Holiday Celebrations

With Easter having just passed, I started thinking about all of our holidays and why we celebrate them. It is sad to say that most people probably celebrate various days because it's tradition, they get to drink lots of alcohol, because they are off work that day, or some combination of these. While celebrating, how many of the people who know the true reason for the holiday actually celebrate that reason or event?

For instance, why does Christmas seem like it is about 20 times more important than Easter? Yes, it is a very important thing that Jesus was born, but is not His ultimate sacrifice so much more worthy of our thanks, praise, and remembrance than simply being born (even be it a miraculous birth)? Thinking back, I always knew that Easter was a Chrsitian holiday and that it dealt with Jesus being crucified, but those are not the memories I hold. Instead, I remember days of pastel colored bunnies and flowers, great wooden crosses draped with a cloth, Easter lilies across the floors, and banners over the walls and windows of the church decorated with doves with olive branches and phrases such as "He is risen!" Looking now, I realize that it is so easy to go "Yeah, He is risen!" and not actually think about from what He arose.

A challenge to myself--do not celebrate unless I know what it is I am celebrating. For instance, I now know that St. Patrick's Day is about celebrating how St. Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland; why that is celebrated by a whole lot of alcohol, I really do not know. Easter has so much more meaning now that I have thought about the whole process behind that three day span.

I'm not sure how to end this besides to say that I need to stop taking things for granted, stop assuming that I know or understand something, and stop taking what people say without question and start to actually do some research for myself.