Easter Monday

Today is Easter Monday. The whole concept of Easter Monday is just strange to me on several levels. To wit: I may not be a theology expert, but didn't Christ return from the dead on a Sunday?

It's also strange to see Easter "celebrated" in a city like Hong Kong. Perhaps 10% of the local Chinese population is Christian. The strongest Christian influence in Hong Kong isn't the churches, but the school system. A majority of children attend Catholic and Anglican schools, not government schools. Yet for all of this religious education, there are virtually no signs of Easter on the streets. No Easter Egg hunts at the parks. No Easter Egg kits or chocolate bunnies at the local supermarket. No "sit on the Easter Bunny's lap" at Pacific Place mall. Certainly, no one was dressed up in their Easter finest this weekend!

So then why is it a legal holiday here? And for four days? Good Friday and Easter Monday became legal holidays here during British rule. When China took over colonial responsibilites from Britain in 1997, explicitly British holidays were replaced by Chinese holidays. For instance, the Queen's Official Birthday was replaced by National Day, the day Mao proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic. While Christian holidays were no longer statuatory holidays -- that is, private employers don't have to give their employees the day off -- Easter still remains a legal four-day holiday. So for students like me, it's still a holiday!

So the question remains, "How do people celebrate Easter in Hong Kong?" The answer: "The same way Americans celebrate legal holidays like Martin Luther King day. Travel!" Of course, while Wall Street stockbrokers crowd Vermont ski slopes on MLK weekend, Hongkongers prefer crowding the casinos in Macau. Half a million people (almost 10% of HK's population) passed through border control on Good Friday alone.