Fun Facts About Easter!
Jonathon Andrews
- Pope Gregory merged the holiday of celebrating Jesus Christ’s resurrection with the pagan spring festival while keeping the pagan symbols. These symbols include the rabbits and eggs as they symbolized rebirth.
- Many believe Christians named Easter was named after Eostre, a pagan goddess of fertility. They did this to improve the chances of people converting from pagans to Christians..
- Easter egg dye used to be made naturally out of onion peels, tree bark, flower petals, and juices.
- Dying Easter eggs can be traced to back to Ukrainian traditions. In Ukraine, this is known as pysanka. They use wax to create traditional folk designs on their eggs.
- In Christianity the egg dying tradition started out by dying eggs red to represent the blood of Christ. Eggs were decorated because eggs were formerly a forbidden food during Lent (a period of 40 days which is observed by fasting or abstinence).
- The popular Easter candy known as Peeps used to be handmade with pastry tube. It would take 27 hours to make one. Now they have machines that sped the process up to just six minutes!
- A lesser known Easter treat is soft pretzels. Some say it’s because the the shape of the knot resembles hands praying.
- Despite the story of the Easter bunny laying eggs, in reality rabbits or bunnies don’t lay eggs.
- In 2011, the world’s largest chocolate egg was made in Italy. It was 34 feet long and weighed almost 16,000 pounds.
- Good Friday isn’t considered a federal holiday in all states. Only 12 out of the fifty states have made it a federal holiday, giving workers the day off.
- Jellybeans were associated with Easter since the 1930s, possibly due to their egg shape.
- People used to dye chicks and rabbits, in celebration of Easter. In many states it is now illegal.
Interested in learning even more facts about Easter? Check out my sources below!
Andreajn. (2022, February 4). 70 fun facts about Easter you must know. Facts.net. Retrieved April 12, 2022, from https://facts.net/easter-facts/
Lauren Smith McDonough and Kelly Corbett. (2020, February 20). 17 interesting things you never knew about easter. House Beautiful. Retrieved April 12, 2022, from https://www.housebeautiful.com/entertaining/holidays-celebrations/g3323/easter-interesting-facts/
McCrory, S. (2020, May 5). How did Easter eggs become a tradition? Scandinavia Standard. Retrieved April 13, 2022, from https://www.scandinaviastandard.com/origins-of-easter-eggs-how-did-they-become-a-tradition/#:~:text=In%20Christianity%2C%20it's%20believed%20that,Christ%20shed%20during%20his%20crucifixion.
Yoo, S. (2016, March 27). Fun facts about Easter's fuzziest figure. POPSUGAR Pets. Retrieved April 12, 2022, from https://www.popsugar.com/pets/photo-gallery/22425712/image/37163943/When-Pope-Gregory-I-merged-Easter-holiday-celebration
