New YouGov research finds that the son of God is fourth on the list of things people associate with Easter

New YouGov research reveals that Brits are much more likely to associate chocolate eggs than Jesus Christ with Easter. Despite the fact that Easter is one of the most important occasions on the Christian calendar – and that Jesus is obviously the reason for the festival’s existence – only 55% of Brits associate the two. By contrast, more than three quarters (76%) associate the Easter with chocolate eggs.

In fact, the son of God placed fourth in the list of things people associate with Easter, behind the Bank Holiday (67%) and, ironically given the symbolism behind them, hot cross buns (62%).

The survey finds there is a big age divide when it comes to Jesus and Easter. Fewer than half of people below the age of 50 associate Easter with Jesus Christ (44% of 18-24 year olds and 45% of 25-49 year olds). But in contrast, about two thirds of people aged 50+ do associate the two (65% of 50-64 year olds and 69% of 65+ year olds).

However, even among the older age groups people were still more likely to connect chocolate eggs and hot cross buns with the festival.

The item on the list least associated with Easter was Simnel cake at 14%. Simnel cake is a fruit cake with layers of almond paste or marzipan that is toasted and then eaten during the Easter period. Again, older people were more familiar with this dying Easter tradition, at 26% of 65+ year olds compared to just 3% of 18-24 year olds.

Photo: iStockphoto

See the full results here