8 Facts You Didn't Know About Easter

As Easter Sunday is approaching, it's a time for baby animals and chocolate eggs. But maybe there are a few facts that you don't know about this time of year. So, we present to you: 8 Facts You (Probably) Didn't Know About Easter!

1. The religious celebration of Easter might have deep roots to ancient Christian traditions, but the name itself comes from pagans. Apparently, the Olde English worshipped a fertility god named Ostara and the Celtics worshipped a similar god called Eostre. Both “Ostara” and “Eostre” gave us modern English words such as estrogen, estrus and Easter.

2. These early pagan customs also established the iconic myth of the Easter Bunny. These early people worshipped rabbits as god-like creatures because of their ability to mate and reproduce in astounding abundance. The Celtic Eostre, however, came with a legend that their god would turn into a giant rabbit at the rise of each full moon. 

3. The myth of the Easter Bunny giving out colored eggs actually goes back much farther on the timeline. Some believe that  the Egyptians were the first to pick up this colorful Easter tradition. Much like the rabbit in Olde English and Celtic customs, the Egyptians saw the egg as a symbol of birth and life. They believed the Earth was hatched from an egg and even buried their noblemen with eggs in their tombs.

4. Canada has the biggest Easter egg. Located in Vegreville, Canada, the Pysanka was constructed in 1978 as a monument to the area’s early Ukrainian settlements. The bronze, silver and gold colors are meant to symbolize prosperity.

5. Americans will consume more that 16 million jelly beans over the Easter period. That's enough jelly beans to circle the globe not once, not twice, but three times!

6. During medival times, a very different game was played with eggs. During the Easter service at church, the priest would throw a hard-boiled egg to one of the choir boys, he would continue to toss it to his peers, and whoever was holding the egg when the clock struck 12 was the winner and got to keep it.

7. Easter is the second biggest candy and chocolate eating holiday of the year. It comes second only to Halloween!

8. The most expensive Easter egg ever sold for £20 million! The egg was discovered by a scrap metal dealer who, after doing some research into its background, discovered that he was in fact the owner of a £20 million missing Fabergé egg, dating back to the 19th century. The egg previously belonged to Empress Maria Feodorovna and was given to her as an Easter gift from her husband, Emperor Alexander III in 1877.