[/caption]by Carol Forsloff - It is Easter and celebrated by many Christians with specific customs and traditions. Christians see it as a special day, with Christ as the central figure, of faith through a resurrection from the dead attesting to man's potential for everlasting life. For other faiths, or even divisions of Christianity, it is simply another day that attests to life itself. But the symbol remains an essential part of man's history.
Historically Christians honored the death of Jesus more than the resurrection, although the story of the risen Christ was key to giving exception to Jesus as a central figure with God, as the only living Son of the Father, able to rise physically from a tomb and then to be seen by others. It is that shape of belief where there are divisions, with some considering this to have been a symbolic as opposed to physical occurrence. Others maintain that the Easter service is too associated with pagan rituals and practices to be set aside as significant for Christ's death and return to life.
In Natchitoches, Louisiana, as in towns across the world, Easter is celebrated by many churches, large and small, with a full plate of differences. What unites Christians, however, is the fundamental belief of a man called Jesus who was born into the world to give a special message for people all over the world to follow and who represented the status of God's son, a close symbolic or literal relationship, so close that there could be a fusion of spirit after the crucifixion.
However, you celebrate Easter, or if you celebrate it especially at all, may the day be as bright and as beautiful, filled with life and good feelings, as represented by a man beloved for centuries and who is seen by millions of people as the quintessential representative of how folks need to behave and to love one another, even to the point of the ultimate sacrifice of death, that eternal life be the measure of reward for that death.
