Crossed

Easter joins the list of things in Australia that seem like America stood on its head. Most Australians are not religious, but schools and universities get a week or two off and everyone gets a holiday for Easter, indeed a 4 day weekend! (Not sure why Easter Monday needs to be a holiday for anyone.) With ads for Easter chocolates all over, it's strangely like Christmas in America - a once religious holiday now become a secular and commercial one. Perhaps one of the comedians at The Melbourne Comedy Festival (which uses this weekend to take flight) could explain how you secularize this literally excruciating event when it isn't even Spring - not to mention in a land where the importation of rabbits has proved disastrous! (In the Shepparton paper I even found an analog to the "put Christ back in Christmas" campaign, a picture of a foil-wrapped chocolate bunny with the caption "He didn't die for your sins.")

Care for a hot cross bun? This is just the normal one from the Bakers Delight down the street. (Actually it's from their website.) But their special chocolate chip hot cross buns each have at least 100 chocolate chips in them. Maybe they were inspired by - or inspired! - that Americanized Aussie Mel Gibson in his gorey reimagining of the passion story. More wounds, sweet wounds, mmmmmn!