Did the Easter Bunny (or in my family’s case, the Easter Squirrel) bring you anything this year? Chances are it did.
Each year, Americans spend billions of dollars to purchase decorations, sweets, gifts and other items to celebrate the holidays.
According to the National Retail Federation, the average American spends between $110 and $140 on Easter each year. In total, the U.S. spends about $12 billion each year on the Easter holiday alone. Easter is the fourth-highest holiday for expenditures each year, after Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day, respectively.
Although Easter expenditure figures pale in comparison to those for Christmas, even for “college-aged” people, Easter spending amounts are still remarkably high — an average of $65 per person each year.
I don’t know about all of you, but I did not spend $65 on Easter this year. Admittedly, my lack of Easter spending could be partially attributed to college costs and a lack of disposable income. But more so, the reason that I didn’t blow the average $65 on Easter is that I don’t support commercialized celebrations of holidays — especially religious ones.
I have never understood why our society seems to think it’s necessary to buy non-essential material possessions and confectionery goods for others in supposed commemoration of holidays. Last time I checked, “Thou shalt buy junk for your family to celebrate Christmas” and “Thou shalt buy animal-shaped marshmallows to commemorate Easter” were not in the Ten Commandments. Correct me if I’m wrong, though.
Although the loss of meaning behind holidays and the corresponding increase in holiday commercialization upsets me, I don’t know that I would go as far as claim that greeting card companies invented some U.S. holidays in order to make money. I mean, throughout human history, even during the feudal system, haven’t we always celebrated National Bosses Day (Oct. 16)? I bought my bosses cards last year — didn’t you?
Getting back to religious holidays — specifically Easter — how many people who are Christian know why we celebrate Easter? Or the significance of Passover (or Ramadan, or any other religious holiday)? I would wager a very small number of Americans in general know these things, but I would bet almost everyone knows what a Peep is and which color they like best. I would even go so far as to bet that some of you have at least once irreverently eaten a chocolate cross.
My point? On the whole, our society has lost the meaning behind holidays — you know, the reason we decided to celebrate them in the first place — and we’ve filled that void with stuff we buy at stores. This is not only a departure from the values most of us claim to hold so dear but unhealthy for our waistlines and pocketbooks. For example, four Peeps will run you about 130 calories, which requires 20 minutes of jogging to burn the fluffy concoctions off if you weigh 120 pounds.
This all seems to beg the question of whether we could return to a simpler way of celebrating holidays. Are we so stuck in our ways, so obsessed over acquiring material possessions, that such a change is even possible? Could we all just stop spending money to celebrate holidays and just spend more time together with people we care about or doing good deeds? Or, bolder yet, perhaps give the money to charity or put it toward bettering our communities instead of buying each other things that will likely end up at D.I. a year from now? Who knows? I think we could do it, but it would take a serious paradigm shift and grassroots action to affect such change.
In the mean time, if you are going to continue to buy material things for others in supposed celebration of various holidays, I encourage you to at least learn the meanings behind the holidays you buy junk for if you do not know the meanings already. If you’re going to be a Peep-eater, at least be an educated one.
For the rest of us, the marshmallow-adverse so to speak, I urge us all to celebrate secular and religious holidays in non-commercial ways that recognize the meaning behind their observance. Ways that we can do this might be to donate money to a worthy cause in the name of a family member or make gifts and healthy snack treats instead of buying them. Just think: if everyone in America donated their “Peep funds” to one cause, there would be more than $750 million dollars annually that could be used to better our world instead of growing our waistlines.
As soon as America returns to celebrating holidays such as Easter because it’s Easter and not because it’s an excuse to buy things, you won’t hear another Peep out of me.
