Easter 2025

Today is the day that Christians celebrate the resurrection of their executed God by eating chocolate rabbits. I, personally, think this is a wonderfully whimsical practice. Also candy eggs. But as a lover of chocolate myself, I focus on that aspect of it. Now, as I've said often enough, I'm not religious. I think all religion is hogwash. But for all the evil religion has strewn across the land, it's done a few good things, and chocolate rabbits are among them. (Also music: Some of the very best music is religious.) So in order to not be totally negative, I celebrate the positive aspects of religion by listening to the better examples of sacred music, and by eating a chocolate rabbit on Easter.

Except that this year I forgot! I was vaguely aware that Easter was approaching, but it slipped my mind the last time I was at the grocery store, and I neglected to buy my chocolate rabbit. Sigh! But it's not all bad: It's better for my health if I don't eat that extra 5 or 10 ounces of chocolate (I always buy the largest available size).

I know there are people on here from around the world. If you are not living in the U.S.A., do people eat chocolate rabbits on Easter where you live?

We have some here in Norway but it's not as common.  Typically we give small candies and chocolates.  Maybe a small hollow rabbit.

Outside of 'merica, some countries celebrate religious Easter, or as it's called there, Pascha.

You see "Easter" is a paganized holiday, like Halloween. Halloween is actually All Hallows Eve, or the day before All Saints Day, but much of the church has fallen for the Satanic Panic, and forgotten the day's Christian roots. Pascha is the Passover of Our Lord, the Christianized (just as holidays can be paganized, they can also be Christianized) version of the Jewish Passover feast.

Find out more here.
https://christianeducatorsacademy.com/how-to-celebrate-christian-passover-a-step-by-step-guide/

I know that Christians everywhere celebrate Easter, since the Resurrection is the most fundamental tenet of Christianity. What I don't know is how widespread is the eating of chocolate rabbits in celebration of this day.

I grew up in an atheist household. My parents called themselves agnostics, but in fact they were atheists. However they didn't want me and my sister to miss out on anything fun, so we celebrated Christmas (we had a decorated tree and lots of presents, but no religious content, and Santa Claus was a joke: there was always a joke gift labeled "from Santa") and we celebrated Easter with an Easter egg hunt (candy eggs) and we each got a chocolate rabbit.

The chocolate rabbits were always hollow, and as a little kid I always resented that the rabbits were hollow because that meant less chocolate.

Time passed and I grew up and moved out and lived on my own, and I never bothered with the tree but we still exchanged presents on Christmas, and I always bought and ate a chocolate rabbit for Easter. But it continued to annoy me that the rabbits were always hollow.

So one year I made a point of searching the stores until I found a solid chocolate rabbit. It was BIG. Probably a half a pound of chocolate.

And what I discovered was that solid chocolate is HARD. The thing was so hard that it was difficult to eat. I had to gnaw away at it little by little. And of course it took me several days to eat it all because half a pound of chocolate is a LOT of chocolate.

Nowadays I just buy the regular hollow ones. Except of course this year when I forgot.

Happy Easter to everybody who celebrates it.

Pope Francis has died.
This is a sad day.  Truely, God See's we have fallen far.

And what I discovered was that solid chocolate is HARD. The thing was so hard that it was difficult to eat. I had to gnaw away at it little by little. And of course it took me several days to eat it all because half a pound of chocolate is a LOT of chocolate.

That sounds like a first world problem to me.

Requiescat in pace, Frannie. As popes go, he was one of the better ones. That's not saying much, but still... Better than Benny who covered for and protected priests who raped children.

Back to the important matter of chocolate rabbits:

Quote from: magellanclavichord on April 20, 2025, 06:00:04 PM

And what I discovered was that solid chocolate is HARD. The thing was so hard that it was difficult to eat. I had to gnaw away at it little by little. And of course it took me several days to eat it all because half a pound of chocolate is a LOT of chocolate.

That sounds like a first world problem to me.

Yeah. So?

Some people in Greece eat chocolate rabbits now, but only because of influence from America. It wasn't traditionally an Easter (Pascha) custom. Actually, traditionally we eat skewered lamb or goat, sheep intestine stew (lol), and a kind of sweet bread called tsoureki. Also we paint eggs red, and then each person gets an egg and crashes it against the egg of others, it kind of turns into a hardest egg contest. Plus fireworks.

But that's during Sunday. Before Sunday, you're supposed to fast for 40 days, but only very religious people do that.

Well there's also a million other traditions I'm leaving out, Pascha is kind of a big deal for the Orthodox church, it's a bigger deal than Christmas.

Some people in Greece eat chocolate rabbits now, but only because of influence from America. It wasn't traditionally an Easter (Pascha) custom. Actually, traditionally we eat skewered lamb or goat, sheep intestine stew (lol), and a kind of sweet bread called tsoureki. Also we paint eggs red, and then each person gets an egg and crashes it against the egg of others, it kind of turns into a hardest egg contest. Plus fireworks.

But that's during Sunday. Before Sunday, you're supposed to fast for 40 days, but only very religious people do that.

Well there's also a million other traditions I'm leaving out, Pascha is kind of a big deal for the Orthodox church, it's a bigger deal than Christmas.

