By Dean Praetorius
The Easter Bunny is perhaps the biggest commercial symbol of Easter.
But how did a rabbit and eggs become associated with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ?
Well there clearly seems to be no correlation between the secular symbols and the Christian holiday. While the first known mentions of the bunny tradition appear in 15th century German literature according to Discovery, the bunny has its roots in pre-13th century pagan traditions.
From Discovery:
Bunnies, eggs, Easter gifts and fluffy, yellow chicks in gardening hats all stem from pagan roots. They were incorporated into the celebration of Easter separately from the Christian tradition of honoring the day Jesus Christ rose from the dead.
Some believe, rabbits were associated with the Teutonic deity Eostra, the goddess of spring and fertility, for their especially high reproduction rate. Eggs, and especially their hatching, are another symbol of spring with roots in pagan tradition, according to History.com.
Germanic, pagan, spring traditions and Christian resurrection tradition were quickly melded together as Roman Catholicism became the dominant religion in the region around the 15th century, according to Discovery. As a result, the Easter Bunny tradition in America takes its roots in the German settlers of Pennsylvania.
From History.com:
According to some sources, the Easter bunny first arrived in America in the 1700s with German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania and transported their tradition of an egg-laying hare called "Osterhase" or "Oschter Haws." Their children made nests in which this creature could lay its colored eggs.
Much like leaving cookies out for Santa, German children often left carrots out hoping the bunny would leave them extra special candy.
dwerrf,4-22-2011, 6:39PM
the celebration of Easter separately from the Christian tradition of honoring the day Jesus Christ rose from the dead.I love this , So does My boyfriend .he is almost 11year older than me .i met him via agegapsin gles.c'om a nice place for seeking age le ss love.which gives you a chance to make your life better and open opportunities for you to meet the attractive young girls and treat you like a king. Maybe you wanna check it out or tell your friends.. Just love it
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STEVE,4-22-2011, 6:56PM
The Easter bunny hides eggs so no one will know he's been having sex with chickens.
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MIguel,4-22-2011, 7:58PM
Remember the old joke "Why did the chicken cross the road?" I figuered out why the poor chicken actually put her life in danger to cross the road..... It's because the Easter rabbit stole the chickens egg!! Not very nice lil rabbit.
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nan,4-23-2011, 2:39AM
That is a funny!
Old Woman,4-22-2011, 8:53PM
I don't know about the Easter bunny. But I do know that the egg is definitely a Christian symbol. Since a chick is born twice (once as an egg, then again when the egg hatches into a chick). So it is a symbol of the resurrection and for being "born again" in Christ.
It may well be a pagan symbol as well, but it is definitely Christian too. Like a fish is a Christian symbol because it means "fisher's of men" (Matthew 4:19: And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men). I'm sure it has been used as a symbol for other things too, like Pieces from the Zodiac, but it is also a Christian symbol. But Christians don't use the fish symbol because it symbolizes Pieces, they use it because of the Bible verse.
So basically saying that an Egg is a Pagan symbol stolen by the Christians is like saying that the fish is a Zodiac symbol stolen by the Christians as well. Which is just silly.
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Charles,4-22-2011, 9:14PM
No....silly is making up any lie to cover the fact the Easter is just one more stolen Pagan holiday.
Ferd,4-22-2011, 9:53PM
You'll have to show me the biblical reference to eggs.
I have read the Christian Bible many times and have never seen this.
It's nice to believe but one should stick with what is written.
Yarrow,4-22-2011, 10:26PM
"So basically saying that an Egg is a Pagan symbol stolen by the Christians is like saying that the fish is a Zodiac symbol stolen by the Christians as well. Which is just silly. "
Actually, it's the truth. And no, chickens are not born twice. They are laid as eggs, then form inside the egg before hatching.Someone who probably cared about you very much when you were young told you that because they were just trying to explain a difficult concept without giving credit where it is due. So many people forget that pagans existed long before Christians, long before the Jewish faith as well. As the article states, when Christianity took over Europe, the Christians adopted pagan symbols and holidays as their own in an effort to make conversion easier. "Hey you pagans, you already celebrate fertility and bunnies in the spring, why not convert to Christianity? We celebrate in spring too, but for a different reason!" Same thing with Yule/Christmas. And something else to remember is that the bible was written way after Jesus was born/lived/died. The symbols of paganism were in place long before any bible verse was ever written.
