The Real Story Behind Easter Bunny
Books on Easter Stories for kids
While growing up, I was excited about the Easter eggs and the Easter Bunny. But I never thought much about the origin or the story behind the Easter Bunny and Easter eggs. Easter is related to the resurrection of Christ but where the Bunny comes from.
Since my awesome journey to being a new mother, I’ve been more excited to know about many things and to share these stories with my kid. I want my kid to know, there are many beautiful stories around us, that help us to shape our life.
In the search for the Real story behind the Easter Bunny, I came across the two sites contradicting each other about Easter.
Article Title: Easter Symbols and Traditions
Author: History.com Editors
Easter Traditional
Easter traditions and symbols have evolved, though some have been around for centuries. While to Christians, Easter is the celebration of the resurrection of Christ, many Easter traditions are not found in the Bible.
The most prominent secular symbol of the Christian holiday, the Easter Bunny, was reportedly introduced to America by the German immigrants who brought over their stories of an egg-laying hare.
The decoration of eggs is believed to date back to at least the 13th century, while the rite of the Easter parade has even older roots.
Where did the Easter Bunny come from?
There is no mention of the Bunny in the Bible of a long-eared, short-tailed creature who delivers decorated eggs to well-behaved children on Easter Sunday; nevertheless, the Easter Bunny has become a prominent symbol of Christianity’s most important holiday.
The exact origins of this mythical mammal are unclear, but rabbits, known to be prolific procreators, are an ancient symbol of fertility and new life.
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.
Eventually, the custom spread across the United States and the fabled rabbit’s Easter morning deliveries expanded to include chocolate and other types of candies and gifts, while decorated baskets replaced nests. Additionally, children often left out carrots for the bunny in case he got hungry from all his hopping.
Pagan Traditional
Easter is a religious holiday, but some of its customs, such as Easter eggs, are likely linked to pagan traditions. The egg, an ancient symbol of new life, has been associated with pagan festivals celebrating spring. From a Christian perspective, Easter eggs are said to represent Jesus’ emergence from the tomb and resurrection. Decorating eggs for Easter is a tradition that dates back to at least the 13th century, according to some sources.
One explanation for this custom is that eggs were formerly a forbidden food during Lent, so people would paint and decorate them to mark the end of the period of penance and fasting, then eat them on Easter as a celebration.
Easter egg hunts and egg rolling in the White House.
Easter egg hunts and egg rolling are two popular egg-related traditions. In the U.S., the White House Easter Egg Roll, a race in which children push decorated, hard-boiled eggs across the White House lawn, is an annual event held the Monday after Easter.
The first official White House egg roll occurred in 1878 when Rutherford B. Hayes was president. The event has no religious significance, although some people have considered egg rolling symbolic of the stone blocking Jesus’ tomb being rolled away, leading to his resurrection.
Article Title: Here’s What History Tells Us About the Easter Bunny’s Origins
Author: Housebeautiful.com Editors
Here’s What History Tells Us About the Easter Bunny’s Origins
When we think of Easter, it’s hard not to immediately think of the Easter Bunny. But, though Easter is a Christian holiday, the Easter Bunny is never mentioned in the Bible. So how did Easter, a holiday that commemorates the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, become associated with a rabbit?
I decided to do a little digging—because if I’m going to eat oodles of chocolate and marshmallow treats modeled after the Easter Bunny each year, I should at least know why. It turns out, there isn’t one clear-cut answer, but rather a few theories. Shall we hop to it?
The Goddess of Ostara/Eostre and the Easter Bunny
As it turns out, the Easter Bunny’s origins appear to stem from German culture. Stephen Winick, a longtime writer at the Library of Congress’s American Folklife Center, discusses the Easter Bunny’s roots. In his article “Ostara and the Hare: Not Ancient, but Not As Modern As Some Skeptics Think,” he lays out the narratives attached to the German goddess of spring Ostara (also known as Eostre).
While all the accounts present slightly different details, they all agree on one thing: There was a German goddess who transformed a bird into a rabbit. This rabbit had the unique ability to lay eggs. There was also something special about these eggs—they were colorful, like a rainbow. A festival was held each spring (the festival of Ostara/Eostre) that celebrated the goddess. On this day, the supernatural rabbit (possibly an ex-bird) would lay its colorful eggs for the children.
Winick touts the below explanation given in The Folk-lore Journal, Volume 1; Volume 11 as the most credible.
Originally the hare seems to have been a bird that the ancient Teutonic goddess Ostara (the Anglo-Saxon Eàstre or Eostre, as Bede calls her) transformed into a quadruped. For this reason, the Hare, in grateful recollection of its former quality as a bird and swift messenger of the Spring Goddess, can lay eggs on her festival at Easter time.
Inspired by the goddess’s name, the festival of Ostara eventually was shortened to “Easter.” This celebration and the resurrection of Christ eventually joined together into one holiday of spring renewal and rebirth.
Oschter Haws and the Easter Bunny
While Ostara’s story explains how the Easter Bunny tale originated in Europe, a more recent narrative explains how this story traveled to America. History.com writes of another German hare: This bunny was named Oschter Haws, and much like Ostara’s hare, it could lay eggs of all different hues.
Oschter Haws came to America (and settled in Pennsylvania) with German immigrants in the 1700s. Children had heard that this rabbit could produce colored eggs and began building nests for him to deliver them. Oschter Haws did just that, making sure to follow the German tradition of delivering eggs on what was referred to as “Easter” back home.
Eventually, Oschter Haws decided to branch out from PA and lay eggs for children all over the United States. He also upped the ante on his deliveries: he started bringing chocolates and other types of gifts to kids on Easter morning. Baskets soon came to replace nests and children started leaving carrots out for him the night before.
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