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when most people think of Easter they picture
church services egg hunts and chocolate bunnies
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But behind the pastel colors and smiling
rabbits hides a history full of scandals
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pagan roots and bizarre twists Many of
today's beloved Easter traditions have
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nothing to do with Christianity Some come
from ancient fertility cults Others were
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created purely for profit and a few have even
sparked national controversies From drunken
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brunches to sexy Jesus contests Easter is
far stranger and more shocking than most
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realize Number one the strange case of egg rolling
bans and anti-gambling laws In the 19th century
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egg rolling was considered scandalous enough to
warrant legal bans in parts of America Cities like
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Washington DC and New York saw children roll eggs
on public lawns causing damage and chaos In 1876
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Congress passed legislation banning egg rolling
on capital grounds prompting President Hayes to
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relocate the activity to the White House lawn two
years later The real shock egg rolling was linked
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to gambling In some communities adults bet on
whose egg would roll the farthest or survive the
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longest effectively turning Easter into a gambling
event Local ministers and temperance activists
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decide these games of chance as sinful Even today
echoes of this scandal persist in church warnings
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against trivializing sacred holidays What started
as a children's game was once deemed a moral
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threat Number two the Easter Bunny a pagan
fertility symbol in disguise Few realize that
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the beloved Easter Bunny is nowhere mentioned
in the Bible In fact the rabbit was originally
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a pagan fertility symbol associated with the
Germanic goddess Yostast or Ostra The earliest
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written record comes from the 8th century
English monkbead who claimed that pagans
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celebrated Eostray in April Rabbits were sacred
to Eostree due to their astonishing reproductive
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abilities German immigrants later brought the
ostrahas Easter hair to America in the 1700s
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Their tradition involved children making nests
for the hair to lay colored eggs symbolizing
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fertility and new life Shockingly the church
long opposed the rabbit as a pagan relic But
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by the late 19th century American commercial
culture fully embraced it "Easter has become
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one of the most commercialized holidays in
America and the rabbit is its ambassador,"
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wrote historian Lee Eric Schmidt What began
as a symbol of pagan rituals ended up on
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millions of chocolate rappers and greeting
cards leaving its religious critics in
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disbelief Number three the Hunky Jesus Contest
Easter or blasphemy Since the early 1990s San
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Francisco's annual Hunky Jesus contest organized
by the drag activist group Sisters of Perpetual
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Indulgence has been one of the most controversial
Easter traditions in America held every Easter
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Sunday at Dolores Park Contestants dressed
as provocative often half- naked versions
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of Jesus compete for the title of Hunky Jesus
alongside the equally notorious Foxy Mary contest
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The sisters founded in 1979 are known for using
religious imagery to promote LGBTQ plus rights and
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critique social injustice But the event has drawn
harsh criticism from Christian groups In 1999 the
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Catholic Arch Dasis of San Francisco condemned it
as comparable to a neo-Nazi rally during Passover
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igniting national headlines Defenders argue that
the contest highlights hypocrisy and promotes
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acceptance but to critics it is pure blasphemy
Despite protests the event attracts thousands
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annually Sister Roma one of the group's leaders
insists "We're not mocking faith but those who
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use it to marginalize." Yet for many the idea
of turning Easter into a satire remains deeply
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offensive Number four the origin of Easter eggs
A blend of paganism and medieval meat bands While
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churches today bless baskets of colorful eggs
their roots are neither Christian nor innocent
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Eggs have symbolized life and rebirth since
ancient times particularly in Persian and Slavic
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spring festivals Early Christians adapted this
custom but added a twist during the Middle Ages
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when the church prohibited eating eggs during
Lent 40 days before Easter However hens kept
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laying and by Easter households had a surplus The
faithful boiled or baked them to avoid waste The
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shocking twist many dyed the eggs blood red to
symbolize the crucifixion an eerie reminder of
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Christ's sacrifice The custom was widespread by
the 13th century In the US German immigrants in
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Pennsylvania popularized egg dying in the 18th
century Today Americans spend over 1.5 billion
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annually on Easter candy much of it egg- shaped
without knowing the strange mix of paganism
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medieval fasting rules and folklore behind
[Music] it Number five the commercial takeover
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Easter as America's $ 24 billion business
Easter might be about resurrection in church
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but in stores it's about profit By 2023
Americans were spending approximately
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$24 billion on Easter related purchases according
to the National Retail Federation Chocolate
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bunnies pastel colored candies plastic grass gift
baskets and plastic eggs dominate store shelves
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Ironically the tradition of giving chocolate
eggs began in France and Germany in the 19th
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century but American companies like Hershey's
and Cadbury rapidly commercialized it Cadbury
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even revolutionized Easter with the Cadbury Cream
Egg in 1963 By the 21st century religious leaders
