Aside from the entertaining egg hunts, why do people celebrate Easter?
People from different cultures and countries have a different take on what Easter is all about. They also have different interpretations of its original meaning and their traditions on how to celebrate it.
Here are a few Easter facts from its Pagan and Christian history, and the practices people do to celebrate it, then until now.
Quick Facts:
- The term ‘Easter’ came from Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring and fertility.
- Some countries call it ‘Pascha’, which means ‘Passover’ in Hebrew.
- Easter celebrates the Resurrection of Jesus three days after his Crucifixion.
- Passion Week, or more commonly known as Holy Week, happens before Easter.
- Easter is a movable holiday due to the Passover date’s dependency on the phases of the moon.
Essential Facts:
- While the majority of those who celebrate Easter are Christians, the holiday has pagan origins.
- Good Friday, the Friday before Easter, commemorates the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
- In the United States only 12 states recognize Good Friday as an official holiday.
- Orthodox tradition bans the celebration of Easter on or before the Passover.
- In 1873 Fry’s of Bristol produced the first chocolate egg in the UK.
- Chocolate makes up 70% of all the confectionery purchased every Easter.
- Easter represents celebration, joy, and new life.
- In the 80s, Germany produced the first edible Easter bunnies made of sugar and pastry.
- People in the U.S. spend an average total of $14.7 billion on Easter celebrations. In England it’s £2 billion! Considering the size difference, that’s a huge amount of chocolate!
- During Easter mass attendance in churches doubles.
Interesting Facts:
- Over 28,000 or 59% of Americans eat the ears of the chocolate Easter bunny first. Not sure what we do in the UK, maybe, we should do our own survey… a job for the scouts perhaps?
- Easter ranks second to Halloween where we spend the most money on chocolate.
- The first versions of Easter baskets resembled bird’s nests.
- Egg farmers in the UK and America donate over 15 million eggs to food banks nationwide.
- Chocolate must be made all-year-round to meet the annual Easter Egg demand.
Easter Statistics:
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- More than 4 in 5 Brits (84%) plan to celebrate Easter in 2024, which is around 44.5 million people.
- 3 in 4 Brits (77%) plan to spend some money on the holiday.
- Brits are projected to spend over £2 billion on Easter 2024, with an average spend of £53 each.
- Around 80 million Easter eggs are sold in the UK each year.
- Residents in Northern Ireland are most likely to mark the Easter weekend, with an impressive 9 in 10 people (93%), planning to celebrate in some capacity. Spending an average of £78 each! This figure is perhaps not surprising given that around 80% of the population identifies as Christian.
- At the other end of the spectrum, 79% of residents in Wales are planning to celebrate, with the average spend a more economical £36.
So… better get saving then!
Source: https://www.finder.com/uk/banking/easter-spending-statistics
With the camping season new getting nearer, it’s time to dust off the old camping blanket (or buy a new one) and get sewing all those spare badges on. Of course if you are relatively new to scouting, you might be wondering what all the fuss is about….
them, as were Union and Confederate forces in the American Civil War. In the 20th century, they subsequently became field issue for troops in the Great War and the Second World War on both Axis and Allied sides too. Blankets also went to sea, and cabin blankets were first made in the early 1700s. In almost all cases, these military blankets were a drab khaki or grey colour. Following the cessation of these conflicts, forces veterans often kept them for their own use, while surplus blankets were frequently co-opted by other outdoorsy types, including numerous Boy Scout troops. In turn, this gave rise to the Scouting tradition of the camp blanket as a wearable reminder of shared adventures and experiences, gradually becoming adorned with embroidered Scout badges.
It’s been another exciting year in the scouting world!
As the days grow shorter, it’s tempting to stay indoors, but just because the temperature’s dropping doesn’t mean the fun has to!
No doubt we have around 80 exhausted people after returning from our annual family camp! With 24 families attending, it was sure to be a successful weekend and it didn’t disappoint. 
We are so often asked… “Where does this badge go?”
Your World Membership Badge follows you in every section, from Squirrels all the way through to Network, and even being an Adult Volunteer. You can either unstitch it from your current uniform and re-sew it, or buy a new one to sew onto your new uniform.
You can wear up to four Joining In Awards, which should be the four latest ones you’ve earned. So, if you’ve been in Scouts for 5 years, you’d wear your Level 2, Level 3, Level 4 and Level 5 awards.
The Moving On award is given to you as you prepare to move from one section to another, to show that you have moved on, so you would only wear the last badge you achieved in the previous section.
When you complete your Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, you can wear the highest award you’ve achieved on the uniform you’re currently wearing. When you achieve a higher award, unstitch the old one and sew on your new one.
The Chief Scout’s Award is the highest award for every section you’ll be part of, so, you always wear the highest award you’ve achieved. Unstitch the old award, and sew on your new award, and wear it with pride!
You should only wear Challenge Awards from your current section on your uniform. For example, you wouldn’t wear your Squirrel Awards on your Beaver sweater, or Beaver Awards on your Cubs sweater, or your Cubs Awards on your Scouts uniform.
You’ll start to earn Staged Activity Badges in Beavers and keep earning them all the way through to your time in Explorers, so you can carry these over onto your new uniforms whenever you move on. You should only wear the highest level you’ve earned.
You should only wear Activity Badges from your current section on your uniform. As with Challenge Awards, you don’t wear your Beaver badges on your Cubs sweater, or your Cubs badges on your Scouts uniform.
So you’ve signed your little Monkey up to join our Beaver Colony, they go every week and have lots of fun learning new skills and making new friends. 
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is something every young person should get involved in. In this article, Elysia Gorman, an active Regional Youth Ambassador for the Cardiff area gives us the background on the award and tips on how you can get started. Elysia is currently working on her Lowland Leaders Qualification and speaks with schools, participants and other leaders to provide feedback and improve DofE experiences.
fifth section for those going for Gold. These are volunteering, physical, skills, expedition and for Gold only, a residential trip. 
