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Weird and Wonderful Easter Facts: Easter Around The World The Easter Goddess Easter Traditions

Easter traditions and symbols vary around the world. Eggs, which represent new life, are commonly eaten or used decoratively. The date of Easter is calculated based on the moon's phases. The Easter Bunny and traditions like egg hunts have their origins in pagan spring festivals.

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Соня Вовчак
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31 views

Weird and Wonderful Easter Facts: Easter Around The World The Easter Goddess Easter Traditions

Easter traditions and symbols vary around the world. Eggs, which represent new life, are commonly eaten or used decoratively. The date of Easter is calculated based on the moon's phases. The Easter Bunny and traditions like egg hunts have their origins in pagan spring festivals.

Uploaded by

Соня Вовчак
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Weird and Wonderful

Easter Facts
The Easter
goddess Easter around the Easter traditions
world

The origins of Easter Easter treats


Eostre
The English word,
“Easter” comes from a
Saxon pagan goddess.

Her name was Eostre


and she was the ,
“goddess of the
growing light of spring”
in Northern Europe.
Why does the date of
Easter change?
The date of Easter changes each year as it is based on
the moon. Easter is celebrated on the Sunday after the
full moon following March 21st.
different calendars
Countries in blue calculate the date of
Easter using the Gregorian calendar,
while countries in green use the Julian.

Easter is celebrated at different times by Christians in


Eastern and Western Europe. In 2016 western churches
celebrated Easter Sunday on 27th March but Orthodox
Easter Sunday celebrated on 1st May (based on the
Julian Calendar).
In 2017 Easter Sunday is on 16th April for both.
Lamb
The custom of lamb for Easter
dinner comes from the Jewish
Passover holiday. On that day, a
sacrificial lamb was eaten at the
Passover Seder.

The Christians adopted the lamb


as a symbol of Jesus and retained
the custom.
Easter eggs
People like to roll eggs, hunt eggs, eat them decorate
them at Easter.

Why do we exchange eggs at Easter time, what do they


represent?

The Christian church adapted many


pagan customs and the egg, as a
symbol of new life, came to represent
the Resurrection.
The Oldest Easter Eggs
In fact, in many ancient cultures the egg was a symbol of
'fertility', 'rebirth‘.
In Egyptian mythology, the phoenix burns its nest to be
reborn later from the egg that is left. Hindu scriptures say
that the world developed from an egg.
This ostrich egg from Egypt
dates to about 2,000 BC.
The oldest decorated
eggshells, are estimated to
be 60 000 years old and
were found in South Africa.
pIsanky
In the Ukraine and Poland people
create decorated eggs called Pisankas.
Symbols and colours have special
meanings.

ROSE = DEER = FISH =


LOVE WEALTH CHRISTIANITY

CURLS = POPPY = WHEAT =


PROTECTION BEAUTY HEALTH
The Tallest Easter Egg
The tallest chocolate
Easter egg ever was
made in Italy in 2011.

At 10.39 metres in
height and 7,200 kg
in weight, it was
taller than a giraffe
and heavier than an
elephant!
The Most Expensive
Eggs
The most expensive Easter eggs are made by
Choccywoccydoodah in London. They are made with
luxury Belgian chocolate and cost £25,000 for three.
The Easter Bunny
For the Pagans the hare symbolized the .
goddess Eostre and fertility. A legend about
Eastre says that she found an injured bird. The
only way she could save the bird was to turn it
into a hare. The little bird survived as a hare,
but kept its ability to build nests and lay eggs.

The character of an Easter Bunny began in


Germany, where he delivered Easter treats
to children. He was known as Osterhase.
The children built a nest for him to leave
their eggs in.
How do you eat your
Easter Bunny?
76% of people eat the ears on chocolate bunnies first.
Easter in australia
Australians don´t like rabbits because they
cause so much damage to crops.
They have an Easter Bilby instead.
Easter in America
Marshmallow Peeps the most popular
non-chocolate Easter candy.

Jelly beans are also


popular.

The White House hosts an


Easter Egg Roll on the front
lawn each year. This tradition
was started by President
Rutherford B. Hayes in 1878.
Easter in the UK
Hot cross buns
The pagan Saxons would bake cross buns at the beginning of spring
in honour of the goddess Eostre. The cross represented the rebirth
of the world after winter, the four quarters of the moon, and the
four seasons and the wheel of life.
The Christians replaced their pagan meaning with a Christian one –
the resurrection of Christ at Easter.

Simnel cake
This traditional cake is decorated with 11 marzipan (for
the 12 disciples minus Judas who betrayed Jesus).

.
Competitions
Many UK schools have Easter egg decorating
competitions and Easter bonnet competitions.
Easter in Columbia
Capybara Iguana Turtle

What do these animals have in common?


Columbians eat them for Easter. Turtle egg
omelettes, iguana soup and capybara stew
are all popular dishes.
Easter in SLOVAKIA
On Easter Monday boys used to chase girls around with a whip (a switch) made
from willow branches (korbáče) This kept the girls beautiful and “springy” (like
the twigs) for the whole year. Girls rewarded the boys by giving them beautiful
hand-decorated Easter eggs, chocolates, liquor, or even money.

They also poured buckets of cold water on them.

Nowadays, only a cup of water is splashed into a girl’s face.


Easter in THE
NETHERLANDS
Some Dutch towns light huge bonfires for Easter. The largest
Easter fire was almost 46 meters high.

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