The good and bad of Easter

Easter is known to be the Sunday that marks the end of Holy Week. It commemorates the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and reminds Christians of the sacrifice of the Son of God.

Sadly and embarrassingly so, it also means colored Easter eggs, bunnies and marshmallow peeps, which represent the gross commercialization of the religious holiday. Move over, Santa. The profit-hungry corporations just hijacked Jesus — again.

It goes without saying, however, that most churches will see their biggest attendance numbers of the year on Sunday, just like Christmas. You could say that commercialization draws attention to the holiday and maybe entices people who normally don’t come to church to celebrate it.

On the upside of the holiday, Easter comes at a time of the year when rebirth surrounds us. The grass comes back to life. The bulbs in our gardens begin to poke their heads through the wet soil. The weather warms and we can smell the familiar scents of spring. 

Also, what’s not to love with Easter flowers, fancy clothes, and all the candy the Easter Bunny brings. It might as well be chocolate’s holiday too!

Here are some interesting fun facts from www.list25.com about Easter:

• The tallest chocolate Easter egg ever was made in Italy in 2011. At 34.09 feet in height and 15,870 pounds in weight (almost eight tons), it was taller than a giraffe and heavier than an elephant!

• Jellybeans were first made in America by Boston candy maker William Schrafft, who ran advertisements urging people to send jellybeans to soldiers fighting in the Civil War.

• The traditional act of painting eggs is called Pysanka, a Ukrainian term for Easter egg decorated with traditional Ukrainian folk designs using a wax-resist method.

• The name Easter owes its origin from Eastre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess who symbolizes hare and egg.

• In medieval times, a festival of ‘egg-throwing’ was held in church. The priest would throw a hard-boiled egg to one of the choir boys, and then tossed from one choir boy to the next. When the clock struck 12, whoever held the egg, was the winner and got to keep the egg.

• 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.

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