Easter Bunny History

Santa New Year

To some, Easter is a serious religious holiday. To others, it´s a celebrationof the end of winter and of renewal and beginnings. To others, it´s both - butto children, it´s often about a chocolate Easter bunny gift, colored eggs, andother sweet surprises.

It´s fairly well known that Easter is a blend of many different traditionsfrom many different cultures. The Easter Bunny is certainly one of mostprominent icon of the holiday, and actually has some very interestingorigins.

Both the egg and rabbits and hares have been fertility symbols from ancienttimes. As prolific breeders, it´s small wonder these animals became symbolic offertility and rebirth associated with the earth after a long, hard winter.

Early German immigrants to the U.S., who brought many of their old countrytraditions with them (the Christmas tree was one of them). "Pennsylvania Dutch"parents would entertain their children with tales of the Osterhase, or "Easterhare." Like Sinterklaas at Christmas, the Osterhase visits during the night andleaves Easter gifts - including colored eggs - for well-behaved children. Tothis day, some children leave carrots out for the Easter Hare, much as theyleave out milk and cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve.

For such a fluffy and gentle creature, the Easter Bunny stirs up a fairamount of controversy, both in the U.S. and abroad. In the U.S., some groups ina well-meaning attempt to maintain a wall of separation between religion andsecular life and be more inclusive to non-Christians, have renamed him the"Spring Bunny." On the other hand, some Christians disavow Easter altogether inrecognition of the pagan roots of the holiday. In Australia, the introduction ofrabbits - a non-native species - nearly resulted in an ecological disaster whenthey bred into a plague. Australians have been trying to replace the EasterBunny with an indigenous species, a marsupial known as a Bilby. If you´re in theLand Down Under on Easter (where it´s actually occurs during the fall),children´s Easter baskets are just as likely to contain a chocolate bilby as itdoes a chocolate bunny.

Another story attributes the Easter Bunny to an "ancient" pagan legend.According to this "legend," the goddess Eostre - for whom "Easter" is supposedlynamed - found a wounded bird in a snowy forest one winter. In order to help itsurvive the cold, she turned it into a rabbit - but the transformation wasincomplete, because the rabbit continued to lay eggs. In gratitude, the rabbitdecorated her eggs and presented them to Eostre every spring. Oddly, there areno references to this legend predating 1990, so it´s doubtful that this taleconstitutes any sort of ancient tradition.

Nonetheless, Easter continues to be a fun celebration of spring for childrenof all ages.

Anne Harvester is a homemaker extraordinaire with years of experiencecreating spectacular events and gifts. See her favorite Gift baskets, Eastergift baskets, ChildrensEaster gifts.