Easter 2009 Searches: Jesus, Food, Shopping, and a Certain Dog

As someone who enjoys seeing what's on the mind of people all over the U.S. (and the world), I often check out Google Trends to see what the most searched-for terms are. This exercise is particularly interesting around holidays or other major events, and Easter 2009 is no exception.

Today's top searches are a mishmash of things related to different aspects what people do on Easter, and what the holiday means to them. The religious tradition of Easter is of course prominent, with search terms like "Easter Bible verses," He is Risen," "Easter scripture," and "meaning of Easter" in the top 50 search terms, along with non-religious items related to the day: "Easter parade New York," "Happy Easter comments" (for MySpace and other Web sites), etc. And one odd item: "dirty Easter jokes" ... huh?!

Eating is a big part of Easter, so there are plenty of anxious cooks online. "How long to cook a ham," "ham glaze," "deviled eggs," and "leg of lamb cooking time" all show up, along with queries looking for the locations or hours of supermarkets such as Publix, Winn-Dixie, etc. And some people are clearly planning to have a good time on Easter; one term in the top 30 searches is "mimosa recipe."

Speaking of shopping, that seems to be almost as popular an Easter tradition as eating and going to church. In the top 25 trends there are more shopping-related than religion-related searches, with people looking for "Is Target open on Easter," "Target locations," "Walmart Easter hours," "Nordstroms," and even "Home Depot Easter hours" (maybe people are deciding to fix or replace broken fixtures before company comes over?)

One non-holiday topic is occupying people's minds, and that is the long-awaited First Puppy. Appearing in the top 50 trends are such terms as "Portuguese water dog," "Obama dog," "Obama puppy," and "first dog."

And some folks are clearly not used to dressing up: the search term that has remained in the number-one position on Google Trends is ... "How to tie a tie."

Happy Easter, everyone.

Peeps Show, Where Everyone's Favorite Marshmallow Treat is the Star

Peeps, those squishy marshmallow treats that come in bright colors, have their own Web site, PeepsShow.com. I haven't eaten Peeps since I was a kid, so I was surprised when checking out the site to find out that Peeps come in all kinds of different colors and shapes now. (I knew them mostly as Easter-time treats that were shaped like chicks, and came in neon-bright pink and yellow.)

Apparently the Peeps folks recognized the sales limits of a product seen as just an Easter confection, and the Peeps Show site proclaims that they're not just for Easter anymore. There have been new products and colors, including tulip-shaped Peeps in the traditional bright yellow color (new for this year). The tulip Peeps look good, but other ideas are less appealing: like the brown, cocoa Peeps that look like they should be called Poops.

Peeps always get attention at Easter time, and the CBS Sunday Morning show obliged today with a story about Peeps and those who love them (including the guy who created the Peeps Show site).

I personally prefer chocolate or jelly beans for my Easter candy bingeing, but Peeps are definitely a pop culture phenomenon all their own.

The Easter Bunny Tracker

Lots of people are trying to find an Easter Bunny Tracker online to follow the furry fellow's progress on Easter Sunday.

This seems odd to me, because I don't recall the Easter bunny going around from house to house giving out Easter goodies. Yes, Easter is well known for baskets filled with candy and colored eggs... along with some of those eggs hidden for scavenger hunts. But he's not Santa Claus, going around to homes all over distributing the loot himself.

I'm guessing the whole "Easter Bunny Tracker" got started as a spin-off of the Santa Claus Tracker, wherein some organization set up a Web site where kids could supposedly follow Santa's progress as he gave out gifts all over the world.

But the Easter bunny? That's not how he rolls, as far as I know. Given the volume of searches on the Web for "Easter Bunny Tracker," I'm sure it's only a matter of time until somebody comes up with a Web site that claims to provide a tracker service for following the Easter bunny as he goes hopping around on Easter.