The Fascinating History of Easter with All of Our Favorite Holiday Traditions Came to Light…
Learn the origin story of the Easter bunny, and egg hunts. Plus TOP Facts from Easter Witches in Sweden to why we eat Easter Eggs!
Easter Sunday is coming up faster than Peter Cottontail hopping down the bunny trail, which means it’s almost time to get out the egg dyeing kits, start figuring out your Easter dinner menu and assemble your family’s Easter baskets.
Even though there is so much to do before the Easter Bunny arrives, carving out some extra time to read up on the holiday's history can make it feel even more special.
The Christian holiday, which will be celebrated on Sunday, March 31st this year, has been observed since the second century as a celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Over the years, many Easter traditions have also marked the occasion, including everything from chocolate bunnies to Easter egg hunts.
Some of them are regional, others depend on your family’s cultural origin and still others can vary from household to household.
Some need-to-know facts about the history of Easter, including the origins of some of your family’s most cherished traditions like visits with the Easter Bunny, succulent baked ham dinners, those baskets and so much more. Who knows? Maybe you’ll even discover a new fun fact to share around the dinner table.
Easter Eggs:
From dyed eggs to chocolate eggs to egg hunts, nothing says “Easter” like the incredible edible.
Yet our modern take on collecting, dyeing and decorating eggs comes from a tradition dating back thousands of years, long before the time of Jesus Christ.
Many ancient cultures, including the Greeks and Egyptians, saw eggs as a sign of fertility and new life. They used eggs in religious rituals and hung them in pagan temples for mystical purposes, says Martha Zimmerman in her book, Celebrating the Christian Year.
Easter Sunday Sunrise Service:
There’s a reason why Easter Sunday is often celebrated with church service at the crack of dawn.
As the story goes, Mary opened Jesus’s tomb early in the morning to find it empty — which is why so many churches now hold services at an early hour to honour the momentous occasion.
The tradition of sunrise Easter service dates back to 1732 when the first service was held in Germany by the Moravian Church.
A group of young men gathered at the first light of dawn at the town’s graveyard to sing hymns — and the next year, the entire congregation joined in. By 1773, the first sunrise service for Easter was held in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Lent:
We can thank Lent for our celebratory Easter feasts. Originally, Lent required people to fast for 40 days (excluding Sundays).
These days, most observers abstain from meat that isn’t fish on Fridays only, as well as give up an indulgences, like caffeine, chocolate, television or social media.
The exact end date for Lent can vary slightly depending on whether the church is following Western or Eastern practices, but it tends to end either at the beginning of Holy Week or on Easter itself.
Either way, people are ready to dig into some of the sweet and savoury dishes they’ve been missing by the time the ham comes out of the oven.
The Easter Bunny:
Like many traditions, the Easter Bunny evolved out of ancient fertility and spring celebrations. Rabbits give birth in the spring so, when the fields became overrun with baby bunnies, it seemed natural to incorporate the rabbit as a symbol for spring and, eventually, Easter.
According to an old German story retold by Pamela Kennedy in her book, An Easter Celebration: Traditions and Customs from Around the World, a poor woman who loved children would hide brightly coloured eggs in her garden as Easter treats.
One year, while the children searched for them, they noticed a hare hopping past and believed that the animal had left the eggs. A new tradition was born! — Credit: Esther Chapman & Amanda Garrity.
Facts About Easter Sunday!
1. Easter Sunday celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ…
Easter Sunday is a Christian holiday that marks Jesus’ resurrection. They believe that Jesus was crucified, his body taken down from the cross and placed in a cave guarded by Roman soldiers and a massive stone over the entrance.
On Sunday, three days after the crucifixion, Mary Magdalene visited the tomb to find that the stone had been moved and Jesus’ body had gone.
According to the Gospels in the Bible, Mary Magdalene saw Jesus that day and Christians believe God raised Jesus from the dead.
Christians call this the Resurrection and believe it shows that Jesus died for our sins and that mankind will have eternal life in Heaven.
2. It is traditional to eat Easter Eggs on Easter Sunday…
On Easter Sunday in the U.K. we eat chocolate eggs!
Even before Easter was celebrated, our ancestors celebrated Spring at a similar time to Easter and eggs were a symbol of new life with Spring being a time to celebrate new life and rebirth.
3. Easter Sunday is on a different date every year…
Easter falls on the first Sunday after the Full Moon that is after the 21st of March.
4. It is traditional to eat lamb on Easter Sunday…
The eating of lamb on Easter Sunday goes back further than Easter and is connected to Passover, a Jewish festival.
Passover celebrates the Israelites being freed from slavery and at the end of Passover a ‘Passover lamb’ is eaten.
Jews who converted to Christianity likely kept the tradition of eating a lamb but rather than eat it on Passover they ate it on Easter Sunday.
5. Easter Island was discovered on Easter Sunday.
In 1772 on 5th April, Jacob Roggeveen first stepped foot on the Island. It was Easter Sunday so he named the island Easter Island.
It was already called Rapa Nui by the people who lived on the island but Roggeveen decided to name it after Easter Sunday.
So in the English-speaking world, we call it Easter Island but its real name is Rapa Nui.
6. In Sweden children dress up as Easter witches on Easter Sunday.
Children in Sweden and Finland dress up as Easter witches on Easter Sunday and go door-to-door with bunches of willow twigs.
They will say a blessing which is said to drive away evil spirits and in return, the children are given a chocolate egg.
7. Between 80 and 90 million chocolate eggs are eaten each year in Britain.
Over 80 million chocolate eggs are eaten each year in Britain with a lot of these eaten on Easter Sunday.
Easter Sunday is a special holiday celebrated by Christians around the world. It is a time of joy and celebration, whatever you are doing have a great Easter bank holiday weekend!
By Pete Moore — Seamless Entertainment
