During Easter Americans Consume Over 16 Billion Jelly Beans

Easter is observed on the first Sunday following the full moon after the vernal equinox. Christianity’s most important holy day celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Depending on which calendar a church follows, some will celebrate the holiday earlier than others.

• 4 BC – Most scholars agree that Jesus was born somewhere between the years 6 and 4 B.C.
• 28 AD – After being baptized by John, Jesus begins preaching in Galilee and recruits his disciples.
• 30-33 AD – Sentenced by Pontius Pilate, Jesus is crucified outside Jerusalem’s city walls, and rises from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion.
• 2nd Century – Before Easter (Pascha), Passover was the primary holy day celebrated; however, Christianity closely links the two holidays. Jesus’s last supper was a Passover meal. By the 2nd century, Orthodox Christians also celebrated Pascha alongside Passover as well as pagan spring festivals.
• 325 AD – The First Council of Nicaea, organized by Roman Emperor Constantine I, decrees that Easter will be celebrated on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox.
• 13th century – the period when eggs first started to be decorated for Easter.
• 1680 – The first story of a rabbit (later named the “Easter Bunny”) hiding eggs in a garden was published in 1680.
• 18th Century – German immigrants introduced the Easter bunny tradition to the United States
  • The Easter Bunny tradition comes from medieval Germany, where the Osterhase or Easter Hare would lay its colorful eggs in nests prepared by children. In the 18th-century, settling in the Dutch Pennsylvania countryside, immigrants brought this fable and tradition to the United States.
• 1873 – It was during the 19th century that the Fry family of Bristol ran the largest chocolate factory in the world and produced the first chocolate egg, in 1873.
• 1875 – It was two years later in 1875 that saw Cadbury’s make their first Easter egg.
• 1878 – President Rutherford B. Hayes and his wife host the first annual Easter egg roll on the White House lawn.
• 2015 – The world’s largest Easter egg hunt took place in Ontario, Canada in 2015, with over 500,000 eggs hidden throughout the city.
• 2020 – 77% of American adults celebrated the holiday.
• Leading up to Easter Sunday is an entire season of observances beginning with Ash Wednesday, Lent’s official beginning. Lent is a time of fasting and reflection, which represents the time Jesus spent in the wilderness for 40 days. Many know this as a time when Christians give something up for Lent.
• According to scholars, this Christian holiday was named after the Anglo-Saxon goddess, Eostre, who was depicted as a Fertility Goddess and a Goddess of Dawn and Light.
• The Easter Bunny tradition comes from medieval Germany, where the Osterhase or Easter Hare would lay its colorful eggs in nests prepared by children.
• Dying eggs is a tradition that dates back thousands of years across many cultures. Eggs symbolize rebirth, fertility, and life springing forth.
• The act of painting eggs originates from a Ukrainian tradition. For countless generations, Ukrainians have been decorating eggs as a calling out to the Gods and Goddesses of health and fertility.
• Eggs have been seen as an ancient symbol of fertility, while springtime is considered to bring new life and rebirth. The Easter parade, a popular tradition in New York City, features people dressed in their finest Easter attire parading down Fifth Avenue.
• In Greece, people traditionally dye Easter eggs red to symbolize the blood of Jesus.
• Americans spend $1.9 billion on Easter candy. That’s the second biggest candy holiday after Halloween.
• 70% of Easter candy purchased is chocolate.
• More than 1.5 million Cadbury Creme Eggs are produced every day.
• Easter baskets have special symbolism.  The woven treat containers represent birds’ nests and new life, especially when filled to the brim with eggs.
• Americans eat about 1.5 million Peeps during Easter. The Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, factory makes an impressive 5.5 million a day.
• What happens to the palm leaves used during Palm Sunday services the week before Easter?  The palm leaves are usually burned to create ash for the following year’s Ash Wednesday traditions.
• Americans consume over 16 billion jelly beans during Easter.
• Around 90 million chocolate bunnies are sold for Easter.
• FOR 1 IN 3 AMERICANS, EASTER CANDY IS AN IMPULSE BUY. 32% of Americans usually buy Easter candy at the grocery store on an impulse, when they’re already shopping for something else.
• 46% of Americans make a special trip to buy Easter candy, while 18% wait until the day after Easter, when the candy is half price.
• CANDY IS THE #1 EASTER PURCHASE. 23% of Americans say they purchase candy on or around Easter. The second most popular Easter purchase is plastic eggs or baskets (15%).
• Easter by the Numbers:
  • 3 in 4 – the estimated number of Americans who identify as Christian.
  • 50.8% – the percentage of Americans who plan to attend church on Easter Sunday each year.
  • $16.4 billion – the estimated number of dollars spent on Easter in 2015.
  • $140.62 – the estimated number of dollars spent by Americans on Easter.
  • 5 – the number of minutes it takes to make a Peeps Marshmallow Chick.
  • $18,480 million – candy company Mars Inc.’s net sales in 2014.
  • 32% – the percentage of chocolate lovers who buy extra chocolate on the occasion of Easter.
  • 89% – the percentage of consumers who eat the ears off chocolate bunnies first.
  • 1.5 billion – the number of Peeps Marshmallow Chicks consumed around Easter.

Sources:

National Day Calendar

Do Something

Sykes Holiday Cottages

Good Housekeeping

Days of the Year

National Today