Warm Easter Greetings to you from Fraser Valley Rent 2 Own.
The holiday we call Easter has a lot of different meanings in our society and a lot of different expressions.
For Jews, it’s the annual celebration of Passover, marking the momentous occasion when their ancestors were saved from the death sentence that claimed their Egyptian neighbours.
We all know its significance for Christians, Good Friday representing the “darkest” hour for humanity and Easter Sunday, its brightest. An event many accept as historical, the devoted will honour this most important event on the Christian calendar with special church services and gatherings.
Many of the less devoted will still use the occasion for their annual or semi-annual pilgrimage to a church building, honouring the tradition of their forebears.
But whether or not you accept the story as historic, metaphorically, it’s a good reminder of how the new life of spring emerges from the dormancy of winter. Trees bud, bloom and green up, perennials re-emerge, animals who have hibernated all winter emerge from their dens, migratory birds return.
For others, it’s simply a spring holiday that returns every year at a time that seems random but is actually guided by an ancient formula related to the full moon and the spring equinox. It’s a great 3-day, or 4-day break (depending on your jurisdiction and employment.) For various reasons, we’ve associated the occasion with eggs and chocolate and bunnies, and colours like yellow and purple.
For me, it will less of a holiday this year than work weekend. It will be a trip up to Sicamous, to prepare my houseboat for the coming season; a sort of re-birth of its own, I suppose.
For all, it’s a calendar holiday. [Ironically, in a society that supposedly avoids honouring one religion over another, for many government employees Good Friday is one of three “Super-stat” holidays of the year.]
Whatever your beliefs and disposition, I say, take advantage of the holiday, in your own way! Our complicated society renders our lives plenty stressful. It’s been more than two months since our last holiday and, despite its lateness this year, still more than a month until our next one.
We need to take advantage of breaks when we can. So, despite a busy agenda I have set for myself, I will take a moment also, to celebrate this special weekend.
Award-winning* Fraser Valley Rent 2 Own is a founding member of the Canadian Association of Rent to Own Professionals (www.CAROP.ca)
* winner of all-star awards, 2012, 2014, 2015 at the Rent 2 Own Summit.
