Matt Gaw doesn’t value Easter for religious reasons. But he does think it is important to celebrate it. Here are his reasons why...

I am an atheist. One could say a raging atheist.

Indeed, the mere thought of organised religion makes me erupt into blisters and boils (perhaps I should take this as some kind of sign?)

But, although I personally don’t believe in the resurrection and am rather given to wild-eyed Nietzschean cries if I can’t reach the radio before ‘Thought for the Day’ burbles into the room, I shall be celebrating Easter with my family.

Of course, I won’t be thinking about anyone being nailed to a cross (although my children – both good little Catholics thanks to my Irish wife – will probably bring it up) but my intake of chocolate will rival that of Augustus Gloop and who knows, I might even have a hot cross bun.

But, despite appearances, this isn’t hypocrisy, nor just casual gluttony (well maybe a bit). No, it’s because I believe that recognising holidays such as Easter and Yule (as I insist on calling it in my house, much to everyone’s annoyance) is not only socially responsible, it also gets closer to the “real meaning” of these occasions than anything written in a holy book.

It’s tempting at this point to suggest that Christian festivals often have deeper pagan roots. After all Easter, with its spring imagery of buds and birth seems to well up from something much more joyous and fundamental than the blood-stained plot of the Christian narrative (even if it does have a happy ending).

One of my favourite Easter stories is the tale of Ostara or Eastre the fertility goddess, whose arrival in the world each year brought the world springing into life.

Arriving late one year it is said she discovered a little bird dying on the forest floor, wings frozen by snow. Feeling pity for the wingless scrap it is said Ostara made the creature her pet (or in some versions her lover) and turned him into a snow hare so he could evade hunters. But in memory of his previous life, he also retained the ability to lay brightly coloured eggs. Mmmm hare eggs.

Sadly, this lovely little tale is probably not historically pagan, but a much more modern mish-mash of European folklore no doubt knitted together by bitter atheists like me who would rather believe a jolly fertility story has been hijacked by those gloomy old Christians.

So the real meaning? Not Christian, not pagan? Well, yes and no.

The one thing that is universally true of all these holidays, whatever their religious or spiritual bent, is that they force us to pause in our life-long quest to work every hour that God/gods sends while buying endless stuff.

It also means, as every parent I have encountered over the past two weeks has said, no more school run.

There are no doubt sound financial arguments for getting rid of Sunday trading hours and limited Bank Holiday openings, especially as online trade never stops.

But the Easter break and December 25 still offer us a wonderful window of calm to stop, breathe and spend time with those we love. The gift of these breaks, bestowed on us by ancestors from centuries past – the true meaning of them – is not about any kind of narrative that has been imposed by a saucy Saxon deity or a hallowed Christian tome, it is about families and community.

Furthermore, these precious hours, whether a single day or a long weekend, are also vital for ensuring our continued health, both mental and physical.

And for me, disagreeable old atheist me, continuing to protect these holidays as something, for want of a better word, sacred, is part of a morally responsible, distinctly human world view that we shouldn’t always be at capitalism’s coalface.

Indeed, when politicians talk of the real meaning of Easter or Christmas, they should not be looking at the separation of religion from life, but rather the exploitative systems and world of zero-hour contracts that mean some people are forever doomed to work every holiday.

I should probably also point out here that I don’t believe the tales of the resurrection or Ostara are without importance. They are, of course, significant and should form part of any rounded cultural education (like any good story). But as the ‘real’ meaning of Easter? Not for me.