6.4.12

Easter Troll

It's Easter Friday, a holiday as usual, and I wondered why, contrary to many other holidays, there were no races today. (I am indeed racing a circuit race tomorrow in Saxony, and a road race on Monday close to Stuttgart). I found out that, in particular here in Bavaria, but also throughout Germany, certain organized events are prohibited on particular "silent holidays", which include Easter and All Saint's day. O-K... That'd be medievally bizarre enough, but it gets worse. A few years ago, a petition took place against this moratorium, only to be denied by a court, which cited the "great importance deserved by the required constitutional protection of Sundays and public holidays" when announcing its verdict. Wait, what?

For the sake of trolling, let's suppose that an arbitrary new religion - remember, freedom of religion is guaranteed by article 4 of the Constitution ("Fundamental Law") - also has a holiday that, by virtue of an equally arbitrary calculation based on moon phases and what not, happens to fall on the same day of this Christian Easter thing. Furthermore, for the sake of this argument, this religion enjoys having its major events celebrated by, oh, having its followers get drunk and dance naked around bonfires. Or, simply, by holding a bike race (the Gods were cyclists in previous lives, who knows for sure?), with the ensuing awards ceremony providing enough music, food and drinks to guarantee the physical and spiritual well-being of all its participants. Given that those are perfectly fine activities any other day of the year, wouldn't the Constitution, as it stands, be inhibiting the exercise of such a religious freedom?
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At any rate, the Easter Bunny brought me chocolates. Nham :)