Easter Hat Facade

I find it absurd that I needed to have my public school second graders work on making and decorating Easter hats all week to wear in the school Easter Hat Parade next week. It is absurd because there is not one Christian kid in my class (I know this because I have a list of all the kids' main important info, which includes it), and the vast majority of them are Muslim. It is also absurd because all the secular Easter-themed decor uses pictures and colors associated with spring. It is autumn in the southern hemisphere right now. I am forcing Muslim children to celebrate Christian spring as the weather gets colder. 

In reality, I am not forcing anyone to do anything. I just told them to think of it like wishing a Chinese friend "Happy Chinese New Year", even if you're not Chinese. Just make a bright colorful hat, and if you want to, put a bunny or a chick or eggs on it. After getting over the initial fear that they were committing blasphemy, they are now loving it.

One kid took shiny plastic ribbon and made curly tendrils that hang down just from the sides of his hat. A bunch of the others saw it and liked it, so they did the same thing. So now it looks kind of like they are little Hasidic Jews when they wear their hats, and they have no idea. Their mothers are going to come to the Easter parade in their hijabs and wonder what we are teaching them. 

Explaining these things to parents is above my pay grade.