TIDBITS BLOSSOMS THIS SPRING WITH
EASTER TRIVIA
by Sarah Bates
Modern Easter is a blending of multiple cultures
and religions, with roots dating back several
millennia! This Spring, Tidbits celebrates some
fun facts you might not have known about
Easter, spring, chickens, eggs – and yes, even
that big, ol’ Easter Bunny.
• Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
Actually, it was neither. Modern ducks and
geese appeared in China 6,000 years before
chickens appeared in India.
• Easter Sunday is the 1st Sunday after a
Paschal full moon, which is the first full
moon after the Spring equinox and is
specifically used to determine the date of
Easter. Paschal comes from the Greek
pascha, which comes from the Hebrew
pesach, both of which mean Passover.
• Some theorize that the word Easter comes
from the early church, which celebrated
hebdomada alba, or “white week” (because
of the white baptismal garments at Easter.)
The plural of the word white was later
misunderstood as the plural for the word
dawn, which was translated into Old High
German as eostarum, and later became Easter
in English.
• Another theory, that of Benedictine monk
Bede, suggested that the word ‘easter’ comes
from the Old English word Eostre, which
dates as far back as the 8th century.
• Eostre, Eastre, Ostara, Eostur, etc. all refer to
the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring, who was
celebrated at the spring Equinox. The name
probably derives from the word and direction
East, which suggests that she might have also
been the goddess of dawn.
• On Western calendars, Easter always falls on
a Sunday within a 35-day period between
March 22nd and April 25th.
• An old wives’ tale says that burying an egg
in the garden will protect against lightning,
hail and weevils.
• Red eggs are used in Eastern Christianity to
symbolize the blood of Christ. Tradition says
Mary Magdalene visited Tiberius of Rome to
tell him Christ had risen – and to symbolize
this, she gave him an egg. Tiberius replied
that Christ had no more risen than the egg
was red – and, according to tradition, the egg
immediately turned red in testimony.
• One of the earliest references to the
celebration of the Christian Easter was in the
mid-second century. Even then, it was listed
as an already well-established holiday.
• In Eastern Christianity, dairy products are
prohibited during Lent. Eggs are considered a
part of this food group, so another symbol of
the use of eggs at Easter is the return of eggs
to the daily diet of Easter Christians.
• The Spanish dish hornazo is traditionally
eaten on or around Easter and contains hardboiled
eggs as a main ingredient.
• In ancient times, the cross was a symbol of
the four elements or directions. Crosses that
run diagonally, like an X, are called a saltire.
• The Easter Egg Roll (not the food) is an
annual White House tradition that dates back
to President Rutherford B. Hayes, when he
opened the White House Lawn to Easter egg
rolling in 1878.
•The cracking together of two Easter eggs is
said to symbolize the cracking of the tomb in
the resurrection of Christ.
• The Easter bunny, or Oschter Haws, first
came to America on the lips of German
immigrants in the 18th century.
• The use of a bunny or rabbit as a symbol of
Easter is said to have originated in Germany
around the 1500s.
• Modern egg decorating is said to have
originated from ancient Persia and the
festival Nowruz, which celebrates the spring
equinox. One Nowruz tradition involves the
painting of eggs. This holiday also marks the
first day of the Iranian New Year.
• One fun Easter game is the tapping of eggs.
Players take turns tapping their eggs against
the egg of another player. The last player
with an intact egg wins.
• In some cultures, colored eggs are said to
represent the return of spring because their
bright colors represent the sun or the
Northern lights.
• In some parts of the world, it is customary to
prepare baked goods in the shape of a lamb at
Easter. The lamb is both an ancient pagan
and a Christian symbol for spring and Easter.
It represents the newness of life and spring,
and it also represents the “Lamb of God.”
• The century egg is a Chinese delicacy. While
they aren’t literally one hundred years old,
the eggs are cured and preserved over the
course of several weeks.
• You can’t think of an egg without Fabergé
eggs coming to mind. A true fabergé egg is
one of the sixty-nine jeweled eggs created by
Carl Fabergé and his assistants around the
turn of the 20th century.
• Fabergé presented fifty of the eggs to Tsar
Alexander III and Nicholas II of Russia.
Alexander III commissioned the first egg for
his wife, Maria Fyodorovna, grandmother of
“Princess” Anastasia.
• Only sixty-one of the original fabergé eggs
have survived to present day.
• Early Christians celebrated Easter on the 14th
day of Nisan, which was the day of
preparation for Passover.
• The egg, along with rabbits, has long been a
symbol of rebirth for numerous religions.
The egg represents birth, while rabbits, with
their large litters in early Spring, symbolize
propensity and fertility – and both are
representative of the growth of spring.
• As for the origins of Easter baskets, one
theory suggests they trace back to early
celebrations of the Christian church. After
Lent there was a great feast. Foods would be
brought to the temple in large baskets, hence
the giving of treats in baskets on Easter.
• The lining of Easter baskets with grass is said
to have originated with the Pennsylvania
Dutch children waiting for Ostcher Haws.
Because he would lay his eggs in a “rabbit’s
nest”, these children would set out their caps
or bonnets and line them with grass for him.
• A Pysanka, a Ukrainian Easter egg, is
decorated with a method called batik.
Designs are drawn onto the egg with
beeswax and then the egg is dyed. This is
repeated, gradually adding a darker layer of
dye, until the egg is complete.
Information in the Tidbits®Paper is gathered from sources considered to be reliable but the accuracy of all information cannot be guaranteed.
