they on Monday. Next year, the same is true for the Friday and Monday surrounding Easter weekend. In Harrsiburg, the Friday holiday is for “Good Friday”, and the Monday holiday is for “Easter Monday”. In Sioux Falls, however, the Friday holiday is their one-day allotment of “Spring Break”, and Monday is a “Compensatory Day”. And also of note, October 13 of this year is “Native American Day” in Sioux Falls, but students in Harrisburg will have “Columbus Day” off, and while the Harrisburg School District will enjoy a “Christmas Vacation”, Sioux Falls School District will enjoy a nice “Holiday Break”.

And yes, I’ve had conversations with other parents in Harrisburg, who are not very amused by teachers explaining what Good Friday is and why it’s an important holiday in a classroom that contained at least two Jewish children.

Thank you, Sioux Falls School District. I think I’m going to like living in town after we finish this move. It’s still a rather conservative atmosphere, and the Sioux Falls School Board does a lot of stupid stuff, especially where Abstinence Education is still taught, but at least that first formative step has been taken not to specifically offend those of us who avail ourselves of certain National Holidays to do good things for and with people we love and respect, instead of requiring everyone to consider those days in the limited view of their religious origins.

Technorati Tags:
1. blog against theocracy
2. anti-theocracy
3. religious hegemony
4. separation of church and state