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criticized the holidays rampant materialism
Reverend Billy Graham once warned "Easter is not
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about bunnies but about an empty tomb." Despite
the outcry candy companies rake in billions every
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spring Most Americans today associate Easter more
with marshmallow peeps and chocolate than with
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resurrection Number six Easter witchcraft in
Sweden and Finland Perhaps one of the strangest
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Easter traditions comes from Scandinavia where
children dress as witches passinger in Sweden
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and go doortodoor for candy similar to Halloween
The tradition dates back to ancient beliefs that
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witches would fly to Blulla Blue Mountain during
Holy Week to meet the devil Swedish and Finnish
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families even light bonfires to ward off evil
spirits Shockingly despite its dark roots the
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tradition is accepted as a harmless children's
activity Yet religious groups have criticized
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it as promoting paganism In 2012 a bishop of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland called the
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practice deeply problematic but locals fiercely
defended it "It's just fun for the kids," said
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Finnish mother Helena Vertain Still few realize
they are enacting a pre-Christian folk ritual
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when they hand out candy to pint-sized witches on
[Music] Easter Number seven Easter parades From
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pagan processions to vanity fair in New York
City the Easter parade is an iconic tradition
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but its origins are anything but Christian
Parades associated with springtime fertility
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rituals can be traced back to ancient Rome and
even earlier By the 19th century wealthy New
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Yorkers began strolling Fifth Avenue in their
finest clothes after church services on Easter
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Sunday Newspapers dubbed it the Vanity Fair of
the Gilded Age Shockingly the event had little to
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do with religion and much to do with showing off
wealth and social status In 1890 Harper's Weekly
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commented "Easter is not so much the celebration
of Christ as it is the worship of fine clothes."
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Even today while crosses are present elaborate
hats extravagant outfits and secular floats
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dominate the scandal Many churches criticized
the parade as an example of Christian hypocrisy
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but the tradition persists now attracting tourists
more interested in Instagrammable hats than sacred
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[Music] rights Number eight the resurrection of
alcohol boozy American Easter brunches While Lent
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traditionally involves abstaining from alcohol
American Easter has embraced the opposite By the
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late 20th century Easter brunch became synonymous
with mimosas Bloody Marys and champagne Shockingly
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some churches even began offering boozy brunches
after sunrise services sparking outrage among
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more conservative Christians A 2014 article in
Christianity Today warned about the secularization
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and intoxication of holy days In cities like New
Orleans and New York restaurants advertise Easter
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with phrases like resurrection and bottomless
mimosas The scandal is not just about alcohol
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but about the holidays transformation from solemn
to indulgent It's less about the tomb and more
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about the buffet joked pastor Mike Glenn Yet
Easter brunch remains a profitable tradition
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with Americans spending nearly $6 billion on
Easter meals and drinks annually according
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to the National Restaurant Association [Music]
Number nine Australian Easter the great bunny
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ban and the rise of the bilby In Australia rabbits
are considered pests responsible for devastating
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native ecosystems since their introduction in 1859
By the late 20th century environmentalists began
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campaigning against the Easter Bunny branding it
an invasive species mascot In 1991 the Foundation
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for Rabbit-Free Australia promoted the Easter
Bilby a native endangered marupial with large
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ears Chocolate Bilbees replaced bunnies in
many stores The scandal Chocolate companies
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like Cadbury initially resisted the shift due to
the international appeal of the bunny but were
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eventually pressured into producing chocolate
billies Some Christian leaders were outraged
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by what they saw as environmentalists hijacking
Easter Yet others saw the irony of celebrating
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life and renewal with an animal destroying the
continent's ecosystem As of today the Bilby is
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an official Easter symbol down under although
chocolate bunnies still stubbornly hold market
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share Number 10 White House Easter egg roll
politics scandals and controversies Since
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1878 the White House Easter egg roll has been
a hallmark of presidential Easter celebrations
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But this seemingly innocent event has been
laced with scandals and awkward moments The
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tradition began under President Rutherford
be Hayes after Congress banned children from
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rolling eggs on the Capitol lawn Over the years
first ladies like Eleanor Roosevelt used it
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for social causes while Nancy Reagan used it to
promote her anti-drug campaign However the most
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scandalous moments came during more recent years
In 2006 the event sparked a political storm when
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LGBT families attended openly defying the Bush
administration's conservative stance "Family
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is about love not gender," said Jennifer Chrysler
executive director of the Family Equality Council
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as rainbow flags were quietly distributed In
2017 President Trump forgot to mention the
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event during his Easter remarks causing headlines
like Trump forgets Easter CNN From policy battles
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to protocol blunders the White House egg
roll has been far from a simple kids game
