Life, 1916-04-06 · page 25 of 80
Life — April 6, 1916 — page 25: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This satirical "catechism" mocks Easter's commercialization and excessive materialism in early 20th-century America. Using a mock-religious question-and-answer format, Harvey Peake ridicules: **The consumerism**: Easter is compared to Christmas as a "swapping day"—a shopping holiday. The Easter Rabbit replaces Santa Claus, obliging fathers to buy expensive clothes. **Hypocrisy**: The egg symbolizes worshippers who are "impure within, while smooth and beautiful without"—criticizing people who dress elaborately for Easter church attendance while lacking genuine piety. **Fashion excess**: The "Easter Spirit" is purely about "outdistance[ing] all rivals in gorgeous attire." Women are mocked as vain ("typical of the Easter Woman"). **The solution**: The joke proposes an "Easter S.P.U.G."—Society for the Prohibition of Unreasonable Garments—sarcastically suggesting reform movements to combat wasteful spending. The ornate Art Deco border and period illustrations emphasize the lavish aesthetics being critiqued.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
W777 enuwar Easter Catechism QUESTION: What is Easter? Answer: The Spring Christmas. Q.: Why is it so called? A.; Because it is the second greatest swapping day in the Calendar. Q.: Has it a Santa Claus? A.: Yes, The Rabbit is its Santa Claus. Q.: What are the Easter Symbols? A.: The Egg, the Lily and the Rabbit. : What does the Egg symbolize? A.; The Easter Worshiper, who, like the Egg, is quite likely to be impure within, while smooth and beautiful without. Q.: And the Li A: Of the Lily it has been said, > Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” It is therefore typical of the Easter Woman. Q.: And what does the Rabbit signify? The Rabbit is on the jump from one Easter to another. In this way it represents the ter Man, who is obliged to emulate it in order to provide his family with apparel of a sufficiently gorgeous character to celebrate the day. : What is the Easter Spirit? To outdistance all rivals in the matter of gorgeous attire. : To what will this ultimately lead? To the establishment of a Safe and Sane Easter, and the creating of an Easter S. P. U. G. Q.: And what is an Easter S. P. U. G.? A.: Society for the Prohibition of Unreasonable Garments. Harvey Peake. comicbooks.com