How did Easter become so shlocky and shallow?

I was so glad to read this post by Mollie Hemingway in the Federalist:

Earlier this week I went to get my children Easter cards. I was in a holiday store that sells goods for Christmas, Halloween, and Easter. Its Easter card selection was cute but didn’t include anything even remotely religious. So I went to the neighborhood card store to pick up something a bit more on-topic for the highest day of the church year.

Paper Source had a bunch of cards featuring bunnies. Some chicks. Dogs with bunny ears. Cats with bunny ears. One card was just bunny ears with no animal attached to them at all. The only remotely religious card was one making light of Judas.

...I went up to the counter and asked to be directed to the religious Easter card selection. The lady at the counter took me right back to the Judas card. Literally, a card teasing about Judas.

I love bunnies. I love chicks. And who doesn’t love dogs with bunny ears? I do not, however, like making light of Judas’ betrayal of Jesus. That, and I would like to be able to buy my children over-priced Easter cards that get even close to referencing the Resurrection.

...Compared to Christmas, Easter hymns and art are far more difficult to secularize. Christmas is a story of family, and its celebration isn’t exactly undermined when it’s marked around hearth and home. The Triduum and Easter — about Christ’s rejection, crucifixion, and resurrection — are a bit more difficult to retain their meaning alongside secular celebration of bunnies and chicks.

...How did Easter become so shlocky and shallow? Philip Roth credits Irving Berlin for his efforts to “de-Christ” Easter in the 1948 movie “Easter Parade.” The movie has no religious images or meaning whatsoever. From Roth’s novel “Operation Shylock:”

...I heard myself next praising the greatest Diasporist of all, the father of the new Diasporist movement, Irving Berlin. “People ask where I got the idea. Well, I got it listening to the radio. The radio was playing ‘Easter Parade’ and I thought, But this is Jewish genius on a par with the Ten Commandments. God gave Moses the Ten Commandments and then He gave to Irving Berlin ‘Easter Parade’ and ‘White Christmas.’ The two holidays that celebrate the divinity of Christ — the divinity that’s the very heart of the Jewish rejection of Christianity — and what does Irving Berlin brilliantly do? He de-Christs them both! Easter he turns into a fashion show and Christmas into a holiday about snow. Gone is (sic) the gore and the murder of Christ — down with the crucifix and up with the bonnet! He turns their religion into schlock. But nicely! Nicely! So nicely the goyim don’t even know what hit ’em. They love it. Everybody loves it. The Jews especially … If supplanting Jesus Christ with snow can enable my people to cozy up to Christmas, then let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! Do you see my point?” I took more pride, I told them, in ‘Easter Parade’ than in the victory of the Six Day War.”

...Good Friday is when we solemnly remember Christ’s crucifixion. On Holy Saturday we commemorate Christ lying in the tomb. And on Easter Sunday we celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord. These celebrations begin at the Easter Vigil and continue throughout the day. We break our fasts with the sacrament and proclamation. And we celebrate as congregations and families for the days to come. So do that, rejoicing that we have the freedom to mark these holy days and mark them in safety, unlike so many of our global brethren.

...could we at least commercialize Easter and do so with a dramatically better selection of goods? Like many other Christians, I like to celebrate Easter big. In fact, I usually throw a party (not this year, though I am considering a “Make Pentecost Great Again” throw-down). That means I need decorations. I don’t mind bunnies and eggs and whatnot, but what I really want are lambs. Agnus Deis. Liturgical baking items. Empty tomb motifs. They are shockingly hard to find. And what about some activities for the kids? My little ones will be working on recreating this LEGO empty tomb thing this year, and I’m sure they’ll do a great job making their own fun and own decorations, but a little Christmas-style commercialization might not be a bad idea.

...The commercialization failures of American Easter aren’t a big deal, of course, particularly compared to the plight of others. No matter what happens with our Easter celebrations, may the message of Christ’s sacrifice and resurrection bring comfort to the world.

Read more here.