By Dylan McDonough
· Easter eggs had a medieval twist. Back in medieval times the priest would give one of the choir boys a hard boiled egg, and the boys would pass it amongst themselves until the clock struck midnight. Whoever was holding it got to eat it.
· The holiday is named after the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre. Scholars believe that Easter was named after a festival celebrating Eostre and the coming of spring. Her sacred symbols are thought to have been the hare and the egg.
· Good Friday is recognized as a holiday in only 12 states.
· In 2018, Americans were estimated to have spent $18.2 billion on Easter.
· We can thank Germany for the bunny. The first mention of this tradition dates back to the 16th century. Dutch settlers in Pennsylvania brought the bunny to the United States in the 1700s.
· Easter and Halloween often compete for highest candy sales every year.
· Americans eat about 1.5 million Marshmallow Peeps during Easter. A Bethlehem, Pennsylvania factory makes 5.5 million a day.
· In 1953, it took 27 hours to make one peep. They used to be handmade with a pastry tube. Now they take 6 minutes to make with a unique machine called The Depositor.
· More than 1.5 million Cadbury Creme Eggs are made every day. A factory in the U.K. makes 500 million a year. If you piled those eggs on top of each other, they would be taller than Everest!
· Americans consume more than 16 million jelly beans during this holiday. That is enough jelly beans to circle the globe three times. They were first introduced as an Easter treat in the 1930s.
· 76% of people eat the chocolate Easter bunny’s ears first.
· Pretzels used to be associated with Easter. The twists of a pretzel resemble arms crossing in prayer.
· Half the states in the United States banned the dyeing of chicks on Easter. Florida now bans the dyeing of all animals.
· The White House tradition of the Easter Egg Roll started back in 1878 with President Rutherford B. Hayes.
