The most important Christian holiday is right around the corner. And if you are reading this on the day it’s posted (Good Friday), it’s literally two days away! Most are familiar with why the day is important in Christianity and why believers celebrate it each year. However, relatively few know the origins of the many activities that occur on Easter Sunday and many other relevant Easter facts that make up the history of Easter celebrations.
You would be absolutely right to say that it’s customary to dye and roll eggs on Easter. However, why eggs, and why do we dye them? Why woven baskets? Why is there always ham on the Easter table? These and many more questions can be answered with the help of fun facts about Easter. The truth is that many enjoy the ‘fun’ part of the holiday: a table full of delectable food, confectionary sales, board games, etc., without actually acknowledging why we celebrate the way we do. And sure, random Easter facts aren’t something you must be familiar with to enjoy the festivities; however, it’s missing, perhaps not the whole, but a big part of the picture. Also, learning a little extra, a fact about Easter or two, goes a long way: not only do you improve your cultural and historical knowledge, but interesting Easter facts might also be ideal conversation starters if you’re looking for a way to keep your guests entertained while sitting at the Easter table. Also, what about some spring trivia? These fun Easter facts are perfect for including in the quiz! And, at the end of the day, learning new stuff is just super fun and egg-citing, no matter its purpose!
Below, we’ve compiled a bunch of facts about Easter — funny, random, serious — there’s a little bit of everything! As always, we’ve added links under each post so you can check the veracity of these Easter facts yourself! Did any Easter fact surprise you? Let us know by giving it an upvote. Also, any interesting facts related to Easter that we forgot to include in the list? Share them with fellow peeps in the comments!
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Pretzels used to be connected to Easter.
Apparently, this salty treat's twists mimic crossed hands in prayer. Frankly, they kinda do! And honestly, it's time to bring back this savory snack to the holiday overflowing with sweets for balance.
The Easter basket bears a unique symbolic meaning.
The woven containers stuffed with eggs symbolize bird nests and new life. They're also practical for gathering the treats from your Easter egg hunt!
Easter Island was discovered on Easter Sunday, hence the name.
Dutch admiral Jacob Roggeveen set foot on this remote Polynesian island on Easter Sunday in 1722 and gave it the honorary name Paasch-Eyland, Dutch for “Easter Island.” Rapa Nui is the island’s indigenous name.
I'm pretty sure the natives already knew the island was there. So the invading horde first learned of the island on Easter Sunday then. Get it right BP.
About £9 million was paid for the 2007 Faberge Easter Egg.
The gold-and-pink enamel egg was a wedding present from the Russian Royal Family to Baron Edouard de Rothschild. The egg would hatch every hour, revealing a diamond cockerel that would flap its wings, bob its head, and croak.
The egg-painting tradition is referred to as "Pysanka."
It has its roots in Ukraine and employs wax and dyes to paint the eggs.
Easter egg games date back to medieval times.
Do you consider the Easter egg hunt to be a strange tradition? Hear this one out: this was considered Easter fun in the medieval ages. The priest would give a hard-boiled egg to one of the choir boys, and the boys would pass it around until midnight. At that point, whoever was holding the egg got to eat it.
Germans are to thank for the Easter bunny.
The practice of the Easter bunny bringing gifts like sweets and eggs began in Germany in the Middle Ages. The oldest record of this custom dates to the 16th century. Dutch immigrants in Pennsylvania introduced the bunny to America in the 1700s.
More than 1.5 million Cadbury Creme Eggs are made daily.
The fact that 500 million cream-filled eggs are produced annually at the Bournville facility in Birmingham, England, is even more astonishing. If those eggs were stacked on top of one another, they could form a structure taller than Mount Everest!
Mrs HoaS can fit three creme eggs in her mouth at once. One of the many reasons I love her so much.
According to Polish folklore, the Virgin Mary offered eggs to the soldiers at the cross.
While crying, she begged them to be less cruel. Her tears splashed on the eggs, dotting them with brightly colored spots.
People light Easter fires in some European countries.
Before the spread of Christianity in the area, Germanic tribes presumably used the pagan rite of building an Easter bonfire. It was intended to usher in spring and relieve the winter's gloom. The fact that the ashes were dispersed throughout the meadows and subsequently nourished the soil also made it a symbol of fertility.
The Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre inspired the name of the holiday.
According to scholars, the festival honoring Eostre and the arrival of spring is whence Easter got its name. The hare and the egg are supposed to have been her sacred symbols, which is why they are also heavily featured in Easter symbolism.
Even the way in which you determine when Easter will be in a given year is pagan. Easter always falls on the Sunday after the first Saturday immediately following the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox. It works for every year: Vernal Equinox, forward to full moon, forward to Saturday, thence to Sunday. That'll be Easter.
