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Easter Facts for Kids:
Easter is a Christian festival commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after Good Friday, the day of his crucifixion, now called Easter Sunday, when He rose from the dead. When mourners went to Jesus’ tomb to collect His body, He was nowhere to be found and they were greeted by an angel who said “He is Risen”.
- The egg has always been a symbol of the Resurrection to Christians.
- During medieval times a festival of egg throwing was held in church, in which the priest would throw a hard-boiled egg to one of the choirboys, which was passed on to another. Whoever held the egg when the clock struck 12 was the winner and retained that egg.
- The traditional act of painting eggs is called Pysanka.
- The name Easter comes from Eostre, an ancient Anglo-Saxon goddess of the dawn. In pagan times an annual spring festival was held in her honour.
- In the United States Easter is celebrated with a large Easter Egg Hunt by children on the White House Lawn.
- By tradition, it was obligatory and considered lucky for churchgoers to wear some bright new piece of clothing – at least an Easter bonnet, if not a complete new outfit.
- Rabbits symbolized new life and rebirth in ancient Egypt. Egyptians considered it a symbol of the moon as the moon determines the date of Easter. The Easter Bunny’s visit is based on a German legend. According to the legend, a poor woman decorated eggs for her children to find during a famine. At the moment they found them, they looked up to see a big bunny hopping away.
- Easter is the second top-selling confectionery holiday next only to Halloween.
- Each Easter season, Americans buy more than 600 million Marshmallow Peeps, Marshmallow Bunnies and Marshmallow Eggs, making them the most popular non-chocolate Easter candy.
- Americans consume 15 million jellybeans at Easter. All the Easter jellybeans lined end to end, would circle the globe nearly three times.
- Easter was called Pesach by early Christians. It is a Hebrew name for Passover. Today, the name for Easter in many cultures in Europe are similar to the word Pesach. For instance:
Spain: Pascua
France: Paques
Albania: Pashke
Greece: Pascha
Italy: Pasqua
Norway: Paaske
Sweden: Pask
Holland: Pasen - The white lily, the symbol of the resurrection, is the special Easter flower.
- 90 million chocolate Easter bunnies are made for Easter each year.
- The largest Easter egg ever made was constructed in Vegreville, AB. It was 25.7 feet long and weighed 5,000 pounds.
- Easter eggs are the most popular symbol on Hallmark Easter cards.
Some Things That Easter Brings: Kids Poetry by Elsie Parrish
Easter duck and Easter chick,
Easter eggs with chocolate thick.
Easter hats for one and all,
Easter Bunny makes a call!
Happy Easter always brings
Such a lot of pleasant things.
