Looking for an inspired Easter Gift?

Are you looking for an Easter Gift for someone special? Perhaps a luxury easter egg or a chocolate easter bunny. Here at By-Invitation, we have sourced some great companies where you can buy Easter Eggs, Flowers and other gifts online and have them delivered directly to your friends and family. Many of the Easter Eggs and other Easter Gift ideas are things you simply won't find in the High Street.

Some of the classiest Easter Eggs we have found online come from the Chocolate Trading Company. You can select from classical English Easter Eggs from Charbonel and Walker to exclusive and luxurious Easter Eggs from Italy. It's up to you. One of the nicest things about buying your Easter Eggs online is that you can get them delivered to arrive when you want. So you can make sure that the Easter Eggs are there for your Family and Friends in plenty of time for Easter itself, even if you are not visiting in person!

There are plenty of other ideas for easter gifts on By-Invitation. How about a bouquet of flowers, delivered by courier. By Invitation recommends the Beautiful Spring Flowers & Bouquets at M&S Not only are you guaranteed Marks and Spencer quality, but your flowers will be delivered by next day courier.

 

The Origin of Easter

This year, Easter Sunday is on April 16th. But, where does the date for this Holiday come from...and why does it change every year?

Easter was originally a pagan festival. The ancient Saxons celebrated the return of spring with a huge festival to their goddess of offspring and of springtime, Eastre. In the second-century Christian missionaries worked to convert the Pagan tribes to Christianity, but in order to avoid conflict, tried to ensure that this was done by altering existing Pagan celebrations to include Christian Holy Days. The pagan festival of Eastre occurred at the same time of year as the Christian observance of the Resurrection of Christ. It made sense, therefore, to alter the festival itself, to make it a Christian celebration as converts were slowly won over. The early name, Eastre, was eventually changed to its modern spelling, Easter. Before A.D. 325, Easter was variously celebrated on different days of the week, including Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. In A.D 325 the council of Nicosia issued the Easter Rule stating that Easter would be celebrated on the first Sunday that occurs after the first full moon on or after the vernal equinox. The christian "vernal equinox" is always on March 21. So Easter is always celebrated on a Sunday between the dates of March 22 and April 25.

The Easter Bunny and the Easter Egg

Suprisingly, the Easter Rabbit is not a modern invention. The symbol originated with the Pagan festival of Eastre. The goddess, Eastre, was worshipped by the Anglo-Saxons and her symbol was the Hare (legend has that she could turn herself into a Hare whenever she wanted to). As with the Easter Bunny and the holiday itself, the Easter Egg predates the Christian holiday of Easter. The exchange of eggs in the springtime is a custom that was already centuries old when Easter was first celebrated by Christians. From the earliest times, the egg was a symbol of rebirth in most cultures. Eggs wrapped in gold leaf or coloured brightly by boiling them with leaves or flower petals.

Celebrate Easter in Style

Today, there are still Egg Hunts, where children hunt coloured eggs - and no kid would let their parents escape without a chocolate easter egg. There are cards and often a special meal to celebrate the Resurrection of Christ. And even adults can now enjoy some great chocolates with one of the range of luxury eggs from Hotel Chocolat!