12 Amazing Facts about Easter.

1. The name Easter owes its origin from Easter, the Anglo-Saxon goddess who symbolizes hare and egg.
Easter always falls between March 22 and April 25.
2. The original date of Easter was first fixed in 325AD.
3. In the Christian calendar, Easter marks the rebirth of Christ and the end of the 40 days of Lent.
Good Friday is an official holiday in 12 US states (and if you’re in one of those states, enjoy the long weekend).
4. Easter is celebrated at different times by Eastern and Western Christians. That’s because the dates for Easter in Eastern Christianity are based on the Julian Calendar.
5. There’s a link between Easter and Passover and in some countries and languages, the words for the two feasts are related.
6. Eggs are associated with Easter because they are a symbol of starting new life. It’s believed that eggs have been given to celebrate the spring equinox for more than 2 millennia.
7. Easter is now celebrated (in the words of the Book of Common Prayer) on the first Sunday after the full moon, which happens on, or after March 21, the Spring Equinox.
8. 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.
9. 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.
10. The date of Passover is variable as it is dependent on the phases of the moon, and thus Easter is a movable feast.

11. Next to Halloween, Easter holiday paves way for confectionary business to boom.
12. Americans celebrate Easter with a large Easter egg hunt on the White House Lawn.

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