Easter: Rebirth, Renew, Renaissance, Resurrect
How we love Easter! It revives happy memories, from Easter egg hunts to delicious chocolate bunnies that satisfy our sweet tooth. It is also timely that we take a moment and reflect on the meaning of Easter – rebirth, renew, renaissance.To celebrate, here are some fun facts on Easter:
- Easter is the Sunday that marks the end of the Holy Week, an event that commemorates the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
- The name Easter owes its origin from Eastre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess who symbolizes hare and egg.
- The tallest Easter egg chocolate was made in Italy in 2011. It stood at 10.39 meters and weighed an astounding 7,200 kg.
- In medieval times, a festival of “egg-throwing” was held in church. The priest would throw a hot hard-boiled egg to one of the choir boys, and then it was tossed from one choir boy to the next, resembling the game of “hot potato”.
- It is celebrated on different dates. Western and Eastern churches celebrate Easter on different dates – one using the Gregorian calendar and the other, the Julian. It is decided as the first Sunday following the full moon after the March equinox (put simply).
- The exchange of eggs for Easter dates back to a springtime custom older than Easter itself in which eggs were given as a symbol of rebirth in many cultures.
- 76% of people eat the ears on chocolate bunnies first.
- After Halloween, Easter is the biggest candy consuming holiday in the world!
- To Christians, the Easter egg signifies joy, celebration and new life. This traces its roots to the Ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans.
- Psyanka is the art of painting eggs, which finds its origin from Ukraine. It entails using wax and dyes to colour eggs in a creative fashion.
It is the significance of Easter that is important as Australians welcome autumn. As Easter represents a time of re-birth or renaissance, could there be something that you would like to have rebirth in your life? Perhaps a hobby, a forgotten painting to finish, a musical instrument to learn, a little carpentry project to indulge in, a car restoration project or just a fresh commitment in investing time into those most precious to us?
It is our hope that you will take a moment to reflect – in your life, what is it which you would like to resurrect?
