10 Fun Facts About Easter

Posted April 5, 2012 in The Latest

1. The tradition of giving eggs at Easter time has been traced back to Persians, Egyptians, Gauls, Greeks and Romans, to whom the egg was a symbol of life.

2. Easter is a “moveable feast” celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon which happens on or after March 21, the Spring Equinox.

3. The first chocolate eggs were made in Europe in the early 1800s and still are one of the most popular treats associated with Easter.

4. 76 percent of people eat the ears on chocolate bunnies first.

5. The traditional act of painting eggs is called Pysanka (origins from the Ukranian word pysaty, “to write”)

6. According to the Guinness Book of World Records the largest Easter egg ever made was just over 25 feet high and weighed 8,968 lbs.

7. On average, every year 16 billion jelly beans and 90 million chocolate bunnies are made in preparation for Easter.

8. The name Easter originates from Eastre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess who symbolizes hare and egg.

9. Every year, the White House hosts an Easter Egg Roll on the front lawn. The tradition was started by President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1878.

10. The world’s largest jar of jelly beans weighed 6,050 pounds