Easter 2013: Chocolate Bunnies, Jellybeans, Dyed Eggs, More Fun Facts about Spring Holiday Celebrated on March 31, 2013

It's that time of year again - chocolate bunnies, jellybeans, dyed eggs, and gift baskets... Easter - the Christian festival celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day after his crucifixion at Calvary as described in the New Testament - is celebrated on March 31, 2013. In honor of this spring holiday, here are some fun facts and history about the Easter bunny, candy Peeps, and more. Happy Easter from Mstars!

- Ninety million chocolate Easter bunnies are made for Easter each year. Adults prefer milk chocolate (65%) over dark chocolate (27%).

- There are about 280 million laying hens in the United States. That's about one for each American man, woman, and child.

- 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.

- Americans buy more than 700 million marshmallow Peeps during the Easter holiday, which makes Peeps the most popular non-chocolate Easter candy.

- In the early 19th century, the first chocolate eggs were made in Europe. They remain among the most popular treats associated with Easter.

- Common Easter symbols include the Cross, Easter Bells, and the Easter Lily (and dyed ggs and rabbits!).

- America's first Sunrise Service - an Easter Mass held early enough for congregants to witness the dawn's first rays together - was held in 1773 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, organized by the Moravians, which is a church with its roots in the present-day Czech Republic.

- Easter eggs appear in many ancient traditions all over the world as a symbol for life, or life's beginnings. In medieval Europe, eggs were often one of the first foods - blessed by a priest - eaten after the Lenten fast.

- The very first Easter baskets had the appearance of a birds nest, but baskets today come in all shapes and colors.

- The traditional act of painting eggs is called Pysanka.

For more religious-themed Easter historical facts, go here.

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Happy Easter 2013: Easter Bunny, Egg Hunts, Jellybeans, Peeps, Other Fun Facts and Trivia about Springtime Holiday, Sunday March 31 2013