Though Catholics come together Easter Sunday to celebrate the resurrection of Christ, children are treated to the spoils of a cotton-tailed rabbit and the promise of spring’s splendor.
How much do the young ones know about the religious meaning of Lent, Palm Sunday, Good Friday and the Resurrection?
Three young Maryland boys gave answers both impressive and humorous.
Six-year-old Griffin Strickler of Fort Meade has picked up tidbits of Easter knowledge from his older brother Collin, 9.
School of the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, Homeland, first-grader Jack Zenger, 7, has absorbed his Holy Week comprehension from his teacher and mother.
Collin says he has unearthed his Easter insight by paying attention during Mass at Our Lady of Peace, Fort Meade.
Ash Wednesday
Griffin: When the people in the front of the church put the sign of the cross on your forehead with ashes.
Jack: You give up something for 40 days and you get ashes with a cross on your head. I gave up Wii Sports.
Collin: I don’t know why they put those ashes on your head, but it looks like someone has marked you with a black marker.
Fridays in Lent
Collin: You can’t eat meat because Jesus was in the desert for 40 days without food and water, so we have to sacrifice, too. It’s just a way for us to say thank you.
Griffin: I get to eat shrimp. I love shrimp.
Jack: People who are 14 or older can’t eat meat, but I can because I’m only 7.
Palm Sunday
Jack: I don’t know.
Griffin: I don’t know.
Collin: Of course it’s on a Sunday. You get a palm and you go to church. The church burns the palms, and those ashes are used for Ash Wednesday next year.
Good Friday
Griffin: I’ve never heard of it.
Collin: That’s the day Jesus had to go up on the cross.
Jack: Fridays are always good.
Easter
Jack: That’s when the Easter Bunny comes and hops around and gives people toys, chocolates and eggs, and Easter baskets in front of the coffee table. Last year, the Easter Bunny gave me a wagon, and he used that as my Easter Basket. It’s how Jesus suffered on the cross.
Griffin: When the Easter Bunny brings you video games for the X-Box 360.
Collin: That’s a lot of money for the Easter Bunny, Griffin. Easter is really when Jesus rises. He dies on the cross to save us, but he rises on the third day. The priest tells us that at church, I think every week.