Hunting for Easter eggs, eating chocolate bunnies and marshmallow peeps represent some of the activities people engage in during the Easter season. Easter developed its many traditions and rituals through many cultures from around the world.
Reason and Date
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For a little over 2,000 years, Christians have celebrated Easter for the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
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Its name comes from Eastre, an Anglo-Saxon goddess.
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Easter takes place on Sunday after the first full moon following the first day of Spring.
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People celebrate Easter as early as March 22 or as late as April 25.
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Depending on where they live, people can celebrate Easter according to different calendars. Western churches, such as in the United States, use the Gregorian calendar while eastern churches, such as in Greece, use the Julian calendar.
Candy
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When it comes to purchasing and consuming candy, Easter comes in second place, outmatched only by Halloween.
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In the United States, Americans consumed seven billion pounds of candy on Easter in 2001.
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Besides chocolate bunnies Americans buy around 700 million Marshmallow Peeps during the Easter holiday, making them the most popular non-chocolate candy.
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Seventy-six percent of people bite off the ears first, five percent bite the feet first and four percent eat the tail first.
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According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest Easter egg, made of chocolate and marshmallow, measured in at over 25 feet high and weighed 8,968 pounds.
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Jelly Beans also make the top-sellers list with Americans buying around 16 billion jelly beans, enough to fill a nine-story building.
Egg Painting and Hunting
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Eggs became an icon for Easter because they symbolize rebirth, derived from the ‘rebirth’ Jesus Christ.
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Ukrainians refer to Easter eggs as “pysanka.”
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Painters often dye their eggs red because the color red symbolizes the blood of Christ.
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Early Easter baskets resembled birds’ nests.
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Since 1878 the White House has held an annual Easter Egg Roll, during which the front lawn becomes a playground for children all over the country.
Sources:
http://www.indobase.com/holidays/easter/easter-facts/
http://easter.fundootimes.com/easter-trivia.html
