All over the world, people are adjusting their Easter Sunday celebrations in compliance with social distancing and shelter-in-place guidelines.
In San Francisco, this means the cancelation of the Easter Sunrise Service at the Mt. Davidson cross. Typically, thousands of people gather for a non-denominational, city-wide celebration. This is the first time the service has been canceled in its 97-year history.
The cross is illuminated just twice a year - once on Easter Eve and a second time on April 24th in remembrance of the Armenian Genocide. This year, they illuminated the cross in blue, honoring healthcare, frontline, and essential workers amid the coronavirus crisis.
TONIGHT: The Mt. Davidson Cross in SF is blue in appreciation of healthcare, frontline, and essential workers amid #COVID19.For the first time in 97 years, the non-denominational Easter Sunrise Service is canceled. @abc7newsbayarea #LightItBlue pic.twitter.com/sqC6eo5yEJ
— Lauren Martinez (@LMartinezNews) April 12, 2020Sevag Kavranian, chairman of the council, said, "Something needed to happen for Easter, so I think illuminating the cross showing that there is still hope and light was pretty important to us."
"There are saviors. Without them I think that we would probably be a little lost as far as how we would survive ourselves," he continued.
Bay Area residents are getting creative with Easter celebration alternatives in the absence of their typical gatherings. ABC7 News spoke with San Francisco resident Catherine Magee, who will be sharing dinner with her family virtually using the Zoom app.
"It will be distant, but it will be nice being able to watch mass online and then tune into Bocelli is supposed to be singing from the Duomo in Milan. We're going to make a new Easter memory from this and look forward to next year when we can really celebrate Easter together," Magee said.
