Challenge Your Family With These Fun Easter Trivia Facts
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Easter is one of those holidays that you get excited about without even realizing. It may not have the big pull that Christmas has, but it still acts as a reason for you to gather around with your family—but this time in warmer weather! Plus, like any holiday, there are plenty of traditional recipes and desserts associated with Easter, which obviously makes our mouths water just thinking about it. As exciting as this all is, have you ever wondered things like why Easter's date changes annually? Or where the Easter bunny even came from? Now that we think about it, there are a lot of questions surrounding the holiday... more than we realized! That's precisely why we created a list of of fun Easter trivia facts—because the day is just full of surprises.
Reading these Easter trivia facts before the holiday might make for a good conversation starter at that Easter brunch! Or maybe, you want to start doing Easter trivia quizzes—which could be a neat addition to your annual Easter traditions! Whatever the case may be, and however you decide to use them, this Easter trivia list will definitely blow your mind. So, take a stroll through these fun tidbits, and share them with friends and family! And don't forget to let us know which one surprised you the most!
The lamb is an important Easter symbol.
The Easter bunny isn't the only holiday mascot around town! This more or less has to do with the Christian tradition of eating lamb to commemorate Christ's death and sacrifice all that time ago.
The red jelly bean is the most popular flavor.
Specifically the Very Cherry flavor! In fact, it remained the most popular flavor for over two decades, facing a brief hiatus from 1998 to 2003 when buttered popcorn took over. However, Very Cherry reclaimed its fame in 2003, and has been the most popular one ever since!
In Australia, Easter takes place in Autumn.
This technically goes for all Southern regions, since those in the Southern Hemisphere experience opposite seasons from those in the Northern Hemisphere! So, while the timeframe remains the same, some people experience a fall Easter.
The largest Easter parade is held in New York.
Yep! It takes place right alongside the iconic 5th avenue, and people show up and show out in their fun Easter attire. Oh, we mean fun, because people show up in the most colorful bonnets!
Cadbury Creme Eggs originally had a different name.
Some of us cannot imagine an Easter without Cadbury eggs, so to think they were almost called something else is crazy! The filled egg was first invented in 1923, but it wasn't until 1963 when they started to be sold under the name Fry's Creme Eggs. Then, the name changed again to Cadbury Creme Eggs in 1971.
The largest chocolate egg was over 34 feet tall.
A giant chocolate Easter egg is a must-have for anyone with a sweet tooth. But a chocolate egg that's 34 feet tall, weighing almost 16,000 pounds? Well, that's just a chocolate lover's dream come true! According to the Guinness World Records, this massive chocolate candy was produced in Italy in 2011. 😋
Easter lilies signify the true meaning of the holiday.
For one, the flower's white color can represent the purity and innocence of Jesus—with white usually representing such a message. There are also parallels between the lily's blooming process and Christ's resurrection. The bulb of the flower initially growing beneath Earth's surface is attributed to Jesus' death, while the actual sprout of the flower symbolizes his resurrection.
Ham is a staple Easter recipe for a reason.
A lot of you probably couldn't imagine an Easter without ham. It makes sense, considering it's a tradition that dates back years ago. Before we had refrigerators, people would cure ham during the winter months and when the ham thawed out by springtime, it made sense to use it as an Easter meal centerpiece.
The Easter Bunny made its way to America in the 18th century.
So, there's not an actual known origin story of how the Easter Bunny came to be the fictional symbol for the holiday—but we do know that in the 1700s, Germans who immigrated to America brought the tradition of the Osterhase with them. Basically, it's a bunny who magically lays eggs.
Easter eggs are somewhat medieval.
Yes, you read that right. And it's a little strange, but here it goes. There's an old medieval kids game where a priest would give his choir of kids a hard boiled egg. They were to pass it around to each other continuously, until the clock struck midnight. Once that sound of the clock commenced, the child holding the egg had to eat it.
Easter's date changes every year.
Yes, we know that it's on a Sunday every year, but that's about the only thing that remains constant. The actual date of the holiday all depends on the moon's cycles. More specifically, it always takes place the Sunday after the Paschal full moon.
Easter clothes were once deemed good luck.
The tale used to go: If you wear new clothes on Easter, then the rest of your year is sure to be filled with luck. Though not widely held up to people's beliefs today, it's still a good reason to buy a new spring outfit before Easter Sunday.
Milk chocolate prevails on Easter.
Not that this is a shock, or anything. But those chocolate bunnies, chocolate gifts, chocolate... anything on Easter will probably be made out of milk chocolate.
16 billion jelly beans are produced in the U.S. every year.
Yeah, that's a big number. And not only that... There were apparently enough Jelly Belly beans consumed throughout 2021 to circle the earth more than five times.
Good Friday isn't a recognized holiday in every state.
Those who celebrate know that Good Friday is a day for remembering the day Jesus was crucified. Taking place just two days before Easter Sunday, only a total of 12 states recognize it as an official holiday—since it's not federally declared.
Making Peeps used to take more than a day.
In fact, it used to take a whopping 27 hours to make a singular peep! 😱 However, that was back in 1953 when all Peeps were handmade.
Some years, Easter beats out Halloween for most candy sold.
Halloween might seem like a holiday that's full of candy, but Easter gives it a run for its' money! There have even been years where people purchase lots more candy the week before Easter than the week preceding Halloween!
It's typical to eat the ears of a chocolate bunny first.
It's the hot ol' debate: What's the proper way to eat a chocolate bunny? While people may be split, a 2022 survey reveals that over 78% go for the ears first!
A lot of people celebrate Easter at church.
Over 51% of people who celebrate Easter attend a church service, according to a 2018 survey. This shouldn't come as a surprise, since Easter is a holiday rooted in religious beliefs!
The first White House Easter Egg Roll was held in 1878.
The story of how it started is actually really cute. Apparently, President Rutherford B. Hayes was out for a stroll when he was stopped by children who gave him the idea of a Easter egg roll. It's safe to say he adored it, because it's been a tradition ever since.
Egg decorating started in Ukraine.
Yes, it's a longstanding Easter practice to decorate eggs on the religious holiday. But we have Ukraine to thank for that, who's tradition of painting pysanky was brought to the U.S., and influenced the movement.
In Switzerland, there's an Easter bird instead of an Easter bunny.
In Switzerland, it's a tale as old as time that a cuckoo bird is the animal responsible for delivering Easter eggs on the religious holiday. And if you think about it, that makes a lot more sense than the Easter Bunny. 😂
There was an Easter egg once sold at $18.5 million.
And just wait til you hear the story. A jeweled egg, colored pink and gold (and covered in diamonds) was assigned to be made by the Romanov family. A century and some change later (aka, the year 2007), that same egg sold for $18.5 million.
Pretzels used to be linked to Easter.
Say what? The connection between pretzels and Easter has to do with the way a pretzel is twisted—it symbolizes arms being crossed when in prayer.
2 billion Peeps are made a year.
That's... a lot. And that's even more impressive when you find that the factory started in small town Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
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