James Jones column: Easter should be recognized more as national holiday - The Selma Times‑Journal - Selma Times-Journal

James Jones column: Easter should be recognized more as national holiday

Published 10:10 am Saturday, March 30, 2024

Regardless of where Easter falls on the calendar, it remains one of my favorite holidays.

When I resided on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, I knew when Easter would be based on Mardi Gras. Whatever Tuesday Mardi Gras fell on, I would count six weeks later on the calendar and I got Easter.

Of course, I know all I have to do is look at the calendar online or print to see the date for Easter Sunday. I always had more fun this way, getting a handful of moon pies and necklaces on Fat Tuesday.

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My high school and college mathematics teachers would be proud to see me applying their lessons taught many years ago. While I love to crunch numbers, I saw math as a chance to improve my Grade Point Average.

The way Easter is treated as a holiday still baffles me. I am not talking about the church services, where pastors do a wonderful job discussing the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the youth illustrating it during programs.

I am referring to the merchandise in stores for Easter. I have seen stores need a month to get rid of their Easter candy. Some stores start at a 25% discount. Once the stores get to half off or 75%, the candy usually sells.

And you can count me among the ones who grab the discount candies, especially the Reese Cup ones. They always serve as great gifts whenever I visit family members,

Valentine’s Day, Halloween and Christmas candies containing Reese’s are always a winner with certain family members. Candies during those holidays vanish faster from stores than at Easter, which I find odd. 

A special thanks goes out to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church for getting Selma and Dallas County for getting the community ready for Easter with its lenten luncheon series. 

I always appreciated how my family treated Easter as a major holiday along the same lines as Christmas, Christ’s birthday. 

James Jones is the managing editor of The Selma Times-Journal. He can be reached at james.jones@selmatimesjournal.com.

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