Eco-friendly Easter tips
Well, Easter is round the corner - you can tell from all the chocolate eggs appearing in the supermarkets. Although if that was the way to tell time, Easter would have been a lot earlier in the year…
I remember when I was younger and you had to wait until it was closer to Easter to get your sticky mitts on a Cadbury’s creme egg. They also used to only be available for a limited time. In our current lifestyle of immediate gratification and over commercialism, these chocolate treats are on sale earlier and earlier in the year.
Now, I may not be religious, and I am a self-confessed chocoholic, with a stash always with me ‘just in case’. But Easter wasn’t always about the biggest egg or the most chocolate.
History of Easter
Did you know Easter was originally a pagan festival to celebrate the spring equinox initially and then incorporated within Christian faith. The use of bunnies and eggs to symbolise Easter was due to their provenance in pagan fertility symbols - so pre-dated Christianity. In fact, per an article in The Field, “In AD 595, Pope Gregory sent a mission of 40 monks led by a Benedictine called Augustine, prior of St Andrew’s monastery in Rome (and later the first Archbishop of Canterbury), to England with instructions to convert the pagan inhabitants to Christianity. Augustine was advised to allow the outward forms of the old, heathen festivals and beliefs to remain intact, but wherever possible to superimpose Christian ceremonies and philosophy on them.”
Fun fact: Did you know there is a pagan goddess called Eostre and that she is associated with flowers and spring?
In a quiz, this information may come in handy, but what does that have to do with how we celebrate now? Well, as a historian, I always believe understanding how something came about is important. We should always learn from our past in order to learn how to improve our future. Plus in many conversations I hear about easter and eggs, it is unclear why eggs are commonly used. Hopefully the above clarifies that for you.
So, while I do not follow a faith, I do enjoy the history and roots of the holiday as I believe it is important to remember. However you celebrate, or don’t celebrate, that is great. ‘Crack’ on (egg joke, sorry!).
But this year, with so much emphasis on the envirornment, it is scary to know that according to WRAP, 300,000 tonnes of waste was generated by Easter. They took action though and in 2009 they led an initiative to reduce this with Cadbury’s, Mars, Nestle, Kraft Foods and Magna. In some cases they were able to reduce their waste by 25% - read the report here. Still, there is a lot of waste covering all our eggs and many chocolates are still in plastic wrappers. Just take a quick look down a supermarket aisle.
So what can we do to reduce our waste?
It’s not all about the chocolate. Many people enjoy the spiritual side of Easter. Others will enjoy spending more time with nature, so what about foregoing a chocolate treat and instead spend the weekend doing the following;
A weekend away camping or glamping
Visit relatives you haven’t seen in a while or give them a call
Make homemade Easter cards
Plant some flowers or make a homemade easter tree or basket - check out how here (I would avoid any painting of the branches though)
Pick a spot on the map and try to see if you can get there by train or get a group together and have a road trip weekend away
Go out for a walk every day or even just a couple of days
Visit the parks or forests nearby
Go for a walk along the beach and breath the fresh salty air
Check out what is on in your local area or in nearby attractions - they usually hold craft events. What about homemade arts and crafts instead? Avoid chocolate and using real eggs, make dyes at home and decorate your eggs together. You can use food colouring or even make your own dyes using food waste (such as beetroot). Check out some homemade dye options here
In short, why not try to use the time for a special weekend or adventure with friends and family. You can still bring treats to have whilst away ;)
Chocolate alternatives
If you want to have eggs and a hunt, by all means do! Also, if you like me, struggle to say no to chocolate, why not consider the below options:
Pick easter treats that are covered in foil and cardboard
Avoid plastic wrapped treats
If wanting to have docorations for a party, try to buy reusable items instead of single use party items
Buy fair trade chocolate bars in foil and card, and make your own chocolate treats at home - see how here
Check out Montezuma chocolate for all diets. They usually have a great plastic free range of treats too
Another great chocolate that is 100% slavery free chocolate and also plastic free as well as being delicious is Tony’s Chocoloney
Top tip: If you do buy foil treats, please keep the foil and scrunch as much of it together as possible. Foil is 100% recyclable and we should keep this amazing resource in the loop as long as possible. But it will slip through the cracks at the recycling depots if there isn’t enough scrunched together. So try to save it all in a little box and once you have a tennis ball shape, scrunch it all together.
Be present and enjoy the time off
In the UK, schools are usually closed and there is a long bank holiday weekend so most people have the Friday and Monday off around Easter. This makes it a perfect time to have an adventure with the family. Remember, time is our most precious asset. Whether you are with friends or family, enjoy the time with them. Turn off the phones, take a deep breath and be present. You will have the memories you create to last your lifetime.
I remember Easter was a time I would go and visit my Granny and Grandad near the lake district. They would buy a few treats and hide them in the garden - we didn’t mind a bit of dirt on our treats! We each got one main egg from them. Do I remember what the egg was? No. I remember my Granny being outside watching us squeall with joy and chase eachother round. I remember my Grandad telling us to stay in the room whilst he hid the treats throughout the house and garden and then ‘ready, set, GO!’ and we were off. I also remember my Granny teaching me how to bake, and me hiding from my parents and brothers who wanted to go on a walk whilst I just wanted to stay with Granny and continue baking. I wasn’t much into walking then - that has changed now.
Both my Granny and Grandad are no longer here unfortunately. But these memories of them survive.
No matter what you decide to do, I wish you a wonderful long weekend. Happy Easter x
Please note, all references are found/researched and are in no way sponsored.