Some fun Easter facts
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JS Fry of Bristol made the first chocolate egg in the UK in 1873, with Cadbury’s launching their version two years later. Decorated by hand to suit Victorian tastes, these eggs were made from dark chocolate and would have been rather grainy and bitter by today’s standards. According to Tony Bilsborough of Cadbury’s: “They would have been a very expensive and luxury gift.” In 1905 Cadbury’s launched the Dairy Milk chocolate bar, and the subsequent Easter egg made with this new style milk chocolate proved a big hit. Better transportation, a lowering of trade tariffs on cocoa, and developments in production allowed the masses to enjoy Easter eggs, but adults were still the target market.
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In 2007, an Easter egg covered in diamonds sold for almost £9 million. Every hour, a cockerel made of jewels pops up from the top of the Faberge egg, flaps its wings four times, nods its head three times and makes a crowing noise. The gold-and-pink enamel egg was made by the Russian royal family as an engagement gift for French aristocrat Baron Edouard de Rothschild.
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When people gorge on a chocolate Easter bunny, 76 per cent bite off the ears first, 5 per cent go for the feet and 4 per cent opt for the tail.
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The tallest chocolate Easter egg ever was made in Italy in 2011, being 10.39 metres in height and 7,200 kg in weight.
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Some other unique Easter eggs:
Giant egg made from eggs, Kiev
The Lindt bunny made from Lindt bunnies
Easter egg creations by Barcelona based pastry chef and chocolatier Oriol Balaguer
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Volker Kraft has decorated the tree in his front yard in Germany with Easter eggs for the last 47 years. In 2013 he outdid himself by putting up over 10,000 eggs. It took him his family just over a week to dangle all the colourful eggs from the branches. Kraft says he started the tradition for their grandchildren, but it has since grown into a global attraction with thousands of people flocking to the little town of Saalfeld.
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The world’s largest known Easter Egg is found in Canada.
Vegreville, Alberta, a town of 5,300, is home to this 31 foot high sculptural egg, decorated in traditional Ukrainian style. The exquisite and intricate decoration of Easter eggs is a Ukrainian folk art known the world over. Pysanka is the Ukrainian word for Easter egg. The sculpture was built in 1975 to commemorate the centennial of the formation of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Alberta. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip unveiled the plaque next to the egg during their visit in 1978. Vegreville’s Pysankas is made of aluminum, permanently anodized in gold, bronze, and silver. The 13,357 pieces weighs 16 tonnes and measures 25.7 feet long and 18.3 feet wide.
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The most famous decorated Easter eggs are those designed by Peter Carl Faberge.
In 1885 the Russian Tsar commissioned Faberge to make a special Easter gift for his wife. This first Faberge egg was an egg within an egg. The outside egg was of gold and enameled white with a smaller gold egg inside. Inside the smaller egg was a golden chicken and a jewelled replica of the Imperial crown.
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On Easter Sunday in Scotland and North-East England, some people have great fun rolling painted eggs down steep hills. This is also popular in parts of America, where people push the egg along with a spoon.
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The name Easter owes its origin to Eostre or Eastre, an Anglo-Saxon goddess of light and the dawn who was honoured at pagan festivals celebrating the arrival of spring.
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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.
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The traditional act of painting eggs is called Pysanka.
It consists of successive applications of wax and various dyes.
