"Easter Monday"

Since it’s that time of year again, I’ll share my thoughts on the day that follows Easter.

I’ve always wondered why this day is even mentioned on the calendar. Nothing particularly significant happened in the Biblical account of the first Easter. And so far as I know, nothing historically important has taken place on the day following Easter in any given year. Why then is it mentioned? Why aren’t Easter Tuesday and Wednesday mentioned as well?

Then there’s the notion of making Easter Monday a holiday. I’ve never understood this either. Good Friday is a holiday. It’s a day off. It makes sense to me, both from the Christian story and from the standpoint of strategic calendarship. (I’m pretty sure I just invented a new word. Perhaps once I decide what it means, I’ll blog about it. But most likely not.) You could say Easter Sunday is a holiday. This makes sense from the Christian story as well. Maybe because the day falls on a natural day-off, maybe they felt bad and decided to make Monday a day off. I get that, but not really.

Where else is there a 4-day weekend throughout the year? The only other time two holidays come so close together are Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. And they’re one week apart. So I don’t really get what the point would be in having two holidays in such close proximity. Especially with holidays whose dates change every year. A bigger peeve for me is that it’s only a government holiday (so far as I know). Why is that the case? Why should only government employees get to enjoy this imaginary holiday? Don’t make me use the discrimination card. I really hate doing that.

Throughout high school, I’d go to class on Easter Monday, and think of all my friends in public schools who got the day off in addition to Good Friday. I was a tad jealous, and even pondered why they would get it off when we in a private Christian high school would not. I never had an answer. But it never really bothered me. I figured we had enough random days off throughout the year falling on random dates that we would still be OK.

Hopefully someday I’ll get some of them answered. But if not, that’s just fine too.

-Bernier