The Easter Bunny Tail, I Mean Tale
Like me, you may have wondered how in the world the Easter story of Jesus’ death and resurrection ever evolved into also including a bunny delivering eggs on Easter Sunday morning.
Hailing as far back as the Anglo-Saxon period, the idea of the Easter Bunny developed from a pagan deity to a rabbit that leaves treats for all good boys and girls. So, is the Easter Bunny a secular attempt to distract people from the true meaning of Easter? Or are there Christian symbols embedded in this weird twist on the holiday?
As far as the bunny who brings children candy, that tradition came to America through German immigrants. In old German folklore, there was a goddess named Eostre. She was the spring goddess of fertility of humans and crops. Both hares and eggs were used as symbols for this mythological figure because they both represented fertility. Springtime feasts were held in Eostre’s honor, but by the 9th century, this tradition had died out and was replaced by Easter, the Christian celebration of the resurrection of Jesus.
While the names Easter, the German goddess Eostre and Ishtar, the ancient Mesopotamian goddess associated with love, war and fertility, sound similar, there’s no conclusive evidence linking the Christian holiday to these ancient goddesses.
In other cultures, such as Ancient Rome and even prior, rabbits were associated with rebirth and new life. Because of this, people would include rabbits on their gravestones.
Similar to Christmas and Halloween, the Christian tradition of Easter evolved into candy-themed festivities for children, reportedly attempting to blend elements of pagan religions with Christianity in order to make the message more palpable to those of other religions. So, when a group of monks in the late fourth century went to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity, they mixed together elements of the pagan holiday with their Christian calendar.
Concerning eggs, cultures throughout history have viewed fertility and the bringing of life through eggs. Many statues of fertility goddesses often are covered in eggs.
Dyed eggs were likely consumed at spring festivals, which explains why some people dye eggs at Easter. It’s reasonable that Christians would’ve seen this egg imagery equated with a symbol of life and incorporated eggs into a holiday celebrating eternal life. Also, traditionally, eggs were not to be eaten in the 40 days leading up to Easter, a period known as Lent. This made the egg even more desirable as Easter drew closer. Eggs remind us of the birth and new chance of life that comes each year during springtime. They also symbolize the resurrection and new life of Jesus.
Strictly speaking, the Easter Bunny doesn’t directly have much to do with Jesus. Nowhere in the Bible do we see a rabbit of any sort appear in the Easter narrative, and we don’t really see any rabbit imagery in general in the Bible, besides the fact that the Jews were forbidden to eat them due to their unclean nature (Leviticus 11:6). Even though the origins of the Easter Bunny are a bit shrouded in mystery, it most likely does have pagan roots.
Knowing that rabbits don’t signify Jesus, however, doesn’t prevent us from finding ways to observe Christian truths within symbols that are not Christian.
With holidays that have pagan origins or traditions (such as Christmas, Halloween, and Easter), Christians have found ways to make the Gospel understandable to cultures through using their symbols and traditions. From pagan beginnings, the bunny and the eggs now are associated with the Christian holiday of Easter.
This year, however, high egg prices could significantly impact Easter celebrations. The increased demand for eggs for the holiday combined with ongoing bird flu outbreaks causing egg supply shortages likely will lead to even higher prices, potentially causing some consumers to buy fewer eggs or seek alternatives for Easter egg decorating.
Various ingredients can effectively replace eggs in baking and cooking, including applesauce, ground flaxseed, yogurt, mashed banana, silken tofu and aquafaba. But is there something that can be used as a substitute for an Easter egg? How ‘bout dying and then hiding some golf balls? You can’t eat them, of course, but they won’t break or spoil. And any golfers in the family will appreciate them.
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