The Easter holidays began in Dumfries and Galloway this week.
But there’s still more than a week to go until Easter itself, even though shops have been selling Easter eggs since the turn of the year. Has the true meaning of Easter been put on the backburner with the craving for chocolate taking over?
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We asked people in Dalbeattie if they think the holiday has become too commercialised.
Elizabeth Graham, from Sanquhar, feels it has. She said: “It’s nice to think of Easter and what it is, the religious aspect.”
Her daughter Laura Boswell, from Darvel in Ayrshire, was with kids Callum and Archie.
She said: “I don’t buy the kids Easter eggs. They get the occasional one from other folk and don’t even eat them. Archie asked me the other day when we are putting our Easter decorations up. We don’t do that but you see them in the shops, bunting and things like that.”
Phil Sweet and Belinda Kirkman are Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Phil, who lives in Palnackie, said: “All you’ve got to do is look in the shops and it’s all Easter eggs. It’s very little to do with what it should be about and that’s why I’d say it’s over commercialised.
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“When you look into the history of where the commercial elements come from it’s nothing to do with Jesus Christ. If you want a celebration of exactly what it’s about, you have to look at the Bible to find out what it is.You can tell it’s commercialised because the eggs are one price and as soon as it’s over the price drops.”
Belinda, from Dalbeattie, added: “The eggs are out at Christmas. Anything to do with a celebration is extortionate but after the day is over, it is reduced.
“As Jehova’s Witnesses we believe what the Bible teaches and the only thing we commemorate is the death of Christ, which is coming up on April 19.
