1. You can thank the Germans for the terrifying absolute gold images from your childhood of a seemingly Tim Burton-esque bunny holding you.
The Easter bunny came about from German immigrants in the 1700s who brought the tradition of an egg-laying hare by the name of ‘Oschter Haws’ to America.
They would also get their kids to make old Oschter nests where the hare could lay its coloured eggs. Just quickly – hares can’t lay eggs, so there’s a problem right there. Only the magical Easter bunny can, obvs.
2. Russians eat, what we can only take as their version of Shrove Tuesday, small pancakes topped with fish eggs, cream and dried fruit. #oneoftheseisnotliketheothers
3. In Hungary, during Easter, women just have a hard time trying to stay dry. And I don’t mean from the weather, but from men. Chasing them. Trying to throw buckets of water on them. Of course.
Each year, Hungarians like to celebrate Easter with their tradition known as “the watering of the girls”. All for a good cause, the tradition is said to encourage fertility (because what else could a woman want more) as the water “cleanses” them. What larks.
4. Similarly in the Czech Republic, men engage in spanking/ whipping. Yes, bear with us.
Carried out on Easter Monday is the tradition where men seek out women to spank with their handmade whip of willow and ribbons. The willow blooms first in the spring, and is thus supposed to transfer its vitality to the woman.
It’s all in jest…apparently.
5. This cat. He’s pumped AF.
6. Every Easter Monday the White House hosts the annual Easter Egg Roll on the WH lawn.
It originated in 1878 when then-president Rutherford B. Hayes’ wife sponsored the first egg roll where children chased after coloured eggs with a large serving spoon along the lawn. Not a bad way to introduce yourself to the president and tell him you’d like to get into politics.
7. Grand-scale Easter egg hunts. They’ve been done for ages from when Chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte was built to the annual Central Park hunt in NYC to the Cadbury Egg Hunt in Northern Ireland.
The record-breaking hunt happened on April 1 2007 in Florida where 501,000 eggs were hidden (and subsequently eaten).
8. Last year the city of Bariloche in Argentina were able to claim the feat most worthy of a mention in Guinness World Records.
They constructed the largest handmade chocolate Easter egg weighing 8,000kg at a staggering 8.5m high. They also did it in 2014. Mmmmmm chocolate.
9. This tree. A German pensioner couple have decorated their apple tree with 10,000 handpainted Easter eggs every year since 1965. JUST PRESH.
10. Introduced in 1971 and causing toothaches the world over, Cadbury’s Creme Egg is the most popular chocolate egg for Easter around the globe. So. Much. Sweetness.
11. 120 million pounds of Easter chocolate is bought annually. Oh btw, that’s just in America.
But YOLO and all that, because Easter won’t come around for another 364 days and never will you have as fabulous an excuse as you do now to eat so much chocolate in four days. Get hopping, ladies and gents.
