Twenty questions on why Easter moves every year, where the Easter Bunny came from, the days of Holy Week and how the holiday is celebrated from Sweden to Australia.
How is the date of Easter set in Western churches?
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The first Sunday after the first full moon on or after March 21
This rule, from the Council of Nicaea's tradition, makes Easter move between March 22 and April 25.
Question 2
What is the latest possible date for Western Easter?
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April 25
The earliest is March 22. Easter last fell on April 25 in 1943 and next will in 2038.
Question 3
The Easter Bunny tradition came to America with immigrants from which country?
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Germany
German settlers in Pennsylvania brought the Osterhase, an egg-laying hare, in the 1700s.
Question 4
Which president began the White House Easter Egg Roll in 1878?
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Rutherford B. Hayes
Hayes opened the South Lawn to children after Congress banned egg rolling on the Capitol grounds.
Question 5
Easter Island got its name because a European explorer arrived there on Easter Sunday of which year?
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1722
Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen landed on Easter Sunday 1722. The island, now part of Chile, is called Rapa Nui by its people.
Question 6
What are the giant stone statues of Easter Island called?
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Moai
The Rapa Nui people carved nearly 1,000 moai, most of them between about 1250 and 1500.
Question 7
Which company makes Peeps marshmallow candies?
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Just Born
Just Born, based in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, bought the company that made Peeps in 1953.
Question 8
What is the Thursday before Easter called?
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Maundy Thursday
It marks the Last Supper. "Maundy" comes from the Latin mandatum, commandment.
Question 9
On which day does Lent begin?
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Ash Wednesday
Lent lasts 40 days, not counting Sundays, from Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday. The day before is Shrove Tuesday, or Mardi Gras.
Question 10
The jeweled Fabergé eggs were made for which royal family?
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The Russian imperial family
Alexander III ordered the first imperial Easter egg in 1885 as a gift for his wife. Fifty were made for the Romanovs.
Question 11
Which Sunday before Easter marks Jesus' entry into Jerusalem?
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Palm Sunday
The Gospels describe crowds spreading palm branches on the road, which is why palms are handed out in many churches.
Question 12
On which day are hot cross buns traditionally eaten?
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Good Friday
The cross on top recalls the crucifixion. In England they have been linked with Good Friday for centuries.
Question 13
The word Pascha, used for Easter in many languages, comes from the Hebrew name of which festival?
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Passover
Passover is Pesach in Hebrew. The Gospels place the crucifixion and resurrection at Passover time.
Question 14
Orthodox Easter often falls later than Western Easter because Orthodox churches use which calendar to set it?
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The Julian calendar
Both use the same rule, but applied to different calendars, so the two dates coincide only in some years.
Question 15
In Sweden and Finland, children traditionally dress up as what at Easter?
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Witches
Dressed as Easter witches, children go door to door with drawings and ask for sweets, much like trick-or-treating.
Question 16
In Australia, which native animal is promoted as an alternative to the Easter Bunny?
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The bilby
Rabbits are an invasive pest in Australia. The Easter Bilby raises money and awareness for the endangered bilby.
Question 17
In Christianity, what does Easter celebrate?
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The resurrection of Jesus
Easter is the oldest and most important Christian festival. Christmas, which marks the birth, became widespread later.
Question 18
What is the day after Easter Sunday called in many countries where it's a public holiday?
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Easter Monday
Easter Monday is a holiday in the UK (except Scotland), much of Europe, Australia and Canada's federal workplaces, but not nationally in the US.
Question 19
Which Italian Easter cake is baked in the shape of a dove?
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Colomba di Pasqua
The colomba, Italian for dove, is a sweet bread topped with almonds and pearl sugar. Panettone is its Christmas cousin.
Question 20
What does an Easter lily symbolize in Christian tradition?
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Purity and new life
The white trumpet-shaped flower is linked with resurrection. Most Easter lilies sold in the US come from a small region on the California–Oregon border.
Key numbers
Questions
20
Format
Multiple choice, 4 options
Explanations
Every question
Answers
Hidden until you open them
Why Easter moves
Easter falls on a different date every year because it follows the Moon: in Western churches it's the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after March 21, which puts it anywhere from March 22 to April 25. Orthodox churches use the same rule on the Julian calendar, which is why their Easter is often later. Several questions in this set are built on that rule, and they make good questions for adults who think they already know the holiday.
Customs old and new
The rest of the set covers the traditions: the German Easter hare that became the Easter Bunny, the White House Easter Egg Roll, hot cross buns, Fabergé eggs, Easter witches in Sweden and the Easter Bilby in Australia. There are also questions on Holy Week itself, from Palm Sunday to Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.
Two dates to remember for a tiebreaker: Easter can be as early as March 22 and as late as April 25. Ask teams to guess the latest possible date; closest answer wins.
For church groups and families
Split the set into a "Holy Week" round and a "traditions" round of ten each. For more questions drawn from the Gospels, see Bible trivia; for the year's other holidays, try Thanksgiving and Christmas trivia.
Questions people ask
Why does the date of Easter change every year?
Western churches celebrate Easter on the first Sunday after the first full moon on or after March 21, so the date moves between March 22 and April 25.
Where did the Easter Bunny come from?
From German tradition. German settlers brought the Osterhase, an egg-laying hare, to Pennsylvania in the 1700s.
Are these Easter trivia questions good for church groups?
Yes. About half the questions are about Holy Week and the meaning of Easter, and the rest cover traditions families and children enjoy.