With Easter soon approaching, how eggcited are you to delve into your eggstremely eggcellent chocolate? (Yep – that’s where we’re at with puns). Well, before you get too caught up in the prospect of potentially eating chocolate eggs for breakfast, lunch and dinner, here are 10 interesting facts about Easter:

1. Easter is a moveable feast, celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon that always appeared on or after 21st March – called the ‘Spring Equinox’ (when the clocks go forwards).

2. Sales in the Easter period make up for 10% of the UK’s chocolate spend over the course of each year

3. According to List25, the Uk’s first chocolate egg was made by Fry’s of Bristol in 1873. Look at the pretty:

4. John Cadbury introduced the first Cadbury egg in 1975, two years later. By 1892 Cadbury had 19 different eggs on offer, all made from dark chocolate.

5. The most popular egg-shaped chocolate is the Cadbury’s Creme Egg. In the Birmingham factory, over 1.5 million are produced every day:

6. In the UK, a child receives 8.8 chocolate eggs (on average) per year – jealous, much?

7. The tallest chocolate Easter egg ever made was in Cortenuova, Italy, in 2011. The height was measured at 10.39 metres, with a circumference of 19.6 metres at its widest point, and weighing 7,200Kg! The egg was taller than a giraffe and heavier than an elephant – want!

8. More than half (58%) of children consider chocolate to be most important part of Easter, with 30% eating their egg instead of breakfast

9. You know that lovely ‘crocodile’ pattern on the chocolate eggs? This comes from Germany and was designed to cover any ‘imperfections’ during production – it’s not just to make it look pretty!

10. When eating a chocolate easter bunny, 76% of you bite off the ears first, 5% nom the feet and 4% go for the tail!
(The other 15% percent presumably don’t eat them because they are too cute, which is exactly why unCOVered’s Elizabeth has to resist!)

I’m sure at least one of the above points will have raised an eyebrow or two. With that being said, I hope everyone enjoys their Easter holidays and their chocolate eggs. But try not to eat too much – 1 in 5 of us make ourselves ill over the holiday! Chocolate hangover anyone?

HAPPY EASTER!

Adapted from a guest post by Tom, Sport Management graduate 2014.