See the Easter facts infographic pdf here.
Most will know that, in common with many other religious holidays, Easter traditions have their roots in pre-Christian times. It’s far less Christian than you might imagine and around the world, there are many ways of marking the holiday – many have more than a layer of chocolate about them!
In the beginning
The word ‘Easter’ is derived from Eostre, an ancient Anglo-Saxon goddess who symbolised the rebirth of the day at dawn and the rebirth of life in the spring.
The Easter Act was first passed in Parliament in 1928. The purpose was to provide a fixed date for Easter, establishing Easter Sunday as the Sunday following the second Saturday in April. But although the Act was passed, it has yet to be implemented.
Chocolatey goodness!
The first person in the U.K. to receive an official Easter Egg was Henry VIII. The Egg was sent by the Pope.
A whopping 90 million chocolate eggs are sold in the UK each year.
In the UK, each child receives an average 8.8 Easter eggs each year.
The tallest chocolate Easter egg ever was made in Italy in 2011. At 10.39 metres in height and 7,200 kg in weight, it was taller than a giraffe and heavier than an elephant!
The world’s most popular egg-shaped chocolate is Cadbury’s Creme Egg. Workers at the Cadbury factory in Birmingham produce 1.5 million of these gooey treats every day! The first Cadbury’s Crème Egg was put on sale in 1971
The peak time for Easter egg consumption is 11am on Easter Sunday, with 30% of children eating their chocolate egg instead of breakfast.
Or how about a chocolate bilby? See what they get up to in Australia in the ‘Hop to it’ section below.
Nice buns!
In 1361, a monk named Father Thomas Rocliffe, was recorded to have made small spiced cakes stamped with the sign of the cross, to be distributed to the poor visiting the monastery at St. Albans on Good Friday.
The most expensive hot cross bun was one baked in 1829 in Stepney, London. It was bought for £155 at the Antiques for Everyone show at the NEC in Birmingham in 2000.
It is said (not by Mary Berry or Paul Hollywood, though!) that hot cross buns baked and served on Good Friday will not spoil or mold during the subsequent year, but please don’t take our word for this; always store in an airtight container and consume by the best before date on the packaging. If you’ve made them yourself, eat them before they go green!
Another tradition encourages keeping such a bun for medicinal purposes. A piece of it given to someone who is ill is said to help them recover – not sure if we are talking about the penicillin on the green one, or a fresh bun, but again, this is not intended to be medical advice and you should always consult a doctor if you have any doubts about your health. Eating hot cross buns does not appear in the any NICE guidelines as far as we can ascertain!
Sharing a hot cross bun with another is supposed to ensure friendship throughout the coming year, particularly if “Half for you and half for me, between us two shall goodwill be” is said at the time, so some say they should only be cooked one at a time. Whether true or not, it’s worth a try isn’t it? Share one with someone you love, or someone you’d like to love you! Heck, take a tray full into the street and make friends with everyone; love makes the world go round! Aldi are doing a pack for 99p too!
Because there is a cross on the buns, some say they should be kissed before being eaten – kiss your own, not somebody else’s!
If taken on a sea voyage, hot cross buns are said to protect against shipwreck – if only the Titanic’s crew had known!
If hung in the kitchen, they are said to protect against fires and ensure that all breads turn out perfectly – King Alfred was certainly not baking hot cross buns!
Hop to it!
The Easter Bunny tradition dates back to the 13th-century, when people prayed to multiple gods and goddesses, although the Easter Bunny wasn’t mentioned until the 1500s and it wasn’t until 1680 that a story of the bunny was published. The story of the Easter Bunny is thought to have become popularised in the 19th century, too.
Eostre, the goddess of fertility and spring, was symbolised with the rabbit and is believed to have crossed over. Other myths suggest that her companiion was a hare
Rabbits usually give birth to a big litter of babies (called kittens), so they became a symbol of new life – and tasty pies!
Legend has it that the Easter bunny lays, decorates and hides eggs as they are also a symbol of new life – and we thought the duck-billed platypus was the only mammal to lay eggs!
The Easter Bunny doesn’t do all the work alone though: In Switzerland, Easter eggs are delivered by a cuckoo, and by a fox in parts of Germany.
Australians also mark Easter with a furry, long-eared little animal: Preservationists have seized on the Easter-bunny tradition to draw attention to the fate of the bilby, a marsupial threatened with extinction. They boldly announced that from now on the bilby was the official Easter-egg supplier, and the idea caught on. Now you can even buy these marsupials in supermarkets – but only as chocolate.
Head start
An Easter bonnet represents the tail-end of a tradition of wearing new clothes at Easter
The history of the Easter bonnet goes back further than many of us realise, further than Easter itself!
The tradition has several meanings:-
The first bonnets, usually a circle of leaves and flowers, symbolised the cycle of the seasons and the coming of Spring. The Christian holiday of Easter celebrates new life and rebirth with pure and new clothing. Later on in history came the “Sunday of Joy,” the Easter after the end of the Civil War in England. This day allowed mothers and daughters to come out of mourning, wearing bonnets adorned with pastel colors and Spring flowers.
The 1870’s marked the beginning of the Easter Parade in New York. The Easter Parade allowed women to proudly show off their new spring clothing and Easter bonnets.
Easter Bonnets are a throw back to the days when the people denied themselves the pleasure of wearing finery for the duration of Lent.
The Easter fashion traditions are still alive today, celebrated among the young and old. Easter bonnets come in all shapes, sizes, colors and designs. Easter bonnets often mark the beginning of many people’s love of hats. Their beauty is well known and admired. They still symbolise new life in the coming of Spring, warm weather and religious celebrations.
For the faithful
Easter marks the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ and is said to be the most important Christian festival, although the statistics don’t seem to bear this out: Only around 1.4 m attend Church of England services (compared to 2.5m at Christmas), fewer than one in eight of us plan to go to church to mark Easter and just 17 per cent say Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection are the most important parts of Easter.
During the Semana Santa (Holy Week) in Spain, mile-long Easter processions go snaking their way through the towns, accompanied by rhythmic drumbeats. “Sinners” dressed in pointed hats and long cloaks are an integral part of the processions, a tradition that dates back to the 16th century.
So there you have it – Easter in a (chocolate) eggshell!