Easter? Never heard of it

Easter is approaching and, in Bangladesh, nearly all Christian organizations have closed by now as thousands of Christians start traveling home to celebrate the festival with near and dear ones.

I’m planning to head home tomorrow as I don’t want to miss the opportunity to be with my family, friends and relatives during this special occasion.

People like me, who work for Christian organizations, can consider themselves lucky because they get a holiday at Easter easily.

But people who aren’t in the same position have to apply for leave from their employers, government or non-government.

As in other Muslim countries, Sunday is not a weekend day in Bangladesh and Easter Sunday is not a compulsory public holiday, but an optional one.

All Christians know what Easter means to their life of faith and they prepare for it throughout Lent. It’s a very special feast.

But in Bangladesh, Easter means little to other religious denominations. Most of them assume that Christmas is the greatest feast for us and that’s why it is a public holiday.

Over the years some Christian groups have organized rallies and human chains to call for Easter Sunday as a public holiday, but it hasn’t worked so far.

There are roughly 600,000 Christians in Bangladesh with Catholics accounting for around 350,000. That’s less than half of one percent in a population of nearly 160 million. About 90% of people here are Muslim and the rest are Hindu. So it’s hard for Christians to make their voices heard on issues like this.

Besides, Bangladesh is a land of cultural festivities all round the year, with major religious festivals like Eid for Muslims and the Hindu Puja events that feature fairs and carnivals which attract people from all religions.

During Christmas we have very few events on anything like that scale and hardly anything at all at Easter.

Over the last couple of years Christmas has been getting more coverage in the media, mostly because of western influence. In general, media people understand the significance of Christmas.

But they don’t give Easter the same exposure and as a result, most people in Bangladesh aren’t even aware that it’s come and gone.

But the fact that Easter is not considered important doesn’t mean that the majority of people look down on Christians. On the contrary, Christians are widely respected for their great contribution to society.

Maybe things will change.

In the meantime, to everyone who understands the meaning of it, I wish you a very happy Easter!

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