59% of people eat the ears first.
A small percentage start with the feet or tail, and the majority appear to lack any strategy.
According to historical records, decorated Easter eggs were first used in the 13th century.
Jesus rising from the tomb is compared to something new emerging from an egg's shell. It eventually became a recognized symbol of the Resurrection.
Easter lilies are a more modern practice.
The late 18th century saw the introduction of these lovely blossoms to England from their original home in Japan. However, only after World War I did this practice also start being applied in the US. The transformation of dormant bulbs into exquisite blooms is reminiscent of hope and rebirth, two significant Easter celebration motifs.
Just make sure to keep them away from your cats! Easter Lily pollen is DEADLY. If you insist on having Easter Lilies, take a tissue and pull the stamen (the bits covered with pollen) off. This also makes them 100% less stinky. Even drinking the water a cut lily is in can kill your cat. Please be cautious!
Clothes worn on Easter were once regarded as bringing good luck.
An old superstition claimed that wearing new clothing on Easter will bring you luck for the remainder of the year. In fact, it was so generally accepted that wealthy New Yorkers would literally parade after attending Easter service at upscale midtown churches. This tradition inspired the Easter Parade and Bonnet Festival, now held in New York City every Easter.
There were Easter eggs long before Easter.
Research suggests that Easter eggs date back to medieval Europe, and Christians may not have been the ones who started the tradition of giving eggs. In fact, they represent fertility and rebirth in many different cultures, so it's believed that this old practice just became a part of Easter celebrations.
'Easter eggs' aren't a Christian thing at all. Neither is the 'Christmas tree'.
The Easter hare is the name given to the Easter bunny in European traditions.
The hare has played many enticing ceremonial and religious roles throughout history. In Europe during the Neolithic period, hares were ritually buried with people. According to archaeologists, this ceremony was considered sacred, with hares standing for rebirth.
In 2007, Florida held the largest Easter egg hunt.
On April 1, 2007, 9,753 kids and their parents participated in the largest Easter egg hunt, which featured 501,000 eggs.
The largest Easter egg in the world weighs 5000 lbs.
The largest Easter egg in the world, found near Vegreville, Alberta, Canada, is 31 feet tall and 18 feet wide. The egg, known as the Vegreville Pysanka, comprises 3500 pieces of aluminum and took 12,000 hours to make.
It’s against the law to dance on Good Friday in Germany.
Most German states forbid dancing in public on Good Friday, which marks the beginning of the Easter holiday. Because of respect for the sacred day, even the epicenter of European clubbing, Berlin, becomes a dance-free zone.
Like Santa Claus, the first Easter bunny was intended to ensure children behaved themselves before Easter.
Only the good children received treats, while the ill-behaved ones received empty baskets.
Unlike Christmas, Halloween, and many other holidays, Easter does not have a set date.
The reason why Easter’s date fluctuates so much is because of the Moon. The holiday always falls on the first Sunday following the Paschal Full Moon, the first full moon following the spring equinox.
Not exactly correct. It's the Sunday immediately following the first Saturday after the full moon subsequent to the Vernal Equinox.
Each Easter, over 1.5 million Peeps are consumed in America.
The most popular non-chocolate Easter treat is these colorful marshmallows. The Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, factory produces a staggering 5.5 million each day. Try dipping your Peeps in melted chocolate for an even sweeter treat this year!
In 1953, one Peep took 27 hours to make.
Back then, they were created by hand using a pastry tube. But fear not, it now takes just six minutes (though it takes seconds to eat) thanks to a special machine called the "Depositor."
On Easter, almost 90 million chocolate bunnies are sold.
That makes sense, given that confectionery alone accounts for $2.6 billion in spending during the Easter holidays. Yes, and that's just in the U.S.
The oldest Christian celebration is Easter.
Every Sunday, early Christians observed Christ's Resurrection. As they began to celebrate the then-pagan celebration of Easter, they decided to dedicate the entire day to it every year.
The yearly egg roll custom at the White House was started in 1878 by President Rutherford Hayes.
Following his administration, First Families continued this Easter ritual. The Egg Rolls have altered and evolved over time, considering the games and amusements that were popular at different times.
The tallest chocolate Easter egg was made in Italy in 2011.
It measured 10.39 meters in height and weighed 7,200 kilos. Put another way, it was heavier than an elephant and taller than a giraffe.
An Easter cuckoo substitutes for the Easter bunny in Switzerland.
In Switzerland, the legend goes that a cuckoo bird is responsible for bringing Easter eggs on the holy occasion. These birds frequently lay their eggs in the nests of other birds, and this behavior might have inspired this notion. Also, in Switzerland, the cuckoo bird represents rebirth and growth.