What does the fasting involve, for people who do it? Is it a full-on water-only fast for 40 days? That's long enough that it can have long-lasting health consequences. Or is it no food during daylight hours, like Muslims do for Ramadan? Or is it just refraining from eating certain foods? When I was young, observant Roman Catholics ate no meat on Fridays, and called that fasting. And during Lent they were supposed to give up something that was meaningful to them, of their own choice. Possibly eating no meat for 40 days.

Once, 56 or 57 years ago, I went to an Eastern Orthodox Easter church service at the urging of a friend. What I remember were robed men swinging censors with burning incense in them, and nearly everybody in the very crowded church was holding candles. I remember thinking that it was a fire hazard and being scared that somebody might accidentally light my hair on fire.

Oh no, you just refrain from animal products except some seafood that doesn't count for some reason (mollusks, shells, crustaceans etc), and alcohol. Those who are even more hardcore also know a bunch of other stuff that is not allowed, like apparently vegetable oils and some other stuff that I don't even know.

Yeah we do the candles thing, they ship the flame all the way from Jerusalem with a plane (that's paid by the Greek government, it's pretty silly) and everyone lights their candles with the same flame. It's not really a fire hazard, what is kind of a fire hazard is the fireworks, especially in some areas where they launch them horizontally, like in Chios:



Or this extremely dangerous thing they do in Kalamata:



or this very funny thing that has been happening in a part of Athens in more recent years:

Wow! That's insane! Remind me never to go to Greece on Orthodox Easter. Not only the fire hazard, but somebody could get hit by one of those rockets.

Refraining from animal products for 40 days wouldn't be so bad. I already don't eat meat. I do eat fish and dairy, but I could give those up for a month and a half if I had a reason to. Giving up animal products AND vegetable oil would be harder. Cooking would be somewhat limited, but I suppose I could do it. If I had a reason. Which I don't.

I always found it amusing that Roman Catholics said they were fasting when they just didn't eat meat. And then Vatican II said they don't even have to do that.

BTW, what is an "aporfyrodrakonist"? I can't find it in a dictionary. DeepSeek says it could be an invented word meaning someone obsessed with fire dragons. Dragons are cool. I have a large wooden carving of a dragon. If they were real I'm sure I'd be scared of them.

BTW, what is an "aporfyrodrakonist"? I can't find it in a dictionary. DeepSeek says it could be an invented word meaning someone obsessed with fire dragons. Dragons are cool. I have a large wooden carving of a dragon. If they were real I'm sure I'd be scared of them.

I don't remember, some inside joke I've forgotten. It's supposed to mean someone who doesn't believe in red/maroon dragons.

Wow! That's insane! Remind me never to go to Greece on Orthodox Easter. Not only the fire hazard, but somebody could get hit by one of those rockets.

Refraining from animal products for 40 days wouldn't be so bad. I already don't eat meat. I do eat fish and dairy, but I could give those up for a month and a half if I had a reason to. Giving up animal products AND vegetable oil would be harder. Cooking would be somewhat limited, but I suppose I could do it. If I had a reason. Which I don't.

I always found it amusing that Roman Catholics said they were fasting when they just didn't eat meat. And then Vatican II said they don't even have to do that.

Well I don't know many people who even avoid oils and all that, in practice it's more like what Catholics are doing for most people. Most people just try to sorta fast the week before Easter Sunday.

The Orthodox church doesn't like changing things. They're very traditionalist. Orthodox Easter all this time hasn't been lining up with catholic Easter every year, because they still use the Julian calendar to calculate it. Which means that after a few centuries orthodox Pascha is going to end up in summer if they don't agree to change it lol

Some people in Greece eat chocolate rabbits now, but only because of influence from America. It wasn't traditionally an Easter (Pascha) custom. Actually, traditionally we eat skewered lamb or goat, sheep intestine stew (lol), and a kind of sweet bread called tsoureki. Also we paint eggs red, and then each person gets an egg and crashes it against the egg of others, it kind of turns into a hardest egg contest. Plus fireworks.

But that's during Sunday. Before Sunday, you're supposed to fast for 40 days, but only very religious people do that.

Well there's also a million other traditions I'm leaving out, Pascha is kind of a big deal for the Orthodox church, it's a bigger deal than Christmas.

Keep eating lamb. Chocolate sucks.

#MakePaschaGreekAgain

The best time to eat a chocolate bunny is NOW. Easter candy is on sale. lol

The best time to eat a chocolate bunny is NOW. Easter candy is on sale. lol

Ooo true. Also, I had some caramel centred dark chocolate pieces from a big bar.

Few things are yummier than 1/2 price holiday candy that you don’t have to share.

Sadly, the grocery store chocolate rabbits (which are now on sale if any remain) are typically not the best chocolate. My normal custom (missed this year because I didn't plan) is to get my chocolate rabbit from a specialty chocolate shop. Grocery stores have good chocolate, but the rabbits are not that.

I'd rather pay full price for good chocolate, than get second-rate chocolate at a discount.

Right now I'm starting a candy-free period to try to get my weight down. I'm about 5 pounds over my ideal weight (where I feel the best) and it's easier to lose that now than to wait until I have to lose ten pounds. So I won't be buying any discount chocolate rabbits this season, or any candy for a while. Not giving it up permanently.