Easter, it’s the first of the religious holidays to come around, and it brings up the first questions for me about Bo and religion. I am not a religious person. I don’t follow a prescribed faith, I don’t pray in a conventional way or believe in a religious God. I was however raised with Christian values and ideals that I to this day do uphold – they are just a little “flexible.” My husband is Muslim, born and raised – and a strong believer in his faith and for that I have great respect for him. He believes in a higher power, he prays and he upholds certain Muslim values and ideals – funnily enough they really are no different to my own Christian values of being good to humankind and treating people with respect, dignity and kindness.
For Bo, a child of the world, we will let her decide one day whether or not she “believes” in one religion or another… giving her the opportunity throughout her childhood to experience, learn about the worlds many religions and develop her own conscience so that one day she can decide what it is that she believes. So where does that leave religious holidays? For there are many. There is Ramadan and Idul Fitri in the Islamic calendar and Christmas and Easter in the Christian calendar, just to name a few. For now I suppose it is much of a muchness considering at seven and a half weeks old Bo doesn’t care about much except being warm, fed and cuddled.
I didn’t buy her an Easter present. And after watching many of my friends post photos of their infants with their incredible hoard of Easter presents, books, pajamas, fluffy bunny toys (and unbelievably chocolate – from ridiculous in-laws) I admit I feel a little guilty. Even my own mother took the time to set up an Easter hunt for Bo and I this morning… where in our pajamas we traipsed around the house collecting little golden eggs filled with sweet chocolate, Bo was a bit distracted with a bout of the hiccups, but I think she got the idea.
Easter for my Bo will never be about Church or prayer or Jesus – but it will always be about being thankful for what we have, for our family and our freedom to love and live the way we choose – Oh and Bunnies who bring books and chocolate, of course. Because, well… no matter how much you might want to you can’t escape the chocolate now, can you?