4 Ways To Make Celebrating Easter and Passover
Fun and Stress Free for Everyone
While Easter and Passover celebrate two very different and important events for many people, they also take place around the same time this year. Easter Sunday happens on April 9th. Passover happens from the evening of April 5th to the evening of April 13th. So it isn’t out of the realm of possibility that some families, who have multi-denominations of religious faiths under one roof, might choose to celebrate both holidays.
While observing the holidays and learning about their significance probably doesn’t cause much stress, what might be stressful are some of the festivities that happen. These can range from easter egg hunts, searching for the Afikomen, family meals, the desire to spend time with everyone, and make sure they’re all having a good time. Here are 4 simple tips for children and adults (whether you’re on the autism spectrum or not) to celebrate either Easter, Passover or both, and maximize the meanings of the holidays and not be on sensory overload in the process.
1. Pace Yourself
During an easter egg hunt, searching for the Afikomen, or simply waiting to get food, at family events there’s always a temptation to move fast. In the process you might overeat, take too much of one thing, or steamroll someone who might move slower than you. To avoid this trap remember why you are celebrating these special days.
A good way to prepare a family member with autism is to review a social story for the holiday.
2. Remember to Share
Piggybacking on the idea of pacing yourself, remember that sharing is truly caring. This might mean telling older kids to share some of their eggs with kids who didn’t get as many. There could be people with disabilities at the family gathering who, for a host of reasons. The key to the day is being flexible.
Reviewing a story on this topic is a great way to prepare.
3. Never Stop Thinking of Others (and Yourself)
For some people empathy comes easy. For others the idea of sharing (whether it’s food, time, or something else) is very foreign to them. However, the whole point of celebrating these ancient holidays and participating in these traditions, is to think about others. So when you’re celebrating with your family, give people grace and show patience.
Here is a great social story on learning to wait which we must do at large group gatherings.
4. Eat and Be Merry (but be aware of allergies)
Lastly, we’ve already talked about some ways you can maximize the good times in a fun and stress free way. Another way you can save yourself possible trouble is to think about any potential allergies in some of the foods. Maybe there can be a separate table where people with allergies can get the lionshare of their food? Or, perhaps dishes can be clearly marked so that people with allergies know what they can and cannot eat? Just a small amount of caution will help guard against somebody having a potential, and celebration ruining, allergic reaction.
These 4 steps are small and relatively easy to incorporate into your celebration of Passover and Easter. With a little foresight and some remembering of a few golden rules, your observance (whether you’re combining or not combining Passover and Easter) will be a lot funner, calmer, and stress free for everyone.
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