While I acknowledge we still have time before Easter is upon us, I thought it might be fun to shine some light on the holiday (no religious pun intended) and explore some perhaps uncommon knowledge pertaining to the celebration.
This information comes from goodhousekeeping.com.
“1. Easter baskets have special symbolism. The woven treat containers represent birds’ nests and new life, especially when filled to the brim with eggs.
“2. There’s a reason you probably eat ham for Easter dinner. Historically, most early Easter celebrants would have eaten lamb for this special occasion since the holiday has its roots in Jewish Passover. But these days, many American Easter dinners now feature ham instead, because of the timing of the holiday. Years ago, hams cured over the winter months would have been ready to serve in the early spring.
“3. Easter lilies are a relatively new tradition. These beautiful blooms first originated in Japan and arrived in England in the late 18th century. The United States only caught onto the trend after World War I. The transition from dormant bulbs to delicate flowers brings to mind hope and rebirth, two important themes of the Easter celebration.
“4. Easter eggs have medieval origins. Think Easter egg hunts are a strange tradition? Listen to this medieval game children’s game: A priest would give one of the choir boys a hard boiled egg, and the boys would pass it amongst themselves until the clock struck midnight, when whoever was holding it got to eat it. We hope they at least got some salt and pepper to go with it.
“5. Easter clothes used to be considered good luck. Old superstition held that if you wore new clothes on Easter, you would have good luck for the rest of the year. In fact, it was so widely believed that upper-class New Yorkers would literally strut their stuff coming out of attending Easter mass at well-heeled midtown churches. This tradition become the basis of the modern, and decidedly less elitist, Easter Parade and Easter Bonnet Festival in New York,” the web page explains.
Check back tomorrow for more Easter facts.
Photo by Gabe Pierce on Unsplash
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