So, yes, the Christians adopted the symbols of eggs and bunnies, not necessarily stole. I think they have persisted because no one really wants to celebrate a man being tortured and killed for his beliefs, hanging to death on a cross. That scares little kids who can't fully comprehend why the event is important to Christianity. So they play up the pagan symbols because they are fun and bright until the child is old enough to understand.
Michelle,4-23-2011, 1:34AM
WOW...I guess you think the "Christmas" tree is truly Christian too. Whether or not meanings can be applied to eggs from the Christian faith, it dies not matter as the tradition was stolen from pagans back many many centuries ago. If you dont believe me, look up Eostre the pagan goddess and look up pagan yule traditions.
carolfro,4-22-2011, 10:02PM
I thought South Park explained it all in it's Easter Special show.
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Well Hello Denny,4-22-2011, 10:26PM
Actually, the Easter Bunny was working for Edie, the Egg Lady from Pink Flamingos, who just loved eggs. She wanted them for frying, for scrambling, for hard boiling, and she actually married the local eggman, who was the delivery man for the Easter Bunny. So many little eggies! And poo Edie was still starving!
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Don,4-22-2011, 10:28PM
What I heard was that a chicken prayed to the Goddess Eoster to help her, as she was tired of being just a chicken. In response, Eoster transformed the chicken into a rabbit. The chicken was so grateful, that it continued laying eggs, only these new eggs were brightly colored, as a way of saying thank you to the German Goddess of Spring and Resurrection...Eoester.
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john,4-23-2011, 6:59AM
caveman would hibernate over half the year. Their nests would become very foul as they rolled around in their own waste . Easter and rebirth reminds us not to go back living that way. Now of course rabbits still do so we eat the litttle chocolate eggs first.
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Old Woman,4-23-2011, 4:57PM
Hmmmm, you all missed my point. Every last one of you. I must not have explained it well enough. I'm not saying that Eggs nor Bunnies nor Fish weren't Pagan symbols. I'm saying that some of them are used as other things, not because they were Pagan, but because they fit and make sense.
Although, like I said, Bunny thing not really Christian as far as I know, just German like Christmas tree. The earliest Christian ties to the Bunny are in Germany. They think that when the kids went outside to look for the eggs in the bushes and such that often rabbits were hiding there and ran out so they started the "bunny leaves the eggs thing"...but that is a folk lore. So not sure if entirely true.
And yes, eggs symbolize resurrection and being born again because someone used them to explain a very hard to understand concept in an easy visual way and it became the symbol of Resurrection and being born again. Not because it was a pagan symbol. It was once a common analogy. The egg is born from the womb, then the chick is born from the egg. Just as we will die to this earthly life of sin into a new life with Christ.
Just as the egg, changes meaning when used by Christians, Pagans, by Hach (an online retail business), and New Egg (online retailer). Pagans use it as a symbol of fertility. Christians use a different fish symbol as a symbol of resurrection and rebirth. Hatch uses it to symbolize hatched business ideas. New Egg, because they like using the cute term e-tailer instead of online retailer and egg starts with 'E'. Pretty sure Christians, Hatch, and New Egg weren't sitting around saying, "Hey, I bet we can draw in a lot of Pagans if we use their fertility symbol to represent our core beliefs and values."
The fish was just an analogy as follow-up of how this is often the case with Christianity and other things. Just like Long John Silvers and Fish Brewing Company uses a fish symbol on their logo. I'm pretty sure it was not taken from the Pagans nor Christians even though the Pagans and Christians were here long before Long John Silvers & Fish Brewing Company. Just because all four use the fish symbol does not mean they are stealing, borrowing, symbol from the other. It means different things in each context. Just like the egg.
I have heard the Pagan thing. It is a commonly held belief. But that is all it is, a commonly held belief.
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