Easter is Here!

In a few days we will all celebrate Easter. Easter Sunday is the Christian festival honoring Christ’s resurrection and in the Western world, Easter Sunday is the first Sunday after the full moon that occurs after the first day of spring.

This year, Easter is on Sunday, March 31. Take any festival and you will find that its roots can be traced back to religious history. It is no surprise that the many festivals that we celebrate across the world have been spawned by significant events in history. These important events have etched an indelible impression on the minds of people who felt the need to commemorate.Thus, a slew of celebrations came into existence. The history of Easter is no different. It is one of the oldest and the holiest of festivals for the Christians. It is a day revered by the people who celebrate it.

After Jesus’ crucifixion, all his apostles were distraught thinking that they will never see Him again. However, on the third day of His crucifixion, Christ rose from the dead. Known as the Resurrection of Christ, this holy event brought joy and relief to His followers who began to celebrate the day to commemorate the resurrection of Christ.

Easter has also become a family day of gathering, dining together, having Easter egg hunts, wearing bonnets and enjoying all the wonders of Spring.

Below is some interesting trivia associated with Easter:

• The name Easter owes its origin from Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess who symbolizes the hare and egg.
• Easter always falls between March 22nd and April 25th.
• From the very early times, egg has been considered the most important symbol of rebirth.
• The initial baskets of Easter were given the appearance of birds’ nests.
• The maiden chocolate eggs recipes were made in Europe in the nineteenth century.
• Next to Halloween, Easter holiday paves the way for the confectionary business to boom.
• In the catalogue of kids’ favorite Easter foodstuff, Red jellybeans occupies the top most position.
• Americans celebrate Easter with a large Easter egg hunt on the White House Lawn.
• In medieval times, a festival of egg throwing was held in church, during which the priest would throw a hard-boiled egg to one of the choirboys. It was then tossed from one choirboy to the next and whoever held the egg when the clock struck 12 was the winner and retained the egg.
• The custom of giving eggs at Easter time has been traced back to Egyptians, Persians, Gauls, Greeks and Romans, to whom the egg was a symbol of life.
• The date of Passover is variable as it is dependent on the phases of the moon, and thus Easter is a movable feast.

This year, 90 million chocolate Easter bunnies and 16 billion jelly beans will be manufactured. Every day, five million marshmallow chicks and bunnies are made to welcome spring. According to the National Confectioners Association, 76% of people eat the ears off of their chocolate bunnies first—how about you?

Happy Easter to you and your Family…. from your Mangos’s Family.

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