Each passing scene on my tour confirmed the cultural obliteration of Easter — that most sacred of Christian feasts — in a society whose members still define themselves overwhelmingly as Christians. The “war against Christmas” — the campaign to force everyone to say, “Happy Holiday!” and banish the crèche from public places — is still ongoing and met with considerable resistance, à la Mike Huckabee and his in-your-face December campaign ad reminding viewers that Dec. 25 celebrates the day Jesus was born. The war against Easter, by contrast, seems sadly over.

My latest issue of Fine Cooking magazine arrived the other day, featuring what would have been known in former times as an Easter dinner: roast lamb, asparagus soup, angel food cake. Here, it’s identified as a “spring” dinner, and the issue otherwise contains not a hint that some of its readers might wish to mark the spring by celebrating Jesus’ triumph over death. Not even a recipe for dyed eggs or baby chick-shaped cookies graces the pages of the magazine.

The commercial world was never able to co-opt Easter the way that Christmas was exploited. Other than candy and egg coloring supplies, no one really seemed to be able to get a commercial head of steam built up around Easter. Of course there is Irvin Berlin’s show tune about “The Easter Parade,” but still even that event never really caught on across the country.

So the secular world did what it always does in cases like this, if it cannot co-opt the holiday, it neuters it by substituting something else. In this case, the idea of Spring Break gradually replaced the Good Friday/Easter Monday holidays that I remember from my childhood. I cannot recall when Good Friday and Easter Monday were no longer observed as holidays. They have long been ignored in the workaday world, but so is just about every other religious observance.

In my opinion, there never really was a “War Against Easter.” It was more like the secular world just ignored it to death.

i don’t put anything out of the realm of capitalism to take, bake, mark up and resell....including easter…

however, i took hope in this particular article on slate…

http://www.slate.com/id/2186633/pagenum/all/

I’ve heard a few comments from Catholic friends about the current Pope changing the calendar observance of Easter to match that of the Orthodox.  Yes, culturally, Easter seemed invisible here in the heartland.  But that is the world for you.

Alleluia!  Christ is risen!

I only wish the culture were as indifferent to Christmas.