Happy Easter People!

Hope you’re having a great holiday (if applicable!).

Did you give or receive any Easter eggs – or do you just not understand the Easter eggs fuss.

I once volunteered to assist a group of Sixth-Form students to make Easter eggs for sale, in order to raise money for charity. I never really got the fuss as well about Easter eggs, but now I do.

So, here’s seven egg-cellent facts about Easter Eggs:

1. It’s Easter, now you can eat some eggs:

In ancient times, eggs and dairy were forbidden to be consumed during Lent. So, all the eggs had to be eaten before Ash Wednesday. Apparently, that’s where Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday)/Pancake Tuesday/Shrove Tuesday (the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday) originated from, as the eggs and dairy had to be used up. At Easter, eggs could then be eaten.

2. Eggs and the empty tomb:

In Christianity for the celebration of Eastertide, Easter eggs symbolize the resurrection of Jesus. When they are cracked open, they represent the empty tomb.

3. I win – I’ve got the Egg!

In Medieval times, a festival of ‘egg-throwing’ was held in the church. The priest would throw a hard-boiled egg to one of the choir boys and it would then be tossed from one boy to another. Whoever held the egg when the clock struck twelve was the winner, and could probably keep the egg!

4. Here’s your gift buddy – and yes it’s an egg!

Exchanging gifts of eggs at Easter,  date back to the time of the Egyptians, Persians, Greeks and Romans when painted eggs were given as gifts to symbolise fertility and new life. In the Christian faith today, they represent new beginnings, new life and renewed faith.

5. Who’s up for egg painting?

The art of painting eggs is called Pysanka, which originated in Ukraine and involved using wax and dyes to colour the egg. Today, chocolate eggs are often painted and decorated, although some people still use a hard-boiled egg. If you need an easy guide on egg decorating, check this WikiHow article here.

6.  The Creme de la Creme of all the Eggs

The world’s most popular egg-shaped chocolate is Cadbury’s Creme Egg. Workers at Cadbury in Birmingham, UK produce 1.5 million of these every day.  If all the Creme Eggs made in a year were piled on top of each other, it would be ten times higher than Mount Everest!

7. Hide and seek with the Eggs

An egg hunt is a game during which decorated eggs, real hard-boiled ones or artificial ones of various sizes, are hidden for children to find. When the hunt is over, prizes are often given for the largest number of eggs collected, or for the largest or the smallest egg. The largest ever Easter egg hunt was in 2007, in Florida, where 9,753 children searched for 501,000 eggs. I really would have loved to be a part of this hunt!

8. Down the hill, the Eggs go…

This is a game played with eggs at Easter, where the eggs are often rolled down the grass or grassy hills. In the United States, the Easter Egg Roll is an annual event and is held on the White House South Lawn each Easter Monday for children and their parents. See the cute 2015 event with the Obamas here. For Christians, this symbolises the stone which was rolled away from the tomb where Jesus’ body was laid after his death.

9. Tallest Egg ever liveth

The tallest chocolate Easter egg was made in Italy in 2011. Standing 10.39 metres tall and weighing 7,200 kg, it was taller than a giraffe and heavier than an elephant.

Now the Riddle:  Why shouldn’t you tell an Easter egg a joke? Leave a comment with your answer below.

I didn’t give or make or receive any eggs, but I feel like it’s something I’ll introduce when I have kids! What do you think? Do you have any Easter traditions?

Love,

Kachee… Xx

PS: Apparently, some people believe that wearing new clothes on Easter day brings good luck for the rest of the year! So, if the first three months of the year hasn’t been fab, put on some new clothes today!