This year Good Friday is on the 15th April and Easter Sunday is on the 17th April. Easter is a Christian holiday that both remembers the crucifixion, and celebrates the resurrection, of Jesus Christ. Good Friday (the Friday before Easter Sunday) indicates the day Jesus was crucified on the cross and Easter Sunday celebrates the day Jesus was resurrected.
Easter is a moveable feast (meaning the date changes each year) because it depends on the moon, this can then affect other holidays like Ash Wednesday. Today, many people celebrate Easter by going to church, eating chocolate eggs and hot-cross buns, accompanied by a visit from the Easter Bunny, but have you ever wondered why we do this?
On Easter Sunday, children excitedly await a visit from the Easter Bunny where they are given chocolate eggs and sweets. However, the Bible does not mention this magical bunny so instead, historians have come up with a few possible theories.
Easter falls at a very similar time to the Spring Equinox; the Spring Equinox was always considered a time to celebrate fertility and new life. We can see this dating back to old pagan traditions and one of these celebrations was The Festival of Eostre or Ostara – Eostre is a Germanic spring Goddess; the Goddess of Dawn and a deity that represents Spring. One of her associated symbols is a hare which has been a symbol of fertility and resurrection for a long time, and this could have influenced the idea of the Easter Bunny.
Evidence also shows that a German legend was told about a magical hare called ‘Oschter Haws’ or ‘Osterhase’ who would lay eggs as gifts for well-behaved children. This story was told to children all over Germany, and they were soon leaving nests out for the hare to leave colourful eggs for them. Then, in the 1700s, German immigrants told the story in Pennsylvania, USA, where the story of the Easter Bunny spread to children across the world. This is the most likely history of the Easter Bunny today.
During Easter, chocolate eggs are one of our favourite treats! But why chocolate eggs? For centuries, before the birth of Jesus Christ, eggs have been gifted to people during Spring as they have always been a symbol of fertility and new beginnings in many places around the world. For Christians, they believe that the egg represents the stone that guarded Jesus’ tomb and they stain eggs red in memory of the precious blood he shed. Today we typically gift large hollow, chocolate eggs and some still take part in the tradition of painting eggs.
We see a large selection of Easter eggs from many different brands that create their version of the egg. Some brands like Cadbury make a whole variety of chocolate eggs: Mini Eggs, the Creme Egg, and a standard Dairy Milk. It’s not just Cadbury that do this though, Nestlé and Lindor are also two very popular brands with a variety of chocolate sold at Easter. The choice is endless, but what is the UK’s favourite Easter chocolate?
Statistics show that between 80 million Easter eggs are sold every year, but Cadbury’s Creme Eggs are best-selling and the most popular. On average, a child will eat 8 Easter eggs and 76% of people will associate Easter with chocolate eggs!
Happy Easter!
By Daisy J – Year 9
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