This article was originally published on the Marijuana Patients Organization site on April 15, 2014.
This year Easter will be celebrated on the marijuana holiday called 420, April 20th. While the Christian holiday is a recognition and celebration of the biblical story of Jesus Christ’s resurrection, popular culture recognizes the holiday as filled with chocolates and Easter eggs. The internet is a buzz with references between munchies like Peeps and chocolate bunnies and 4/20 related cottonmouth, suggesting that “parents will be eating their children’s Easter basket candy.”
The myth as to the origins of 420, and why it is celebrated in pot culture is still unsure. Some claim that 420 refers to a police radio call for marijuana possession, while others believe it originated on a college campus in 1970’s California. At 4:20 students would assemble to smoke. Whatever the source, 420 is now a fixture within marijuana culture and a celebrated day (and time of each day) across the US.
Although Easter 2014 lands on the sacred 420 marijuana holiday, there should not be any animosity between the two holidays. It is even argued by some theologians the Bible speaks of marijuana in Genesis 1:29, and makes for an important focal point of the Rastafarian religion. This Easter should make for an interesting one to say the least and mark the resurrection of the marijuana plants return to our society as a legal commodity.