Easter has many claims to fame depending on what religion you favor or if you favor no religion at all. Humans seem to have a feast day of some sort at or near the changing of the seasons. As the religions changed so did the beliefs around each of these quarterly feasts. Easter and Passover serve as the spring feasts. Some of the stories are based on lore of the people, some on who knows what?

So here we go: adjust that Easter bonnet and bite off a hunk o’ chocolate bunny and let’s see what you know

1) On any given year Easter can fall on any of how many different dates?
a) 4
b) 35
c) 21
d) 28

2) Eastern and Western Christian Churches use different calendars, hence Easter is often on different dates. What date will the Eastern Church celebrate Easter this year?

a) March 31st with the Western Church
b) April 28th
c) April 7th
d) May 5th

3) The pre-Easter season is known as Lent. Lent begins on what day?
a) Shrove Tuesday
b) Mardi Gras
c) Ash Wednesday
d) Good Friday

4) Decorating eggs as a sign of fertility in the spring has been around forever. Christianity adapted the egg as a symbol of Christ’s tomb around what time?

a) 1600
b) 200
c) 1800
d) 1900

5) Recently Bill O’Reilly claimed the “secular progressives” were waging a “war on Easter” and were attacking what Easter Icon?
a) the Easter bonnet
b) the Easter lilly
c) the Easter egg
d) the Easter rabbit

6) Palm Sunday was last week celebrating Jesus arrival into Jerusalem and was greeted by waving palm. What was the significance of palm?
a) Palm is a symbol of royalty and Christ was a king
b) Palm is a symbol of triumph – at the time Jesus was triumphant
c) Palm is a fruit tree and a sustainer of life.
d) Palm is a symbol of heavenly life

7) Easter 1916 gave birth to the Easter Rising. This was a rebellion in what country?
a) Russia, setting off the revolution
b) China, starting a revolt against capitalist oppression
c) Ireland, in response to oppressive British rule
d) Turkey, in a final push to end the Ottoman Empire

8) The garden where Jesus prayed with his disciples on the night before his arrest is called what?
a) Golgotha
b) Calvary
c) Gethsemane
d) Via Dolorosa

9) What does a rabbit have to do with Easter?
a) They are so cute and soft and fuzzy and spring is a feel good time
b) gardens are planted in spring which lures rabbits out after a long winter
c) rabbit manure has long been known to be an incredible fertilizer.
d) since the reproduce so rapidly they are a natural symbol of fertility.

10) What composer wrote the Easter standard “Easter Bonnet?”
a) George Gershwin
b) Irving Berlin
c) Jerome Kern
d) Cole Porter

Bonus!) Who chewed the ear off the chocolate rabbit I was saving?
a) the cats – it’s always the cats!
b) Daughter #1 during her last (and I mean last) visit
c) My mother-in-law
d) the mrs. – she really has a sweet tooth.

Hope this was a broad enough Easter quiz to totally confuse everyone. That is my goal. Now where was that darned chocolate bunny? Damn! I think it is gone!

The answers are about to rise from the grave of my brain:

1) b) 35 day. (first sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox until the next full moon.) Or something like that

2) d) May 5th – the Eastern church uses the Julian calendar while the Western church uses the Gregorian

3) c) Ash Wednesday – OK who missed this one?

4) a) @1610 so 1600 is the answer

5) d) the Easter rabbit. Seriously folks

6) b) Palm has long been a symbol of triumph (think of the crown on Julius Caeser’s head)

7) c) Ireland

8) c) Gethsemane is translated “oil press”

9) d) please tell me everyone got that one

10) b) another of those Irving Berlin songs

BONUS!) d) continuing a long tradition – and she always blames it on the cats.