The Italian term for Easter, “Pasqua”, comes from the Aramaic “Pesach” meaning “passage”, while the English “Easter” finds its origins from the fertility deity Eastre. The egg is, by large, the most representative symbol of Easter across different traditions. Courious, isn’t it? Let’s discover some more interesting facts about this holiday!
1- The first chocolate Easter egg was made in England: it was produced in 1873 by J. S. Fry & Sons of Bristol. Children and dentists all over the world still say thanks.
2-The art of decorating Easter eggs is called “Pysanka”. In Ukraine, this method uses wax and is very popular.
3- The Easter bunny, an animal that has always been a symbol of fertility, caught on with Lutheranism, and, according to tradition, it is a sort of Santa Claus. The Easter bunny is known for bringing eggs, sweets and toys to children. But, of course, only to well-behaving ones.
4- In Anglo-Saxon culture, egg rolling is a very popular game that consists in rolling an egg on a lawn or a hill without breaking it. In the United States, on Easter Monday families living in Washington, DC gather in the White House to play egg rolling in the President’s gardens.
5- The Russian goldsmith Peter Carl Fabergé and his collaborators built their first jewel-egg in 1885. The egg was commissioned by Tsar Alexander III of Russia, as an Easter surprise for his wife Maria Fëdorovna. The egg, crafted from a foundation of gold, featured the same layered structure of the traditional Russian matrioske: its opaque white enameled “shell” opened to reveal a matte yellow-gold yolk, and this in turn opened to reveal a multicolored gold hen that also opened and contained a minute diamond replica of the imperial crown from which a small ruby pendant was suspended. Between 1885 and 1917, 52 more Easter eggs were made by Fabergé.