10 Fun Facts about Easter you Probably Didn’t Know
Every year, we all hurry to tuck into the delicious treats that await us on Easter Sunday, but did you know that there are some interesting fun facts about this religious holiday?
For Christians, Easter Sunday (also known as Resurrection Sunday) is the most important day of the year since it commemorates Jesus' resurrection from the dead. But, before you sit down to a Sunday roast, why not dazzle your loved ones with your experience of Easter’s history?
Continue reading to learn 10 interesting Easter things that you might not be aware of...
1. The Easter Bunny legend began in Germany
Have you ever wondered where the origin of the Easter Bunny came from?
We may say that the story of rabbits carrying eggs doesn't make much sense, but there must be an explanation why children flock to see what surprises this mythical creature has left for them every year.
But, just as Santa Claus has no Christian significance for Christmas, the Easter Bunny has no Christian significance for Easter.
The Easter Bunny's origins can be traced back hundreds of years, to pre-Christian Germany. The hare was thought to be a symbol of the Pagan Goddess of Spring and Fertility in this region.
Pagan traditions were mixed with Christian holidays as Christianity spread throughout Europe, resulting in the Easter Bunny laying a nest of colorful (today, chocolate) eggs for children who were well-behaved on Easter Sunday.
2. The holiday was named after the Anglo-Saxon Goddess, Eostre
The next Easter fun fact revolves around the topic of why Easter is called Easter.
This Christian holiday was named after Eostre, an Anglo-Saxon goddess who was portrayed as a fertility goddess and a Goddess of Dawn and Light, according to scholars.
She was celebrated at Pagan festivals commemorating the advent of spring, stressing the integration of pagan and Christian rituals.
3. More than 1.5 million Cadbury Creme Eggs are produced every day
Cadbury's creates 500 million Creme Eggs per year, which is an interesting Easter reality for you! It would be 10 times higher than Mount Everest if they were stacked on top of each other.
Every day, the Birmingham factory produces 1.5 million Creme Eggs, making it the world's most famous egg-shaped chocolate.
4. The practice of egg painting is a Ukrainian tradition.
Ukrainians have been decorating eggs as a call to the Gods and Goddesses of health and fertility for millennia.
This colorful custom of pysanka (pronounced "pih-sahn-kah") is made with wax and dyes, but it didn't catch on until Ukrainian immigrants arrived in the United States.
5. The world's biggest Easter egg is 5000 pounds.
The world's largest Easter egg is 31 feet tall and 18 feet wide. The egg, discovered in Vegreville, Alberta, Canada, weighs a whopping 5000 pounds and took 12,000 hours to complete.
The world's largest Easter egg, known as the Vegreville Pysanka, is really more like a jigsaw puzzle than a sculpture, as it is made up of 3500 pieces of aluminum.
6. Easter used to be synonymous with pretzels.
Chocolate, hot cross buns, and eggs normally come to mind when we think of Easter. Pretzels, on the other hand, are an Easter snack.
Since the twists resemble crossed arms in prayer, pretzels are associated with Easter. Germans have been eating a pretzel and a hard-boiled egg for dinner on Good Friday since the 1950s.
7. In 1873, Bristol produced the first chocolate egg in the United Kingdom.
Have you ever wondered who began the Easter tradition of eating chocolate-covered eggs?
The Fry family of Bristol owned the world's largest chocolate factory in the nineteenth century, producing the first chocolate egg in 1873.
Cadbury's produced their first Easter egg two years later, in 1875.
8. In Germany, it is illegal to dance on Good Friday
In the majority of German states, it is illegal to dance in public on Good Friday, which marks the start of the Easter weekend.
Out of reverence for the holy day, also Europe's clubbing capital, Berlin, becomes a dance-free zone.
In Baden-Württemberg, music can be performed but dancing is prohibited, while in Bavaria, anyone caught playing some kind of music in a bar faces a fine of up to 10,000 euros.
So, Germany, why the boogie ban?
The rationale behind the ban is out of reverence for Christians who celebrate Jesus' death on Good Friday and Easter Sunday, which are observed as silent holidays in Germany.
It is illegal to dance on Good Friday, which marks the beginning of the Easter weekend.
9. Easter is observed on the Sunday following the full moon on March 21st.
Have you ever wondered why Easter Sunday is moved around every year? It all comes down to the lunar calendar and the moon's location.
Easter is observed on the first Sunday after the full moon on or after March 21st, which is said to mark the beginning of spring.
10. In 2007, a £9 million Easter egg was sold.
In 2007, Christie's in London sold the world's most expensive egg for £9 million, smashing Faberge records.
The enameled egg contains a multi-colored cockerel who pops out of the egg every hour and flaps his wings before nodding three times.
Karl Fabergé invented the egg in St Petersburg in 1902, and it is the second largest egg Fabergé has ever created.
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