Only 12 states officially recognize Good Friday as a holiday.
Good Friday, which takes place two days before Easter Sunday and honors Jesus Christ's crucifixion, is not a widely-recognized federal holiday. Only a few states officially celebrate it, including Tennessee, North Carolina, and New Jersey.
In 2020, during the surge of Covid, 77% of American adults still celebrated the holiday.
According to the National Retail Federation, around half of those decided to celebrate with a holiday dinner, while a third chose to connect with loved ones online.
Names and recognitions are dedicated throughout the Holy Week leading to Easter Sunday.
Maundy Thursday is one of them; it honors the Last Supper that Jesus had with his apostles. Another is the commemoration of His Crucifixion on Good Friday. The day between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection is known as Holy Saturday.
The first chocolate egg in the UK was created in Bristol in 1873.
The Fry family of Bristol operated the largest chocolate factory in the world throughout the 19th century, producing the first chocolate egg in 1873. Two years later, in 1875, Cadbury’s made its first Easter egg.
Many celebrate Easter at church.
A 2018 survey in US found that over 51% of Easter celebrators attend church, which shouldn’t be shocking, considering Easter is a religious holiday.
Around 16 million jelly beans are consumed in the United States throughout Easter.
That many jelly beans would be enough to completely fill a plastic egg the size of a nine-story building or to circle the globe three times!
The Easter Bonnet might have originated from Irwin Berlin’s song “Easter Parade.”
Irwin Berlin begins his “Easter Parade” with the words “In your Easter Bonnet, with all the frills upon it.” He ends it with the words, “Oh, I could write a sonnet about your Easter Bonnet.” Could it be that the “Easter Bonnet” was created just as a good rhyme? Well, it seems like it.
Eggs, chocolate, sweet bread, ham, and lamb are typical Easter foods.
According to a survey from 2018, food purchases for Easter total around $5.7 billion.
There's a reason for ham on the Easter table.
Given that the origins of Easter are Jewish Passover, most early Easter celebrants would have traditionally eaten lamb on this occasion. However, ham is now a more common addition to Easter feasts in America. The reasons are that hogs were less expensive to rear than sheep, and the farmers could butcher the pigs in the fall, allow the meat to cure through the cold winter, and then have it ready for Easter.
Easter first appeared in recorded history around the 2nd century.
Although it was around that time the holiday celebration was officially documented, people had been celebrating the Resurrection long before that.
Lent lasts for forty days and is concluded with Easter.
Sundays are not included in the total. Fasting and sacramental acts are practiced.
Wish I had known this when I gave up chocolate for lent. I could have stuffed my face on a Sunday.
The more recent Easter tradition in the US is the bunny leaving candy-filled gift baskets for kids to find in the morning.
The night before Easter, kids put a basket outside that the Easter bunny fills with sweets, gifts, and toys. When the children wake up, they discover their Easter basket.
Natural materials were used to create the very first egg dyes.
Flower petals, juices, onion peels, and tree bark are a few of the materials used.
An ex-Easter Bunny served as President Donald Trump’s press secretary.
Back during the George W. Bush administration, Sean Spicer would dress up as the Easter Bunny to entertain children at the annual White House Easter Egg Roll.
In February 2017, Brazil set another Easter bunny record.
In 2017, nine builders worked together for eight consecutive days to build the largest chocolate rabbit to date. The bunny measured 4.52 m in height and weighed 4,245.5 kg (9,359.7 lbs).
The two holidays that sell the most candy are Easter and Halloween.
With Halloween sweeping the board, the two holidays compete yearly to see who can sell the most candy. However, some years, more candy was purchased the week before Easter than the week before Halloween. However, this is likely because Halloween sales are spread more evenly throughout the month, and Easter shopping is often done last minute.
This is only in America no one really bothers with Halloween in the UK I gave up buying Halloween sweets/candy because no trick or treaters came round.
Dyeing chicks for Easter was actually a thing.
According to the New York Times article from 2012, to color the chicks, the dye was either injected into the eggs 18 days after they were laid or dusted on the infants immediately after they hatched. The color would fade once their newborn fluff had molted away.
The world’s most expensive Easter bunny costs $49K.
Also, it has two 1.7-carat diamonds for eyes and a whopping 548,000 calories.
Not me heading to the store on Sunday to snap up half-price Lindt chocolate bunnies, Jelly Belly jelly beans, Godiva chocolate eggs, etc.
Not me heading to the store on Sunday to snap up half-price Lindt chocolate bunnies, Jelly Belly jelly beans, Godiva chocolate eggs, etc.
