Where does the Easter Bunny come from?
There's no story in the Bible about the long-eared, cotton-tailed creature known as the Easter Bunny, is there?
Easter Sunday is a religious holiday for many – a holiday dedicated to celebrating the day Jesus Christ rose from the dead. But there’s no story in the Bible about the long-eared, cotton-tailed creature known as the Easter Bunny.
Nor is there a passage about young children painting eggs or hunting for baskets overflowing with delicious chocolate eggs. Not to mention the fact that these eggs are laid by rabbits.
According to www.seeker.com bunnies, eggs, Easter gifts and yellow, fluffy chicks all stem from pagan roots, and were integrated into the celebration of Easter separately from the Christian tradition.
According to the University of Florida’s Center for Children’s Literature and Culture, the origin of the celebration – and the origin of the Easter Bunny – can be traced back to 13th-century, pre-Christian Germany, when people worshipped several gods and goddesses.
The Teutonic deity Eostra was the goddess of spring and fertility, and feasts were held in her honour at the time of the Vernal Equinox. Her symbol was the rabbit because of the animal’s high reproduction rate.
Spring also symbolised new life and rebirth. The first Easter Bunny legend was documented in the 1500s. By 1680, the first story about a rabbit laying eggs and hiding them in a garden was published.
These legends were brought to the United States in the 1700s, when German immigrants settled in Pennsylvania Dutch country, according to the Center for Children’s Literature and Culture.
These legends were then spread throughout the world.
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